Business Strategy coaching using Opportunity Matrix™ (strategy analysis to help entrepreneurs focus on their best opportunities), Core Process (process to identify you at your very best) and Wealth Dynamics (entrepreneur profiling system)
When time is money and your laptop's your life ...
When days without data will cost you the earth ...
If everything stops when your laptop won't start ...
IT just works!_______
Imagine having a laptop that's fully supported with all your files and applications backed up as you work, and if it ever did go wrong, you'd get a new one in your hands next working day - with all your files and applications already on it! That's what Cloudberry gives you - total peace of mind, you just get on with what you do best. www.ITjustworks.uk.com
We're all on this earth for a purpose. I recently had my Core Process done, and what I do when I'm at the top of my game is: "Encouraging Potential" I love to encourage people, businesses, and people in businesses, to achieve the very best that they can - to fulfil their potential to the full.
How do I do that? I use a talent that I call "Inquisitive Analysis™" to get people to focus on what's really important to them, and to find ways to help them get to their objectives. It might be as simple as identifying that their idea or plan has value and should be pursued, or that they have a special ability that they should make full use of. Or it might be reminding them of what they were passionate about last time they spoke to me, or putting them in touch with something or someone who can help them take advantage of what they've got.
My networking style is varied - I like to form strong relationships with a relatively small group who share my take on things, but I also like, and need, to expose myself to people with other viewpoints and experience. I firmly believe that "in variety lies opportunity", so I am as likely to connect with someone totally different to me, and with whom there's no obvious business synergy, just to see what might fall out. For me, the strength of Ecademy is the variety of types of people on it, and the variety of reasons for being here - from pure business to pure altruism and everything in between.
I subscribe fully to Leon Benjamin's "Winning by Sharing" approach - the days of seeing other individuals as competitors are over. We are all different, so even if several of us appear to be addressing the same needs of the same customers, each of us will do it in slightly different ways - ways that could be added together to give a better solution to the customer's needs.
I also subscribe to the "Pay It Forward" principle - I don't wait until somebody does something for me before I do what I can for them. Overall in my life I hope I've given as much as I've been given (which is a lot) - but I don't keep a tally.
So if I owe you a favour, don't hold your breath for it to be repaid - I've probably already repaid it to someone else! But if you need a favour, don't be shy to ask - if I can help, I will.
My wealth profile is "Accumulator" See here for more information on Wealth Profiles. For me, that means "combining and refining" what already exists, to make a whole that's greater than its parts. It's not necessarily a quick win, more usually a long-term gain.
These days I mainly help business owners focus on their best opportunities, and I use a combination of hard analysis tools and NLP 'coaching' for that. My last corporate experience was in Key Accounts in the DIY industry, and I'd been selling things since my first Saturday job, selling ladies crimplene dresses on Windsor market at age 14! After a spell at Durham University, where I had to 'sell' the professors on my concept of 'residential distance learning' - or staying in bed and not going to lectures, as they saw it, I did a stint in furniture retail, working my way up to management, before I "hopped the fence" onto the supplier side with a number of retail-facing National Accounts roles.
Opportunity Management is all about focus - on making the most of your best opportunities, and everyone in your business enjoying themselves while doing it. Opportunities that need managing range from ideas for a new business or to grow an existing one, through to getting the most from your best customers - Key Account Management. The value I add ranges from analysing opportunities and setting strategy, through to ideas implementation and advice on what markets or customers to focus on.
At the core of my work is a simple but very effective tool based on multiple criteria decision analysis and a two-dimensional matrix that provides a framework for analysing and focusing on your best opportunities. It's called Opportunity Matrix™
and it's used to identify the business ideas that the people in your business want to do, and you can make money at. In other words to answer the only questions you need to ask in business:
Opportunity Matrix™was conceived when a colleague was asking for help to analyse and then prioritise all the opportunities he had, and I realised that the analysis engine I had developed as part of my Key Accounts work - the guts of the KAMpro tool - could be adapted to help do just that.
Many meetings and trials later, Opportunity Matrix was born.
It's a real-life example of Blackstar cooperation - with the help of many fellow-Blackstars it went from concept to launch in just two months.
Here's a brief (5min) video that explains a bit more about it:
I started my business after leaving the corporate world in 2003, then I took on a full time contract in early 2004 that didn't end until early 2007. I started the company because I believe business shouldn't be as hard as we make it - and the main reason for that is because people don't focus on their best opportunities. My experience in a number of public and private companies was that the most hassle came from the times when companies were least focused on the things that would best take them where they wanted to go. The reason I do what I do, is that I hate to see people making their lives more complicated and stressful than they need to.
Here are a selection of some of the people I'm regularly working with, either as clients or collaborators:
Cloudberry
This is a start-up opportunity - we offer a complete PC support service for independent consultants who have been used to IT that just works (or if it doesn't, they just have to call internal IT). The package includes managed back-ups, file synchronisation, remote access to files, server-synced e-mail, helpdesk and guaranteed next working day replacement laptop - with all software and data pre-installed - all for a low monthly payment. My role here is to make sure that internal systems support subscribers effectively, and to translate market needs into a spec that the techies can work with. In other words, getting the focus right.
Risk and Safety Plus
Owned & managed by ex-senior Fire Officer, fellow-Blackstar, "cynical safety advisor" and all-round good egg, Malcolm Tullett, (and his co-director, Chris Hilder) RS+ provides advice and training on Safety, Health, Environment & Fire (SHEF) to companies ranging from SMEs to major construction companies. I help to focus on the retained clients, to free Malcolm up to see new clients and to work on the strategic methodology he's developed, PROPA™ (Profit through Positive Action)
I believe in lifelong learning, both informal and formal.
