The Power of Leverage

Written By Julie Entwistle MBA, BSc (OT), BSc.

Benjamin Franklin said that people can either “buy wisdom or borrow it.” To buy wisdom you make the mistakes yourself. To borrow it, you learn from others.

The optimal leveraging of your abilities will help you achieve more than you could otherwise.

Understanding Leverage

Leverage includes delegation, and this was discussed in other blogs.

But leverage can also include other things. Consider these:

  1. Energy. Highly effective people give off a certain energy. Spend time with people whose energy you feel positively impacts your own.

  2. Knowledge. Highly effective people are always scanning their lives, and the things and people around them for more knowledge. Reading, websites, social posts, podcasts, conferences, conversations. Are you doing this?

  3. Money. Highly effective people know how to borrow money or use money to their advantage. They know the difference between an investment and an expense. Both require cash, but investments are meant to return themselves in multiples.

  4. Success. Highly effective people know how to leverage the success of others. Study other successful people and their businesses. They study the companies they want to emulate. This can include studying them as people, or studying outcomes (good or bad).

  5. Failures. Benjamin Franklin said that people can either “buy wisdom or borrow it.” To buy wisdom you make the mistakes yourself. To borrow it, you learn from others. Who has failed in your field? What can you learn from that?

  6. Ideas. One good idea, implemented well, can change the course of your life. But the person that reaps the benefits is the one that acts. Ideas without actions have no value. Making other people’s ideas better counts as a strategy for success.

  7. Contacts. Knowing people who know people, or getting a friendly introduction, are faster ways to grow a network. Ask to be connected or leverage social media to mine for new opportunities to build your bank of contacts.

Want to learn more? Let’s connect. 

Adapted from “Effectiveness 2.9 The Power of Leverage” by FocalPoint Coaching and Training Excellence, Copyright 2018, by Brian Tracy and Campbell Fraser. Reprinted with permission.

Julie Entwistle MBA, BSc (OT), BSc.

Julie Entwistle is a Certified FocalPoint Business Coach and works with business owners and professional service providers.

Julie helps her clients by building their business confidence so they can run, grow, and develop legacy practices that are focused and optimally successful. Julie knows that when professional service businesses do better, their clients also benefit. She knows this because she was one! Prior to joining FocalPoint, Julie was an independent owner of her own healthcare business before successfully merging, growing, and selling the practice. As an owner Julie had her own business coach, and this was a key element in her success.

Academically, Julie has degrees in Health Studies and Gerontology and Health Science (Occupational Therapy) from the University of Waterloo and McMaster, respectively, and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier. She attended Queens University as a part-time Doctorate student prior to discontinuing her studies in 2023. Julie is also a Chartered Director and has Board and governance experience.

Julie grew up in a franchise family, so business is in her DNA. She has raised four daughters who are off writing their own stories as young adults. Julie is active and fit with a black belt in Karate, a competitive golf game, and enjoys many other sports. She believes in authenticity, showing kindness to all living things, and is happiest when helping others to build their own wealth and wellness.

Find Julie on LinkedIn at: linkedin.com/in/julieentwistle

https://www.businessyou.ca
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