You often hear entrepreneurs talking about leaving a legacy but what exactly do they mean by this? Amassing a fortune to hand down to future generations of their family? Having a hospital wing named after them? In the final episode of the 20 Lessons Over 20 Years podcast series, Allon Raiz talks about the entirely different kind of legacy that he wishes to leave to his children . . .

Is succession planning only for large corporate companies? Not according to Allon Raiz who, in this episode of 20 Lessons Over 20 Years, advocates for early thinking about succession in entrepreneurial businesses. Having a succession plan in place not only makes your business more attractive to investors, it also helps to mitigate any potential crises in terms of leadership and management. Allon discusses supporting your middle management in terms of succession to increase your business’s performance and value.

So many entrepreneurs fall prey to the intoxication of complacency . . . They win their biggest deal ever. They overtake a competitor. They believe that they’ve made it – and then they take their foot off the pedal. The beginning of the end. In this episode of 20 Lessons Over 20 Years, Allon Raiz talks about two rules he has created to combat any chance of succumbing to complacency himself.

Whether you’re the CEO or a staff member, tightly holding on to knowledge and relationships effectively means career stagnation and eventually becoming a constraint in the business. In this episode, Allon Raiz discusses how you should be building a culture in which you encourage your management to delegate projects, processes and knowledge to other team members.

Without rhythmic, well-designed meetings, there is no order and no predictability and a very high probability of misalignment across the organisation. In this episode of 20 Lessons Over 20 Years, Allon Raiz discusses why meetings – done correctly – are actually one of the most important tools entrepreneurs have to drive strategy and communication.

In the whirlwind of starting a new business, the original vision tends to get lost for a while but, in Allon Raiz’ experience, if entrepreneurs don’t rekindle their relationship with their vision within two years of the startup grind, the business is far less likely to thrive. But, a word of caution, a vision statement is not the same thing as a vision. Allon has gone on record as saying the vision statement is a gross generalisation of a business direction and has little value in directing the business or inspiring the team. If you want to understand how to build a compelling vision, listen to this episode for some important lessons.

A common mistake entrepreneurs make as their businesses start to grow is confusing the concepts of delegation and abdication. In this episode of 20 Lessons Over 20 Years, Allon Raiz explains why knowing the difference can make all the difference.

Do you find yourself agreeing to a dramatic price drop to gain a client? Or caving in when a certain staff member demands a salary hike? In episode 13, Allon Raiz talks about the stark difference between the success rates of entrepreneurs who develop boundaries when dealing with staff and clients compared to those who don’t.

“Process sets you free” goes the saying. In episode 12 of the 20 Lessons Over 20 Years podcast series, Allon Raiz sets out to convince his listeners that process does indeed set entrepreneurs free to scale their businesses and make a profit. Even if you’re a startup, you definitely want to take note of this advice!

In business, every time you win over a new client, you are displacing a competitor. You have created an “enemy” simply because you have competed. This may seem fairly obvious but, in his more than two decades of working with entrepreneurs, Allon Raiz has encountered a large percentage of business owners who are afraid to compete. So, what is his advice around developing a competitive mindset

As entrepreneurs, we never stop making hiring mistakes. There are many reasons a hire could be bad for your organisation. Join Allon Raiz for episode 10 of the 20 Lessons Over 20 Years podcast series two find out what the two biggest reasons are behind hiring mistakes. He also shares some important pointers on staff recruitment processes that every entrepreneur needs to know.

An early quandary that most startup entrepreneurs have to face is getting the size of their business premises right and, if they’re renting the space, the duration of the lease. If you’re strapped for cash, you obviously don’t want to be paying for unnecessary space. At the same, though, when you start growing you may have to find new premises which may mean incurring penalties to terminate your current lease agreement early. In episode 9 of the 20 Lessons Over 20 Years podcast series, Allon Raiz talks about how to balance your current needs with your future needs when it comes to the size of your business premises.

Your financial statements provide detailed information regarding the financial health of your business. Too many entrepreneurs fail to produce accurate and timely financial statements, which has a negative impact on the growth of their businesses. As an entrepreneur, you need to consider the quality aspect of your financials: are they complete, accurate, and logical? These will not just appear; they are the result of strong financial discipline. Join Allon Raiz for episode 8 of 20 Lessons Over 20 Years to learn more about the importance of producing accurate financial statements for your business.

In episode 7 of 20 Lessons Over 20 Years, Allon Raiz discusses how too many entrepreneurs hand over the responsibility of their finances to an external accountant and, in effect, abdicate their responsibility when it comes to their business numbers. It is a trap that he, too, fell into when starting his entrepreneurial journey – right up until he ran out of money! The bank wouldn’t extend his overdraft, and his investors wouldn’t provide more funding. Only when he learned to embrace his finances was he able to turn things around.

