In today’s episode of Your Business Brilliance we show you the 5 Proven Steps to a  Successful Business, how we can build a successful speaking business, and  how you go about finding and building relationships that will benefit you in the long term.
Bob Burg is a legend, one of the greats, up there with the best of them. He has written numerous best selling books, is a keynote speaker, having been invited to share his knowledge and views at conferences, sharing the platform with the likes of today’s top thought leaders,  Olympic champions, broadcast personalities, and political leaders including a former President of the United States. In the first part of the two part interview, how he achieved success,  and the Go Giver, an international best seller and the lessons that can be applied from to your business and life.

Bob is an amazing speaker, but there are many amazing speakers out there but they don’t have an audience. What I wanted to know from Bob was that how he went about building an audience. How did he get people to start listening to him?
Bob:                 Well what I did is…the first thing I did which was really great for my career was joining National Speakers Association. And I learned from so many of my new friends that I made there really how to build a speaking business. So that’s the key, I think you go into any business, Sanjay and you’ve got to learn how to do it. Is there a system in play?
I defined the system that’s simply the process of predictably achieving a goal based on a logical and specific set of How-To Principles. The key is predictability. If it’s been proven that by doing A, you’ll get the desired results of B then you know that all you need is to be willing to do A and do A consistently enough and eventually you’ll hit B. You’ll get the results you want. So I learnt the system of how to go about building a speaking business and I did that for really a few years very consistently and started to build a platform that was.
We’ve all heard of the saying "It’s not what you know, it’s who you know." But how do you get to know the people that you need to know so that they’d be able to help you out?
Bob:     All things being equal, people do business with and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust. And as you build relationships with people and as you do this, you know, and really shifting your focus from yourself, from what I call an Eye Focus or a Me Focus to another focus. Always looking for ways you can provide value to others. You begin to really create those connections. You create those relationships where people do feel good about. They do know, like or trust you and they want to provide value to you as well.
Bob shares the 5 key elements that are necessary to be successful in business. The same principles that he believes that Steve Jobs applied with Apple.
1. Value. What ever you do, you must impart value. Whether it be a product such as an iPhone or a blog post, it must be seen to be valuable for your audience. It doesn't have to be expensive, but it must be valuable. An example of that is a blog post on the say - the 3 best ways to make your child sleep when asked. It's immensely valuable for the audience - in this case parents.
2. Compensation. Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them. The more people you can reach, the more successful you can be.
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3. Influence. As Bob said "People do business with and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust".
4. Authenticity. Chances are that whatever you are selling, there is at least one other person doing the same. It's probably more like ten. The only thing difference from you and them is you. Be yourself. Those who like you will come back and recommend you. Those who don't, never were in the first place.
5. Receptivity. You must be open to receive. How many times has someone complimented you and instead of saying Thank You, you make excuses as to why it's nothing special. "Oh, this is an old dress." "No really, it's just meat and veggies thrown into a pot. Nothing special." Well, the person complimenting you thinks it is, so accept with grace. Don't belittle them by belittling yourself.
Links, Resources & Mentions

Bob's Website - www.burg.com
Bob on Twitter
Bob on Facebook
The Go Giver