4. Re-educate The Mind There is an old saying, "you never stop learning" and it's true. If you are willing to make a personal commitment to perpetual re-education you'll reap rewards. Allocate an annual budget (maybe 1% of your turnover) for personal and staff re-education. Consider training courses, seminars, workshops, audiotape programs etc.

5. Become A Case Study Consider approaching a local college or polytechnic that runs business courses. Offer your business as a case study in return for feedback from students.

6. Become A Surfer There is a wealth of information on Internet and most of it is free. Search other areas of business rather than just your own as you might be able to adapt a totally unrelated idea. 7. Read And Subscribe You can often find ideas in most unlikely places. Business, fashion and trade magazines are all worth a browse. These days it's easy to subscribe to any number of overseas publications.

8. Travel Opens your eyes visit similar (or even unrelated) businesses overseas. You'll be surprised at how freely many of them share their knowledge; after all you are not a threat to them. In my travels I have made it a point to visit factories that make strangest things, huge shopping malls, numerous small businesses and international marketing companies. I must work, because each time I seem to come home buzzing with ideas.

7. If you are new to field of seminars and workshops, make sure you carry out a series of practice runs before you try to impart your wisdom to paying customers. There are lots of thing that can (and will) go wrong. Things like having wrong content; like reaching end of your time and finding that you only covered half of what you expected; like finding you pitched content way above their heads - or too far below; like not having anticipated what questions would be asked - and worse, not knowing answers. Run your seminar at least twice, completely free-of-charge - cost to delegates being that they have to give you honest feedback.

8. Don't forget leave-behinds. The better package that you can give people to take away, more valuable they will think seminar was. I run a seminar on presentation skills. Delegates pay up to $1000 each to attend 2-day course. When they arrive, I give them a leather presentation wallet with a crisp new yellow pad inside and three colors of pen. As each session ends, I give each person a beautifully color printed document that covers all main points covered in easy to refer to summary form. At end of course, everyone is given a CD with all slides and exercises used over 2 days, plus a load of extra information - articles, back copies of my e-zine, links to Internet sites and so on. Of course, all of this stuff is branded with my name. The perceived value of this package is considerable, but in reality it costs me less than $30 a head. Not a bad gift for someone who has spent $1000!

9. Have a back end. Don't plan one workshop, plan two. Make sure everyone who attends is sold on next workshop (maybe with a special discount offer). Consider selling any products that you recommend. Many big names who run seminars make a bundle from selling books and tapes at back of room.

10. Finally, remember that people will thank you if they learn something, but they will only recommend you if they have fun in process.