Guiding Principles
Our Core Values:
Supporting Small Business, the Backbone of the Global Economy
Creating Opportunities for Socially Responsible Entrepreneurship
Promoting Financial Education: Creating Financial Security, Independence, and Freedom by Building Passive Income, Earning Value-Added Compensation, Not Hourly Wages
Putting People First – Training Master Prospectors to Add Value into the customer relationship
Diversifying business portfolios for security and wealth
Systematization of business processes for consistent quality and efficiency
Leading Teams with Purpose, Direction and Motivation
Promoting the Principles of Cooperation
Continually improving every part, process and person
Making “Making a difference” our bottom line.
Is small business important to you?
Small business, and small business owners, are the backbone of the economy. In fact, small businesses:
- represent more than 99.7% of all employers
- employ more than half of all private sector employees.
- Pay 45 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
- Have generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually
- Create more than 50 percent of non-farm private gross domestic product (GDP).
- Produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.
- Are employers of 41 percent of high tech workers (such as scientists, engineers, and computer workers).
- Are 53 percent home-based and 3 percent franchises.
- Made up 97 percent of all identified exporters and produced 26 percent of the known export value in FY 2002.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census; Advocacy-funded research by Joel Popkin and Company (Research Summary #211); Federal Procurement Data System; Advocacy-funded research by CHI Research, Inc. (Research Summary #225); Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey; U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration.
Despite the importance of small business in our economy, the longest standing statistics show that small businesses face extraordinary 95% failure odds (95% of small businesses fail within the first 5 years). Why?
Top Reasons for Small Business Failure
- Insufficient Capital
- Lack of Planning
- Over expansion
- Poor Internet Presence
- Poor Management
- Poor Communication
- Never Starting
All of these are problems which can be avoided, in probably every case!’
Small businesses deserve all the help they can receive.
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We Adhere to the Cooperative Principles, as established by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA):
1. Voluntary and Open Membership – We are a voluntary organization, open to all persons able to use our services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination. You join our cooperative when you decide and you can leave the cooperative when you wish – many successful businesses in existence today have spun off from co-ops.
2. Democratic Member Control - Full voting members each take active part in setting the cooperative’s policies and decision making process. Men and women serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership. Members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote).
3. Member Economic Participation – Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of the co-operative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the co-operative. Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing the co-operative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the co-operative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership.
4. Autonomy and Independence -We are an autonomous, member-controlled self-help organization. If we enter to agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, we do so on terms that ensure democratic control by our members and maintain our co-operative autonomy.
5. Education, Training, Information - We provide education and training for our members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of the co-operative. We inform the general public – particularly young people and opinion leaders – about the nature and benefits of co-operation.
6. Cooperation Among Cooperatives – We serve their members most effectively and strengthen the co-operative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.
7. Concern for Community – We work for the sustainable development of our communities through member-approved policies.
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Participation in Global cooperative initiatives on global issues, such as climate change, fair trade, gender equality, HIV/AIDS, International Accounting standards, Legislation, Tsunami reconstruction, Youth. http://www.ica.coop/coop/issues.html
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We recognize that differences are the glue which hold us together, and that each member is just as important as the other. Internally each member’s vote carries the same weight as any others, members, officers and board members are all on the same level. By the same token, our cooperatives helps level the playing field for our members to compete in global markets. Working together we ensure equal opportunity and earnings potential, judged by ability, for members of both sexes, all races, religions and creeds and equal access to healthcare and education opportunities.
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Does this describe you?
A few characteristics of an entrepreneur: Competent, Self-confident, attracted to challenges, feels a sense of urgency, passionate, able to excel without “micromanagement”. We believe successful business operations are the product of success oriented entrepreneurs, not the other way around. Our focus is on the success and satisfaction of the entrepreneur – his/her wants and needs, more than any particular business, itself. How one becomes successful is less important than why!
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Financial Freedom, Security and Independence
Financial Freedom happens when your passive income exceeds your expenses. Our goal is to increase the income and reduce personal debt of every entrepreneur-Member to have a healthy personal debt-to-Income ratio. This means you earn at least three times your personal average monthly expenses. At least half of that amount should come from passive income (money from things you own, not things you *do*), and at least three to six months times your normal expenses in savings. Thus, you will experience financial independence.
Also, we show entrepreneurs how to improve their personal credit history and build positive credit references.
Break through the billable hours ceiling!
