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, audio-tape programmes etc.

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

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.

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 newspapers, magazines, newsletters or ezines.

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. Each time I seem to come home buzzing with ideas. "The only purpose of a business is to bring in a customer; and there are really only two ways to do it... through Marketing or Innovation." Noel Peebles

Next, make a list of people who can help you. You want to make sure people you ask are able to give you what you want. For instance, you wouldn't want to ask for a $100,000 loan from somebody who is having a hard time paying rent each month. You could ask all day long and never get loan! Ask people who can help you.

Before you ask, think about what value you will provide to them. For instance, you can get a person to give you a million dollars if you bring them more than a million dollars in value first.

You could ask for a loan, and you could say to person giving you loan that in return for loan, you will give them partial ownership in your business. This is essentially what stock market is only companies are public as opposed to private.

Or you could say to lender that you will give them all net profits from company until loan is paid in full, plus interest. Would you invest in such a company with this kind of deal? Many people would, and do!

What about those smaller things you need to build your business? Can you ask for help there too? Of course you can! And you must!

It makes no difference how much you know about your industry, your products, or even your business, there is always room to learn more! I realized this early on when I would meet business owners all time who were not making any money in their businesses, yet they appeared to be very talented at their craft. Something wasn't making sense.

I studied them and discovered that while they were true experts in their chosen field, they had little or no knowledge or experience in many other areas of running and building their business. Most of these people will hang on for dear life or simply close after a short time and all they had to do was ask for help they needed.

You see we all need help. Even top people in our society have a team. They have advisors, they have mastermind groups, they have coaches, mentors, role models. They have help and they are not afraid to ask for it!

You and I are too close to our businesses. We miss some obvious distinctions that could result in windfall profits because we try too hard to know it all or do it all alone.

What if you were to get a mentor? What if you were to ask somebody who knows marketing down cold, for example, to help you with your marketing? If you are struggling in that area, asking for help is fastest way to go from being in pain to enjoying hefty profits!

And, good news is that YOU get to enjoy benefits, credit, and lifestyle of success because you made decision to find out what you wanted help with, who could help you, and you reached out and asked for that help.

Success does not have to be hard. Success does not have to take decades. And success can and should be yours starting right now if you are willing to open up and ask for help.

My business today is successful because I have learned how to ask for help. I know what I am building. I know where I am headed. And I know what I will need along way to make my dreams a reality. Wouldn't it feel great if you could help me get what I really want out of life? I know it would feel great for me to be able to help you. All you have to do is ask.