(PIC: Ebay Posters)

Watching the Jose Mourinho MUFC press conference yesterday – it was clear that after a few disappointing seasons – a new era for Manchester United is on the cards

The confidence levels are up amongst the fans and there’s hope again. The fans that don’t have season tickets might actually start enjoying the pubs again rather than heads in hands at home. And there isn’t one fan that would trade backMourinho for Moyes or Van Gaal

One of the phrases I always hear from United fans when talking about rivals is the “Small Club Mentality” others have

And one of the things I always talk to small businesses about if you can still think big whilst celebrating all that is great about being a small business

So here are some key business takeaways from Jose Mourinho’s press conference arrival at MUFC

CONFIDENCE IS OK – IT OK TO WANT TO WIN
“I want everything. I want to win matches, I want to play well, I don’t want to concede goals. I want the fans to be behind us” Jose Mourinho

You had the confidence to launch a business and yet still it’s those nearest and dearest to you that probably fill you with doubt and fear

Your parents, your family, your friends are often the source of our greatest crisises of confidence

I recently chatted to a group of parentpreneurs in the area and it was almost universally agreed that family members had doubted them so many times, even when they’d achieved massive success in business

Confidence is 100% ok – it’s ok to go out there and state you want to be the best business of your type in town

You had that confidence to launch a business in place and I’m pretty sure when you launched you didn’t mentally say I’m launching this business to be the 5th best business in town

Be bold enough to say you want to be number 1 and you want everybody behind you

TALK ABOUT SUCCESS
“There are some managers who haven’t won titles for 10 years. Some of them never. The last time I won was a year ago” Jose Mourinho

If you don’t talk about your success – why should anybody else care enough to do so

It’s a peculiar British thing that we can feel we talk about what we do if only we edit out the success stories

People don’t like to boast, but as Muhammed Ali said “It’s not boasting, if you can back it up”

Never be silenced into not talking about success because you’re scared people will say it’s all “me me me”

If you don’t talk about success, the same people will say you never achieve anything.

Which would you want to known for?

BRING IN SPECIALISTS
“I am very clear in my approach and model to play and I need specialists in that” Jose Mourinho

Specialists by generalists every time is something I live by

You can’t be the best at what you do by bringing in generalists and jack of all trades to make up your team

You need to bring in the best specialists to make your vision come true

As small businesses we’re often guilty of doing everything ourselves – turning ourselves into the generalists and being good at one thing and bad at 10

Do a skills audit of what you have and what you need … and on the latter bring in the very very best

That’s how you make the perfect model

REMEMBER THE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH
“One lie repeated many times sometimes looks true, but it will never be true” Jose Mourinho

The quote above was in response to the claims from critics who have said that he does not give young players a chance. He responded that he’s actually brought through 49 youth players

In business when you achieve a degree of success you will face criticism from people who don’t know you, people who want to be you but won’t put in the hard word and more often than not competitors

They will often repeat lies and repeat them in packs in the belief that if they repeat then enough times they become truth

The truth is the truth and that is only narrative people will believe in the long term, so keep on the path of truth and ignore the critics by talking in facts rather than riddles

FOCUS ON WHAT’S IMPORTANT
“”I am the manager of the biggest club in the UK… so I’m going to focus on ourselves” Jose Mourinho

A minute focused on the competition / criticism is a minute that could be focused on your own business or your customers

Hero yourself. Hero your customers. Hero your suppliers. Hero your network. Hero those that support you

It’s not selfish – it’s focusing on love rather than hate

And it will serve you well

CHAT TO US
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Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk

Alex

Alex McCann is owner of Altrincham HQ – a social media management and training company based in Altrincham, Cheshire that has worked with 100s of local business developing their social media strategy. Alex has 350+ LinkedIn testimonials and is ranked number 1 for Social Media Marketing in the UK via independent customer reviews on Freeindex.