Your primary investment, earning and saving today should be.....

What is a pipeline?

Going by any sales leader’s definition, a pipeline is the data base of clients or leads that the sales team has, ready to be converted to a deal generating revenue for company and incentive for the sales resource.

By Burke Hedge’s standard in his pipeline parable story, it is the dream (Pipeline) compared to the mundane, unambitious method of livelihood (bucket carrier).

Going by a normal dictionary, a pipeline as a noun is a long pipe, usually underground for conveying oil, gas over long distances and also used as a verb 

By now you get the drift that a pipeline has the potential to flow something for reserve or future use. 

So what is your pipeline for money?

It is not really about jobs anymore, it is about income streams now. Reading magazines on investments in early twenties had had its effect on me.  The realization dawned the 9 to 5 job, no matter how much you like, how much you earn and how comfortable you are – is actually 9 to 9 job keeping transit, traffic and work exigency in view, not to forget getting ready for work. 

Senior leaders in corporate, business owners, entrepreneurs, self-employed professionals, lawyers, doctors, surgeons apparently seem better off, however one deep dive into their life styles reveal – their dependence on their high paid jobs, clients or prospects is more critical than the next door average guy.

The age old myth of financial freedom can be reality only and only on two grounds:

If you do what you always wanted to do and make money out of it

If you do nothing and yet have your income streams flowing – the income pipeline

Robert Kiyosaki’s let money work for you instead of working for money is the fundamental theme

What will you consider as income streams in the first place – passive and active?

• Savings that generate interest
• Rental income
• Your investments in mutual funds
• Your stake in shares
• Your revenue from part time options that align to your interests
• Outcome based fee to support startup and entrepreneurs
•  Equity or profit – choose your model when limited companies want to leverage your expertise
• The multiple jobs you do and the weekend assignments

Get out of the whirlwind once in a while and ask yourself, if you just want to look forward to the next pay check, next deal, next venture, next increment or next promotion? It is how you want money to come to you that make you build those pipelines over a period of time.

The only thing you will need to manage in future, if you identify your pipelines right – is your time to effectively invest in those pipelines. If you do not have that currency called time to spare to build your pipeline, it will remain just another English word.

Have you identified your income streams? Are you ready to build your pipeline? Are you still trying to fit? Are you driven by people's expectations from you? 

Originally published in Quazen.com

Is a vacation with family enough?

An Altlearn Ventures Program: O Square (Outcomes Oriented)

Your family deserves more than just a vacation!

O Square is an Outcome Oriented Opportunity to learn alternative earning scope based on your passion, talent, free time and sheer grit!

The laptop work style from home for more family time.

The glamour and power is just on the surface sometimes – seriously!

Literally living on the roads for business meetings apparently is far from fun. The Instagram and Facebook shares of a Skyscraper in New York or the Eiffel Tower in Paris triggers imagination of people who are not part of that mobile lifestyle.  That is just the unwinding part of the trip that you see. The reality is different.

Getting picked at 3.30 am for an early flight, boring check-in queues, flight delays and lonely dinners in hotel rooms is not interesting by any standards, let alone the physiological, psychological, emotional and social costs a sales leader or CEO has to pay for his business travels.

Why should I be writing about travel in my blog for learning?

An executive member constantly on the move with pressure to meet clients, close deals, execute strategy,  make the sales, answer leadership about success factors of the business trip – someone who missed his exercise, mentally isolated, deprived of fundamental business insights due to multiple reasons must be crying for help inside, regardless of the brave front they show the world.

That is the darker side – Attending an industry seminar does not automatically update the CEO on skills and knowledge, those air conditioned conference rooms where he delivers sales presentations or company overview and meets others of his league, hints at his skill gaps regularly. While he is able to identify his shortcomings, he knows not how to admit or seek assistance considering such a trait as his weakness.

When I deal with entrepreneurs and founders struggling with basics, it only re iterates at times it is only they who need to be coached to take the company to its next level.

I chatted with an upcoming entrepreneur from real estate industry in Las Vegas who happens to be one my buyers, and I learn that he had already discarded three business names. All I did was shift his focus from business name to what his company mission was and in two days the name was finalized.

A CEO of an HR company in UAE was unable to collate his thoughts to answer shareholders how he will execute a plan in restructuring the company with wider portfolio of service. I was supposed to prepare the plan. I was more than sure in the next meeting they will not need the plan but an execution strategy. The inability to gauge the need of your audience well in advance is critical scope for training.

When we talk about training senior management, it is very different from other levels. It is not really instructor led class room based training. It is not glamour, power and selfie content by the end of session to be uploaded as a self-bloating engine for facilitators with great feedback scores. It is a much quieter affair.

Learning begins with the leader, begins at home with a personal decision. It is just between the two and it is a journey towards better business outcomes.

If you are one of those senior leaders who needs assistance – not necessarily in training – but perspectives, paradigm shift and self-learning options, book a SKYPE session with BECKON Consultant.