I attended an Introductry session of EBA On Saturday. The objective of the complete EBA programme is to give a highly practical input to your business objectives by those who have been there and done it. The programme is backed by James Caan. This is an assurance of quality since a high public profile person's reputation is on the line.
They are 3 types of programmes that EBA offers:
- Business Growth - This includes 12 monthly 1 day group sessions by the millionaire mentors, group teleclasses, access to online resources and networking lunch. Cost £5,497+VAT
- Business Accelerator Prog as above + 12 one to one coaching sessions. Cost £9,497+VAT
- As above plus 3 mentoring sesssions + teleseminar + Weekend to work on the business. Cost £14,497+VAT
I have not done anything like this before. My training has been academic. The only other programme I can think of is AVN.
I am seriously considering attending the Business Growth programme. The key attraction for me is that I would be learning from people who have achieved some success in their field and are also at the top of their field.
I am looking for different perspectives on this. Is there anything esle I should consider? What I would like is to get away from the day to day routine and listen/think about business growth, success, effective working practices and also mix with non accountants.
Thanks
Replies (19)
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I echo Peter's answer
I can't wait for CD's answer:)
Have you wondered why these guys are millionaires? Maybe charging between £5,000 and £15,000 for a course that you will probably walk away from wondering 3 months later what you actually got out of it.
There are some things that you can learn from a course about the motivation and practicalities of running your own business. But we're talking here about 1 day seminars costing £150. Most of what you need is gained from experience and talking to friends and colleagues who have gone through the same experiences.
You have gained an awful lot of help and guidance over the course of the last several months from this forum. I would continue to do that and build up your knowledge and confidence from us gang of various reprobates. We are always willing to help you - and it doesn't cost you a penny.
Would have to be a very good lunch to tempt me!
£5,500?! I don't share CD's 'dislike' of all things marketing but at this price I'd be inclined to agree with him!! That's over £450 a day (more if you're vat-registered but on FRS). Are you sure that you can spare that sort of money for something that comes with no guarantees other than (hopefully) a full belly after lunch? I'm sure James Caan does back it as at those prices he'll be onto a decent fee for putting his name on it. Hell for that price I'll put up with you here for a day a month, bring a mate and I'll order in pizza :) In fact I'm happy to invite more from AWeb if I can make the same from them too!
If you want to think about business growth and mix with non-accountants why not book some one-to-one sessions with a business coach (fraction of the price and will be focussed on you specifically) and join a networking group. Not one where they're all trying to get recommendations from you, one where you actually get to talk to people and bounce ideas off them informally (I assume they exist).
Ask yourself how many clients you'll need to pay for that chunk of dosh. And then say to yourself that if that number of existing clients rang you tomorrow and told you they were going elsewhere how would you feel. Because that's effectively what you're doing. You could spend a couple of hundred quid on books telling you how to improve yourself, your business, the world in general and I bet you'd be getting the same benefit (minus lunch) as that £5,500 would give you.
Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The old saying is that "A fool and his money are soon parted" .
For a starter just look at the people heading this thing. I wouldn't give them house room. They don't care about your business, they don't care whether you sink or swim so long as they part you from your hard earned cash first.
I don't care what these so called "experts" might claim, you cannot teach business success, there is no "magic formula". Like many things you either have it in you, or you dont.
I could happily charge you £5k and promise to teach you to be a world class motorcycle racer. I have absolutely no doubt that I could teach you to be faster, I could teach you how to set up a bike, how to find the fastest racing line, how to slipstream, how to compensate for loss of tyre grip. In short I could teach you everything you need to know. BUT, if you don't have the inherant basic skills and talents I can't teach you to be a world champion. No amount of tutoring can get rid of any fear of speed you have. No amount of tutoring can stop you being afraid of dying or being injured. No amount of tutoring can make you ruthless enough to be a winner. Those are things you ae born with - or not.
Exactly the same applies to building and running a business. You either have it in you or you dont. And one of the first things anyone who will succeed must learn is to DO IT YOUR WAY.
Why are you in business? Do you want a better life, or, do you siply want to get rich quick?
