What a shambles.

The three lions turned out to be pussy cats. Yesterdays performance by our overpaid, over indulged and over rated football team has left huge disappointment across the country. I really thought they would come good in Blumfontein and put in a performance but it was not to be. They really were abject and doubtless the inquest will begin for real today – and so it should. We could and should have done much better.

Of course Lampards ‘goal that wasn’t a goal’ will also capture some headlines, and rightly so. I think Sepp Blatter and John Motson are the only two people in the world not in favour of introducing goal line technology. It exists. It’s been tried and tested and it can deliver certainty in moments, just like it does in tennis and cricket and rugby and American football. Yet FIFA resist its introduction, against all logic and common sense. Yesterdays decision by the Uruguay referee and linesman was embarassing for the sport. Surely now progress will be made. The next World Cup will have goal line technology at least – one positive legacy from yesterdays Engand debacle.

So what has all this got to do with your business? Oh, plenty, I can tell you.

What innovation are you NOT using in your business that you should?

What technique are you failing to implement and adopt against all common sense?

Where are you behaving like Sepp Blatter and how embarassed are you about it? More importantly, are you going to grasp the nettle, decisively and put it right?

Here are just three possibilities:

• Social Media – hardly any business owners are using it properly and engaging with local people to build their business. Yet Twitter and Facebook is where the people are – and they’re free to engage with. It’s as obvious as Lampards shot…

• Database and CRM – the most valuable asset you’ll ever own in your business is your database – but its worthless if you’re not using it. The ball is a yard over the line on this one…yet so many business still haven’t seen it.

• Newsletters – still the most useful, most valuable way, bar none, to nurture relationships and boost sales yet still only practised by a handful of businesses despite everyone else in the stadium seeing it clearly.

OK, the analogies are becoming a little stretched but the point is clear. When you saw that ball cross the line yesterday you marvelled at the idiocy of the officials and the intransigence of the games administrators that denied England a goal. Today, with World Cup fever receding, marvel constructively at your own failure to see the blindingly obvious and make a vow – and a commitment – to implement one thing that you know you should have done months ago. Your failure to do so will not only be embarassing but could cause real long term damage to the future of your game!

We ran two events on Monday for almost 200 restaurant owners. They came along to a seminar and as a result of what they learned, lots of them have signed up for our brilliant ‘done-for’you’ marketing solution for restaurants. ( if you’re interested). The event was an excellent recruitement vehicle for us.

I went to Royal Ascot yesterday. An amazing event which generates huge amounts of money for the organisers.

The World Cup is giving economies all over the world – and especially in South Africa – a huge boost right now. It’s an event.

Pat Parkin, 100 Club member in my Entrepreneurs Circle, is having an event this weekend in her beauty salon in Hinckley, Leicestershire, to launch her new VIP Member programme. (I’m sure it will go well – good luck Pat).

You see ‘Events’ work.

Every month we have an ‘Open Day’ for potential thebestof franchisees to come in to Head Office, meet me and the team and existing franchisees. It’s a key part of our recruitement process. It’s an event.

If you’re not running events in your business then you’re missing out hugely.They focus attention, get interest and make money.

You should do one…

Well, what a disappointment Friday’s World Cup match agianst Algeria was.

Over the weekend the inquests have come thick and fast. What amuses me is that everyone has a view – and they all think they are right. Past players, former managers, journalists that have never played professional sport in their lives (although you’ve gotta love Piers Morgans article in the Mail yesterday) and then there’s the fans. Everyone has a view.

Thankfully, Fabio Capello is old enough and wise enough to know who to listen to. Just because everyone has a view does not make all views equally valid – yet I meet a lot of people in business who listen to advice from people who are clearly not qualified to give such advice.

Let me give you an example. You’ve all seen it – the ‘S’ registration Ford Escort, rusting wheel arches, missing hub caps and across the back window a vinyl saying “Talk to me about how you can achieve financial freedom, call 0121 etc”

Yeah, right. The person driving an 18 year old rust bucket is clearly qualified to give advice on how to achieve financial freedom!

You have an idea for your business, something you want to do. Who do you go to for a view or advice as to whether to push ahead or not, or on how to make it even better? A lot of people seek counsel from the wrong people. And there is a ‘3 Your Crazy’ rule at work here. If 3 people tell you ‘you’re crazy’ you’ll drop the idea – even if it’s a good idea, because the feedback from 3 people, all of whom may be completely unqualified to provide comment, means more to you than sticking to your gunbs and doing what you believed was right in the first place.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a place for guidance and advice. It’s what the Entrepreneurs Circle is all about, after all. Just make sure that when you ask for advice or guidance you are asking – and listening to – the right people. People who are qualified, who have done what you want to do, who have a track record in the right areas.

Don’t listen to any Tom Dick or Harry – it can seriously damage your wealth.

And yes, I have complete faith in Fabio’s ability to do the right things and effect the right changes – because I know he’ll listen to the right people. We’ll be OK on Wednesday, just you wait and see!

I’ve met the three people today who have used the phrase “When I win the lottery …” in their conversations with me. This is not good.

The odds of winning the National Lottery in the UK are, statistically one in 13,983,816. Let’s call it one in 14 million. So if you buy one ticket you have a 14 million to one chance of scooping the jackpot. That is a ridiculously long odds and whilst it doesn’t stop me buying a ticket every week (yes, I do, honestly) it is only one ticket and it doesn’t, in any way, form part of my life plan or financial goals.

I have been fortunate enough to win £10 on five separate occasions … – which is not a fantastic return given that the first lottery draw was in November 1994 (yes, it really is almost 16 years ago since it first started).

So far, I’ve spent £1,422 on my tickets for each draw (I do enter the midweek draw as well!) and for that I’ve had a return of £50. Life-changing!

The financials don’t worry me. I’m in the draw every week, it’s a bit of fun and a four-figure “loss” like that over 16 years isn’t going to hurt me. What would hurt me would be a situation where my happiness and fulfilment in life depended on a 14 million to one shot coming in. That’s a rubbish way to live your life, which is why I find it so sad that three people today used that phrase with me. Just think about it. Think about all the implications of what you are saying. (and don’t tell me it’s juts a figure of speech and people don’t really mean it – they do. These are poor people who right now haven’t got the money to come to Royal Ascot with me, or the theatre in London or a weekend break in Spain – an dtheir strategy to change their situation is – “when I win the lottery”. Pfui.

Despite all the economic traumas that prevail at the moment there’s never been a time with more opportunity than the one that we are living in right now, this week, today. All the resources that are available, online, in libraries and elsewhere mean that anyone – and I do mean anyone – with a dream, a bit of passion, and a dedicated work ethic really can achieve whatever it is that they want to do.

So, to the person who said that they’d like to go to Royal Ascot, in the Royal Enclosure … “when I win the lottery …” – You could go next year if it mattered enough to you.

If you have never been to the Caribbean and you’d like to go on a family holiday then get into gear, make a plan, do something that will generate the money and get on the plane and go. But don’t consign it to the “it will never happen, I’m not worthy” box by saying that you’ll go to the Caribbean “when I win the lottery …”.

And I know some people say this is harsh, but it’s not. It’s just true. We’re all responsible for our destiny in life. We all make choices about what we do with our time and energy. We can waste it, lying in bed, watching TV or standing in a queue to buy lottery tickets … but there is an alternative and it is a much more sensible strategy, I promise you.