Even the incomes of the highest paid doctors, lawyers and consultants are limited by the number of hours they bill. Why accept limitations into your life? If you are a professional, we will help you systemize your practice so that you may enjoy true financial freedom.
JOB = “Just Over Broke”.
Will any job pay you what you are truly worth? Things like a healthy base salary, bonuses, benefits, stock options, vacation and personal time off, expenses, mileage, tuition reimbursement might lure you to work for someone else, but you can enjoy all of these benefits and personal freedom by becoming a business owner. Business owners decide their own salaries and benefits! Stop trading time for money! Our experts will show you how to build the benefits you desire into your life.
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Build Massive Passive Income
Passive income includes amounts you receive regularly from things such as commissions, repeat sales, ownership dividends from well managed businesses, royalties, rents, stocks, dividends. Our goal is to free you, the entrepreneur, to replace the burden of risk and job tasks with passive income from your businesses!
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All businesses carry a degree of risk. While some risks are acceptable, some are not. We will show you how you can calculate and minimize the risks by fully understanding them and planning for contingencies. We will help you overcome the challenges and remove the risks of going into business for yourself.
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Recession-proof your Business – Diversify for Security
If you value your time like you value your money, the saying “don’t put all your eggs into one basket” easily translates into “don’t put all of your time into one business”. Each and every business is subject to experience the uncontrollable ups and downs of the market(s). But with a diversified portfolio you have interests in several businesses in different markets - you will reduce the impact of the down times, and also maximize the rewards of the up times. You can diversify your portfolio with relative ease by systematizing your businesses. By systematizing your business you create opportunities for others, you minimize the unimportant work and teach them how to do the important work and then you can work as much or as little as you want to.
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Happiness is not rooted in money. It’s not enough to make a lot of money, if in the end you are unhappy. Giving back to the causes one cares about most brings the greatest satisfaction. So why not start there? We are in the difference making business.
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Work ON your business, not IN it! What is the difference between an entrepreneur and a manager or technician? The entrepreneur works on his business, not in it! You only have 24 hours today, and every day, and you don’t want to spend them all working! As long as your business is dependent on you, it is also limited by you!
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Continual Improvement
If you’re not growing you are dying. The same is especially true in business. The Japanese phrase “Kai Zen” means continual improvement. When applied to a business, it means a company listens to feedback from all sources and improves upon every part, every process, and every person in every way possible. Adhering to “Kai Zen” is the ultimate quality commitment and guarantee. To make such a commitment requires the results of every action to be measured, weighed and tracked with realistic expectations, and for every process to be fully documented, for business rules to be set to describe the operations, definitions and constraints that apply to each part of the organization in achieving its goals, using Business Rules Engines to execute them and implement improvements, while updating documentation “on the fly” (we call this “living documentation”).
Continual improvement also implies using better tools to get the job done. This includes upgrades in technology enable greater flexibility and efficiency. Web based collaboration technology allows for the establishment of “Virtual Teams”, people working together on projects from multiple locations, even from home. This enables us to empower the work-at-home mom or dad, which in turn helps us make a greater impact on the economy, while preventing destabilization of families, the basic building block of society.
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Leadership and Teamwork
To ensure any team or organization’s success it is as simple as making sure the team has purpose, direction and motivation and that its members have a common goal, work interdependently and act accordingly. Even in teams or organizations with weak or inexperienced leaders, if the team understands these things it can still succeed because the goal is greater than the individual, and the passions which motivate the team are stronger than the weakest or even most stubborn of leaders. For example, if a team is low on direction but high on purpose and motivation, it can find a direction and succeed. If the team is low on motivation but high on purpose and direction, it can find motivation and have success. Although this does not come without its challenges, understanding the basics of leadership and teamwork is a tremendous benefit to anyone who finds them self in any type of leadership role.
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“Shut Up and Listen”
The days of the loud mouthed, agressive, pushy sales types are truly over. Our sales and marketing processes differentiate us from all of the other offers and pitches you are barraged with day in and day out. We prefer marketing to generate warm leads, not cold calling. We professionally qualify warm leads to identify new sales opportunities to determine whether there are any conditions that will make the final agreement impossible.We keep a low profile with emphasis on listening, our businesses are reliant on the strength of the personal, direct customer-salesperson human relationship – not the standard “shotgun” approach. Our clients win again and again because the way we do business adds value to their lives, saving them time, money and stress, and they reward us with repeated business. Professional sales and marketing is quintessential to success in any business. To skip this step in one’s professional development is unwise.
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