Re-commit (and "Invictus" is here!)

When entrepreneurs start a business, we throw ourselves all in. But over time, through challenge and resistance, we can kind of settle in and become a bit complacent.

“Me, complacent? Are you kidding? I’m the owner, the leader, I love this business…” 

Think about it. Is it time to re-commit?

Holes in the filter

Think about an employee who is underperforming, doesn’t fit, or isn’t working out in some way. Now think about when you hired them. Did you interview them 3 times? Were they interviewed at different places? Were they interviewed by different people in your company and did you meet afterwards to get a consensus? Did you check their skills and did you check their background/references?

Ok, so who’s really responsible for this employee underperforming?

What will you do differently next time? 

Strategy Matters

What is your overall strategy for finding and serving your customers?  What is your current strategy?

If you are thinking “What do you mean, what is my strategy? What kind of question is that? I’m not considering that right now,” then it’s what you should ask and consider right now.

Strategy affects your cost, your competitiveness, your market position, your growth and just about everything else. Get together with your team, and ask the obvious question that rarely if ever gets asked – “What’s our strategy?”

Batching tasks

If we mix tasks, it takes longer to get them done.  If we batch them, we can get them done faster.

For example, if we respond to all emails at once and clean out our inbox, or if we return all calls at once, or we go get all our supplies or see the people we need to see around the building…

Batching can make you more productive.

The source of wealth

If you want to get wealthy through your business, you need to access your higher self.  You can’t be petty, or negative towards others with any of the lower emotions.  You have to elevate yourself and mean it.

Sure, there are lots of business fundamentals to execute, strategies and decisions that you can’t flub if you’re going to make it…but lead, help and serve others because it’s in your heart to do so.  

Change Agent-in-Chief

Who can change the way your company markets?  Who can tweak/change the business model? Who can decide to change the way you sell and deliver?  Who can decide to train/retrain your employees? 

Will one of your employees come in today and start making these decisions?

See. Think. Decide. Act.

You are the one.

Cause and Effect

The marketplace is telling you, right now, “I like what you are offering this much”.

What do you have to change to make it “like your enterprise” better?

So what change will you, the leader, make TODAY?

Going fast nowhere, or going slow somewhere?

As leaders who used to be solopreneurs or “self-employed”, we confuse activity with progress. The more manic and fast paced our day, the more we associate it with working hard. But why work hard? To be “successful”. What if this idea of work life isn’t getting us there?

Instead, what if we identify exactly where we’re going – what we want it to be like when it’s just right. Then we identify what the key things are that must be changed, built or added to get us where we want to go. Then we decide on the most important one. Then we focused our attention and time and energy on the one thing we must get done now. Because we haven’t done it before it will feel like slow motion – it may not even feel like we’re “working” as we pursue this puzzle piece.  

Don’t stop.  And don’t work your butt off doing the same things that you did yesterday (and the week/month/year before that) that are not making any difference tomorrow (unless you like it).  

Do get clarity and go in the right direction. Any speed in the right direction is better than high speed in no particular direction at all.

How could your business work?

Sometimes we have to rise above it and ask questions about what we think we already know to see it clearly, or ask obvious questions that lead to fundamental innovation.

How does WalMart work?  They build a big store, advertise, people walk in and take things off the shelves and go to the register, pay, and walk out with them.  Well, Walmart just applied for a patent on warehouses in the sky. Like a big blimp with inventory, where drones deliver packages to the city below.  Imagine if you could order something and get it in a few minutes.

We do this, and customers do that, then….

How does your business work?  How could it work?

"Driving Under the Influence"

Top achievers love learning. Sure, they are busy, like you, but they make time. Like when driving. It’s “NET” time – “Not Enough Time” – we all have it.  

Feed your mind like you feed your body. Listen to audiobooks, podcasts, and other useful stuff while driving. A few years of that, and it will make all the difference to you.

“Formal education will make you a living.  Self education will make you a fortune.” – Jim Rohn

Tell me what you are listening to today with the orange button!