In the startup years, the adage “the customer is king” remains fresh and deliberate in your mind. They are, of course, the king (or queen) and you are here to serve. This is the ideal narrative but every business at some point in the journey attracts a client who is abusive. It’s an important experience and a rite of passage, and how you manage this first abusive relationship will determine your business journey going forward. As an entrepreneur, you have two main directives. The first is to provide value to your clients, and the second is to receive value from your clients. Understanding the power differential and perhaps even sensing your desperation, some clients will take advantage of and squeeze the relationship to such an extent that it creates massive value for them and little or no value for you. The bottom line is that it’s hard to say no to a client, especially if they are your biggest. This rite of passage is the time for entrepreneurs to develop a sense of boundaries. When you understand the dual directive and deeply believe that you deserve to be paid for the value you provide, the idea of losing a client who doesn’t respect – or pay – you becomes easier to accept. Join Allon Raiz for episode 6 of 20 Lessons Over 20 Years to hear how to respectfully, but assertively, deal with abusive clients

The typical pattern in many small businesses is that they start with a monthly revenue line that is relatively flat and a similar-looking profit line (or rather a lack-of-profit line), along with a cash-flow line that points 45 degrees downhill. As the business starts gaining a little traction and more deals come in, at some point, there will be an exponential increase in deal sizes. Often, the increase in deal size somehow triggers a signal to the entrepreneur that they have now hit the big time, that the struggle is over, and their success is imminent. The entrepreneur might let ego and complacency creep in at this point. The entrepreneur may start exhibiting typical behaviour consistent with a false start. Are you perhaps susceptible to a false start? Join Allon Raiz in episode five of his podcast series 20 Lessons Over 20 Years to determine what you can do to give yourself the best chance of long-term success in business.

The business world is notorious for generating trendy concepts, phrases and buzzwords that become part of the general business lexicon – despite a common lack of understanding of what they actually mean. Best of breed, paradigm shifts, disruption, technology stack are just a few such buzzwords. A more recent example is “pivot”. This word is used to describe everything from starting something completely new to a minor iteration and everything in between. Everyone these days seems to be happily “pivoting” – in whatever form their change of direction may take. In its truest sense, a pivot is a significant change in strategic direction – the words ”significant” and “strategic” being key. A minor modification to your product, service or strategy is just that – an iteration or an upgrade. It would be a stretch to call it, as too many do, a pivot. But the most concerning interpretation is when an entrepreneur completely changes their business through a brand-new product or service and calls that “to pivot”. Join Allon Raiz for episode four of his 20 Lessons Over 20 Years podcast series to understand pivoting, and why you need to pause before you pivot.

There are two funding rules of thumb that too few startup entrepreneurs are aware of. One: The timeframe you predict you’ll break even is normally double in reality. Two: The funding you predict you need will turn out to be four times more than what you thought. These rules have massive implications for any business’s ability to survive the initial months and years of its existence. Common forms of startup funding are personal savings and credit card facilities. This is followed by the three Fs – friends, fools and family – and finally, you try the banks and investors. We present a magnificent j-curve of our three-year forecast while trying to convince them to part with their money. Because it’s embarrassing to approach family and friends for funding, we feel compelled to present the lowest possible amount we need to borrow with the quickest possible payback period. And so, when our “sure thing” doesn’t pan out in the way our Excel spreadsheet said it would, we find it difficult to go back to our “financiers” to either delay repayment or ask for more money. A vicious cycle has begun that few small businesses will live through. Join Allon Raiz for episode 3 of his 20 lessons over 20 years podcast series where he talks about the correct way to finance a business.

Many would-be entrepreneurs make the assumption that if a problem can be solved by a product or service, it amounts to a sustainable business. A cold toilet seat in the middle of winter is a problem that many people would love solved. However, there is a miniscule subset of people who would be prepared to pay for the installation and running costs of an electrically heated toilet seat for their home or office. Aspiring entrepreneurs erroneously view a market as a function of a perceived problem without considering whether people would be prepared to pay for the cost of solving that problem. Listen to episode two of 20 lessons over 20 years where Allon Raiz discusses the importance of taking time to honestly assess the market size, the ability of that market to pay the right price, and the right time to enter the market.

Anyone who has started a business recently or is about to start a business should ask themselves the serious question: Am I really an entrepreneur? At its core the question does not refer to the skills of an entrepreneur but rather to their characteristics. Statistics show that 96% of businesses do not see their tenth year (in fact, most do not even see their third year) but 100% of people who start a business believe that they will be successful, and most think of themselves as entrepreneurial. Listen to episode one of 20 lessons over 20 years where Allon Raiz discusses what it takes to survive as an entrepreneur.