Today we were fortunate enough to be asked to speak at the Chelsea Foundation’s “Edge of the Box Club”. The club is aimed at supporting small businesses and start ups and we were joined by around 200 people at various stages of setting up their own business. We were lucky to be joined by two other speakers offering their own insights.

Anthony MacGuire left Facebook recently after a period advising corporate organisations on how to use Facebook as an effective platform to engage their clients with. He talked about the three factors that he felt were most present at Facebook as an organisation and that he felt were relevant to anyone setting up a business:

• Mindset – Facebook are constantly testing, learning and iterating and this has allowed them to continue to effectively innovate
• Internationalism – being focused internationally from an early stage allows you to identify opportunities you might not otherwise recognise
• Company culture – a lot is spoken about this but having a culture that allows people to express themselves and where they aren’t afraid to fail is crucial

Anthony went on to identify three factors that resonated with his own personal experiences as an individual:

• Questions – differentiate between the macro questions such as what drives you from the more micro questions such as “Do I go for that promotion.”
• Inputs – work out where your inputs come from. Who are the most influential people in your immediate circle who input into your life. Surround yourself with the right inputs
• Unique Selling Point – your personal USP will come from the sum of your own life and although he didn’t say so directly this is a combination of the answers to those questions and the inputs around you

Anthony was followed by Marcus Thomlinson, who left the finance sector after realising he wanted to help people deal with the stress that he realised he’d been feeling. Marcus spoke about seven attributes that he feels successful people display:

• They have the right attitude
• They have a vision. They are clear on what they want and why
• They really have a plan. Not only do they have a plan but they follow and review it at regular intervals
• They set the right goals
• They manage stress. Stress can be a positive thing, it depends how it is managed and channelled
• They do the thing that needs doing first. They don't put off the difficult conversation or boring routine but important work. They get that done and then have the space to do the interesting work
• They surround themselves with the right people. This feeds back to Anthony's point about inputs

There was a lot of crossover between both speakers and how Applied Influence Group see the world. Our model of understanding yourself and others, communicating effectively and managing your own emotions, and successfully influencing those around you can help you implement Anthony and Marcus's frameworks.