If the former, then build a business that suits you, one that gives you the kind of freedom you want whilst paying the bills.
If the latter, you shouldnt be in business and I guarantee you will either fail, or end in jail. If you really only care about money - become a banker - or start selling worthless courses to other mugs.
.
Hell for that price I'll put up with you here for a day a month, bring a mate and I'll order in pizza :) In fact I'm happy to invite more from AWeb if I can make the same from them too!
Posted by Flash Gordon on Sun, 20/03/2011 - 10:30
Well I'm certainly going to set up courses - I've even drafted out a course I could offer which I think is very competative -
"How to be a grumpy old git"
5 day residential course (bring your own tent) meals provided (choice of cheese & pickle or pickle & cheese sandwiches available). Cost £5,000 - no VAT (payment required in advance in used £20 notes or by bank transfer to numbered Swiss account).
Not personal enough
I provide advice to clients on a monthly basis such as these guys are suggesting. I charge anything from £500 per meeting up to and including stakes in a business for profit improvement and value of business if sold. Considerably more potentially then what these asking for.
The difference is that I have a vested interest in each and very client I work with that means I only work with clients who I think will benefit from advice.
One of the biggest things I could advise you is that every business is individual and requires genuine one to one support. The smaller businesses generally revolve around relationships, mum and dad, brother sisters etc.
My advice is to find a retired exec or friend with a sound business mind (doesn't need to have set the business world alight) who will provide an outside view of your business.
I have worked with my father in law (formerly CEO of Moonraker yachts and larger companies), that has helped me iron out my ideas and direction.
Don't spend the money!
I wouldn't bother ....
Many years ago when I was employed, the firm that I worked for did something like this. I think it was the predecessor to AVN or something similar. As I recall the firm paid around £20k for literature, residentials courses, videos and business coaching.
Although some good things came out of the process, it ultimately never really worked. I and a few others lost our jobs (which with hindsight was the best thing that could have happened to me) as the practice changed direction. It got smaller and as far as I am aware never got back to the size it was.
There were a lot of problems with the practice in the first place and whilst the processed focused minds on certain areas, it ultimately couldn't turn a failing business into a successful one.
The best advice I could give looking back on the experience and others since is to take a week off to reflect on your practice and where you ultimately want it to go, spend a few tens of pounds buying some business coaching books (The E-Myth was required reading when we did the process), grade your clients A to D and fire all the D clients.
Good luck!
I'm very disappointed -
- no one has yet applied for my course.
Maybe I should go on a worthless course to teach me how to sell worthless "courses" to mugs.
The problems with your "course" C_D
No one will take you seriously when you "only" charge £5k. Increase your price to £9,995 + VAT. You need to use modern buzzwords in your course title. Something like "business empowerment strategy conference to realign you business to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century" presented by a leading accounting web commentator. You also need to widen the choice of sandwiches. Now please let me know where I can send this invoice for all this valuable advice.
Marketting buzzwords
NEW - Different colour from previous design
ALL NEW - Parts not interchangeable with previous design
EXCLUSIVE - Imported product
UNMATCHED - Almost as good as the competition
DESIGNED SIMPLICITY - Manufacturer's cost cut to the bone
FOOLPROOF OPERATION - No provision for adjustments
ADVANCED DESIGN - The advertising agency doesn't understand it
IT'S HERE AT LAST! - Rush job; Nobody knew it was coming
FIELD-TESTED - Manufacturer lacks test equipment
HIGH ACCURACY - Unit on which all parts fit
DIRECT SALES ONLY - Factory had big argument with distributor
YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT - We finally got one that works
REVOLUTIONARY - It's different from our competitors
BREAKTHROUGH - We finally figured out a way to sell it
FUTURISTIC - No other reason why it looks the way it does
DISTINCTIVE - A different shape and color than the others
MAINTENANCE-FREE - Impossible to fix
RE-DESIGNED - Previous faults corrected, we hope...
HAND-CRAFTED - Assembly machines operated without gloves on
PERFORMANCE PROVEN - Will operate through the warranty period
MEETS ALL STANDARDS - Ours, not yours
ALL SOLID-STATE - Heavy as Hell!
