Building a

light weightGlobal Business

By Tim Norton

I’m not going to speak in philosophical terms, or use buzz words... building lightweight businesses is not something only of the future, or for hi-tech saavy young cats... its a strategy anyone can follow, and like any approach, requires focusing on a way of doing things, and eliminating much of the noise surrounding the million other possible things you could be doing.

the first face of a light weight business...

Getting People cycling on the other side of the

world

The weigh-in - Challenge for

change•$12,000 in cash invested

•3 people at 60%, 50%, 5% for 4 months

•1 Person in UK, 2 people in NZ

•20,000 pounds of revenue

•40,000 miles, 6,100 liters of petrol saved, 900 people, 67 businesses,

•Contract for $250k over next 18 months

I’m Tim...and I’m a lightweight

I Build Businesses and Communities

Achieve your Business Plan

New Zealands StartUp Community

Design Online Communities that Grow

Get more People Cycling

Get People More Active

Open Global Community of New Zealand Businesses

I write / Talk / BlogWellington Hi-tech Community

Building a Great Business

Journeys Starting Businesses

The 7 Keys of

Lightweight

1. Light on Time...

Big things come from small bits of

time...

run it from the couch

and the deck...

the walk to work, the queue, the waiting

for your friend, the 10 minutes while your stirfry is simmering, the quiet ride in the passenger seat, while lying

half naked in bed...

Multi-Business or SideJob itYou get simply heaps done when spend

a few solid hours on a venture in a day...

Often when you’re all done and dusted on one business, you still have some natural energy for another, so you can just pop into it fresh and get some stuff done.

midnight service...the world is always awake... say

hi

2. Light on complexity...

Its only complicated if you make it that way

There are a million ways to look at your business, so its a choice to decide that your business will be simple.

Focus - There’s only what you

need to doYou can scheme what could be and follow the usual process of businesses, but we haven’t ben building lightweight businesses before now, so don’t be afraid to just do what you need to, and don’t put things in place that you don’t need yet or very soon.

3. Light on Bulls#@!

The Homepage Business

Heavy weight - ‘the web is a powerful channel’

Light weight - If my homepage makes sense and everyone gets us and knows how to become a customer, then we’re on track.

The pen version...

The real deal...

The pen version...

The real deal

4. Light on Infrastructure...

The Lifestyle Office - No LAN, just a lappy, a

phone, and some online toolsWhen you only use online tools for

running your business, you don’t just cut cost, or save time, or improve efficiency... sure you do all of that, but what you really do that gives you an edge unlike the others is you’re lean, can scale up easily and most importantly... you can run your business around your life...

PlanHQ - Achieve your Business Plan

So before I could really get my lightweight career cranking, I needed a way to turn ideas into action quickly, concepts into businesses, and businesses into part time teams working together around the world... enter... PlanHQ

5. Light on the purse...

Know your costs & Run a tight ShipThere are heaps of costs you could

incur, that might be useful... but these are the ones that all pile up and create a heavy weight P&L. Know each of your costs, don’t just let them keep coming in, and don’t leave your chart of accounts to your accountant - you should know your costs, they should all make sense and provide value.

6. Light on the environment...

The future of sustainable

businesstoday, the sustainability game is to get your carbon zro badge... And now we have large heavy weight organisations, spending even

more resource on getting their badge.

The real measure of a sustainable business will be one which provides the most value for the least resources used.

having a big office, requiring people to come into the office all

the time, having desktop computers, a server room, more people than you need to do

the job...

this is a picture of a modern corporate or government department. Yet they are trying

to claim carbon neutral? Paleeease...

sustainability, low carbon footprint, carbon zero... blah

blah, talk talk....

if you really care about the environment, then just go

lightweight

7. Light hearted...

it must be fun... or I’ll smash yousome of you may get the above

statement, some won’t, I’m not saying much, I’m just having fun, and talking shi... when you spend so much time making serious stuff happen, you have to just let stuff float away and just laugh at any and everything, you’re on a journey, and if you want to sustain it through the good times and the bad, you’ve got to roll into another level, where everythings all good...

Office Press-ups.. Gimme 20

Lift Dips...

Left over from an underwear venture...

bra saturation...

I’m Tim Norton, and

I’m a lightweight and

love it!

The pleasure is all mine, thankyou...

PlanHQ.com

start-up.co.nz

seamlessexperience.com

swindoncyclechallenge.org.uk

thenakedtrainer.netmadefromnewzealand.com (coming soon)siliconwelly.commakeithappenhq.comblogs-start-upjourneys.co.nz