Rhys Cooper's goals for January 2010

Tonight was the first official GAS (goal accountability session) of the year and it was off to a great start. I'd fill you in on everyone's goals, but some things in life a private, and "what is discussed at GAS stays in GAS".

I can however fill you in on what I personally set for myself as my main goal to achieve by the end of next month. As you might know, I have been making some progress on the Doo Phone deal which should secure the release of the Doo Phone software within the next couple of months. This is a huge thing for me personally and I have set myself the goal of making sure that I make sure that everything continues to move along according to plan. When there is so much to get done I feel that I need to make sure that I don't get caught up on any of the small details and keep my eye on the bigger picture which is getting the solution into the hands of the people who need it the most. This is not to say that I should move forward at all costs, I still have to make sure that I negotiate a good deal that is going to ensure the future of the project.

Tonight also got me thinking of a couple of other things that I need to make some moves on. I've been sitting on a couple of ideas that I really want to try that are based around generating a passive income with an ultimate aim of limiting the amount of risk and capital investment to as close to zero as possible. I'll talk more about this concept after I've tested it more, but basically it involves re-working the delivery of product A to consumer B by changing the point of purchase and trying to secure an ongoing distribution contract with a parent company (That sort of thing). It's my first proper idea on generating an automated passive income, not sure how it's going to go.

The second thing I have been paying more attention to lately is getting over my fear of trying to build my own personal brand through www.rhyscooper.com and starting to think about possible video blogging and an idea I have for reviewing household products from a disability usability perspective.

Still need to work on remembering to take more photos for this blog also. Word on the street is that a couple of people have looked at my site but I haven't had much love with Google Analytics, I think I'll go work on that again now.

Edgeware Presentation

A few years back I had the chance to do a small course run by Michael Doneman though his entrepreneur school, Edgeware. I've had a few opportunities in the past to repay Michael and his beautiful wife Ludmilla for the guidance they have given over the years. Today was one of those days.

I was honoured to have the opportunity to present at the latest Edgeware Upload program this morning. I was asked to present the story of my entrepreneurial experience so far and provide some insight into what a young group of edgies might expect in the future.

It was interesting to go back and think of some of the things I've personally gone through to get me to where I am today. I decided to speak on the value of making mistakes, if you try something and it's not successful it doesn't always matter. The first time I went into business I knew that my major weakness was my lack of knowledge about business so I decided to just try some things with an ultimate goal of learning about business. This way you can calculate your risk accordingly, in my case with the limited knowledge I had at the time I figured it would be safe to assume that ANY money I invest is a potential loss. Unfortunately I was right, but I learned from my mistakes. A small business loss will often cost you far less than formal study, and I can assure you that you will pay more attention to the lessons you learn.

I also touched on the issues of your personal life interfering with your business ambitions. I have been involved with a group of other guys who meet up once a month for an exercise we call GAS (goal accountability sessions). Basically there is six of us who meet up once a month and set ourselves a number of achievable goals that we know we should really get done in the next month. Then when we meet up the next month we check in with our last months goals and we have to explain why we did or didn't achieve our goals. I've found it to be a very effective way of get things done. I also feel that it makes you realise how much your personal life can enhance or inhibit your business goals as well. It's always important to have balance.

Thanks Michael and Ludmilla for the opportunity to share.

Everyone check out their site www.edgeware.com.au