BROADCAST QUALITY - Gives a picture and produces noise
HIGH RELIABILITY - We made it work long enough to ship it
NEW GENERATION - Old design failed, maybe this one will work
CUSTOMER SERVICE ACROSS THE COUNTRY - You can return it from most post offices
UNPRECEDENTED PERFORMANCE - Nothing we ever had before worked THIS way
BUILT TO PRECISION TOLERANCES - We finally got it to fit together
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED - Manufacturer's, upon cashing your cheque
MICROPROCESSOR CONTROLLED - Does things we can't explain
LATEST AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY - One of our techs was laid off by Boeing
Sandwiches ?
You also need to widen the choice of sandwiches. Posted by 0103953 on Sun, 20/03/2011 - 16:01
Listen, these are genuine vintage sandwiches (British Rail circa 1968). They dont make em like this nowdays. I got them in a closing down sale and some of then actually havent had a bite taken out of them. That's how I managed to keep my fee "competative" :)
The whole point
Horses mouth
If you want the "original"
Posted by petersaxton on Sun, 20/03/2011 - 16:59
That's the point, there is nothing "original" about selling or sales guru's. They simply repackage the same things others have been doing for years, and sell it again.
These so called "gurus" don't have any magic formula - if they did they'd keep the secret to themselves. All they do is repackage what every succesful business has done for years, throw in a few buzzwords, and then use it to part fools from their money.
Read any book by a so called guru, take out the B/S, and you're left with simple methods that have been used through history.
Plenty of mugs
As we see on AccountingWeb, there's mugs around who will believe the lies of the marketing people. This will ensure that people will continue to make out that buying their product will solve all problems.
Don't waste your money...
Write down what you think you will get from this course. Once you have the list consider again why you need to spend £5000-10000 to achieve this. If its sales, there are plenty of good one / two courses for a few hundred pounds, if its marketing, buy a few books, if its mentoring you have this site, you have the options others have listed on here or you could join something like 2020 group.
Steve McQueen
Never thought I would say this ....
but perhaps First tab you might be a candidate for one of the 2020 type networks. You are in the business to make money (by your admission) and it seems that you would be comfortable with someone else to provide you with direction and a strategy. These people would do this and although many of us on here do not agree with their philosophy that does not mean that it might not work for you. The thing with sole practitioners is that most of us have at some point rejected being told how to run our affairs (hence the 'sole' bit!) so were never candidates for the network thing anyway. You have not really come from that background. I know you have tried the franchise approach but this is not the same.
New business ideas
First Tab I admire you for posting questions that prompt us all to think a bit more.
The accountancy world is not the most dynamic one - I know many practices have no idea how to collect their debts in a timely way, and as for marketing knowledge many of them just hope for word of mouth recommendations without thinking clearly about targetting particular types of businesses and clients.
So I am all in favour of experiments. The trouble is, that for me, such experiments have cost me dear in the past. I tried a bit of business coaching several years ago but the coach turned out to be not very good and at the end of the first session advised me to take on more staff immediately because there was going to be a lot of business in the future. I decided that unless I found a coach who was recommended by several other people I trusted and who understood the accountancy world, I wouldn't spend my time and money on anyone else in this area again.
I've tried advertising and decided it isn't right for my sort of business. I've spent a fortune on seo and have proved what I already suspect - this won't bring any more prospects.
I used to think I could learn from the more entrepreneurial of my clients, but in reality they are very different people from me and are in a different line of business.
So I suppose my conclusion is that there is only one of each of us, and we all have very different needs and interests. If you can target who you'd like to do business with and the sort of value you can generate from those clients it will become very much easier to decide how to contact prospects. I doubt if there's any magic process that can better this technique.
I would urge you to decide on a marketing budget per quarter and year and to set up a target income that this needs to generate for those periods to justify those costs. Then monitor every marketing activity religiously, continuing to change things where required.
I think the meaner you are with your marketing budget the less chance you stand of wasting the money.
I think the meaner you are with your marketing budget the less c
Never a truer word said!