I seriously messed up my traditional further education - St Cuthberts Society the non-resident college of Durham University, was a great place to spend my student years in the early 80's, but the great social life meant I didn't attend as many lectures as perhaps I should have. I suppose spending a good chunk of my first year, and part of my third, recovering from a broken leg (Durham's a very hilly place when you're on crutches) didn't help! ....... That and the beer.
So my best achievement was to get my MBA with the Open University at the same time as holding down demanding full time roles (and changing jobs 3 times!). I am proud of that achievement. I got a pretty poor first degree (which the whole family agreed it wasn't worth traveling back to Durham to collect), so I was delighted to be able to give my very proud father the chance to see me graduate in full regalia in Ely cathedral twenty years later.
I live in Horley (Surrey), with my wife, Daniela. She's a qualified NLP Results Coach and Performance Consultant - well, she's been coaching me for years! Her "day job" is in Human Resources, and worked in international banks in the City for many years, now in engineering. She's also a trained Reiki healer - comes in very useful when I'm doing DIY (why is it you only whack your thumb with the hammer when you've taken your gloves off?). We both learned Transcendental Meditation a few years ago, and we try to meditate at least once a day, often twice, and I do find it helps to keep me grounded.
We love to have friends round for dinner parties, when I can indulge my love of red wine. I am not a great fan of white, for reasons involving an extended New Year celebration, a very cold flat, and an extremely poor bottle of Australian Chardonnay, when I was single. We have a plan to move to France where I'll have a proper cellar ('proper' in both location - under the house, not under the stairs - and quantity).
I'm also learning to play my saxophones - I've got an alto and a tenor - and my great ambition is to get a paid gig at Smollensky's on the Strand in London under my playing name of Brew Horber (long story, don't ask - unless it's over a beer!). Click on the video below to see quite how ready I am (not) for that gig!
What really makes me proud?
Two things I have done, and one thing someone said...
Personally: obtaining my MBA at the same time as holding down demanding full-time jobs.
Business: (this was when I was employed) regaining the B&Q business for an employer - and then winning it again when the factory couldn't create the new range in time. I got B&Q to put off a range review by over 6 months, with very little financial cost to the company. "Andrew… was instrumental in winning, retaining and implementing the £4m intruder alarms business in B&Q" - Mark Finnie, Retail Director, Novar Electrical Devices & Systems.
Getting you or your clients better business from your best opportunities - 'more profit, more fun, less hassle'
I have a highly analytical bent, so: putting together customer propositions, analysing proposals and doing cost-benefit-analysis (I did get a merit in Finance on the MBA!), spreadsheets to carry out "what-if" and sensitivity analyses
and how you might help me...
Referrals to business owners struggling to stay focused (or to their advisors, who they're driving mad )
Introductions to consultants, coaches and advisors who could use the Opportunity Matrix™ tool or the Inquisitive Analysis™ apporach
Anyone who can get me that gig at Smollenskys (though I may need a little time to practice first!)
Real People Who Inspire Me…
If you want to understand the kind of person that inspires me, have a look at these:
Getrude Matshe (buy her book & get a real feel for determination).
Nick Vujicic - talk about not letting life get you down!
Quotes I identify with:
"My definition of being successful is contributing something to the world ... and being happy while doing it. .... You have to enjoy what you're doing. You won't be very good if you don't. ... And secondly you have to feel that you are contributing something worthwhile." (Norman Augustine, former CEO of Lockheed Martin)
Encouraging Potential - my core process fits very well with what I do for work - it's all about helping people get the most out of their business Penny On - a fantastic concept for charity fundraising by adding a penny to the price of each item you purchase; founder Martin Dewhurst estimates that this could raise £180m for charities Helpful - if I can help someone with a problem, I probably will Determined - I'm not easily put off by problems, though there are some who might call me stubborn Resilient - I firmly believe that everything that happens is for a reason, even if you can't see it at immediately Open minded - I tend to assume the best of people - and theories - until I'm proved wrong Persuasive - you can't spend as many years dealing with Key Accounts as I have without learning a bit about persuasion, though for me it only really works if I'm persuaded myself that the customer is better off with my solution. DIY industry, retail, sales, national accounts, account management: these are all my stock-in-trade - I started in retail, then specialised in Key Accounts in the DIY sector. Marketing, CRM, relationship management, stakeholder relationship management, category management - I spent several years working with the consumer marketing manager of a major brand, and set up the category analysis function. Knowledge management - I studied this on my MBA, and I think Knowledge Management is a major part of good Key Account Management - making sure all the appropriate knowledge you have about the account is available to the appropriate team members. SME - I am interested in getting good Key Account Management into the SME sector MBA, Open University - did my MBA with the OU. St Cuthberts Society the non-resident college of Durham University Over 40 - Like many ecademists, I'm not in the first flush of youth, and just starting out on the journey of being a real businessman, rather than a corporate clone. Saxophone, jazz, Led Zeppelin - my musical tastes are fairly varied, but as a sax player I couldn't really not like Jazz. Meditation, reiki - My spiritual side: I try to meditate at least once a day, often twice. Daniela, my wife, is a trained Reiki healer. Red wine - I love red wine, and plan to move to France where I'll have a proper cellar Surrey is where I live - for now, until we get the France thing sorted.
You're an intellectual, and you've worked hard to get where you are now. You're a strong believer in education, and you think many of the world's problems could be solved if people were more informed and more rational. You have no tolerance for sloppy or lazy thinking. It frustrates you when people who are ignorant or dishonest rise to positions of power. You believe that people can make a difference in the world, and you're determined to try.
TheBusyFool
Who am I & Why am I here?
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