“Like” is reciprocal

The more people you like, the more people like you.

Do you like a lot of people?

Do you like all your employees?

If you do not like many people, something in YOU is the reason.

If you can come to understand how your brain is working and rewire it some, you can come to drop your prejudices, insecurities, and jealousies.

This takes work but it certainly can be done if you want to.  (Books – The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene, The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer, Awareness by Anthony de Mello).

The more people you like, the more people like you, and that makes the world a whole different, productive and happier place – for you.

A leader is always a bit miserable if they are good.

It’s a Paradox.  We are reaching for something we will never attain – if we are good.

When get to the top of a mountain, we realize it was only a hill, and can see another higher mountain in the distance.  

If we are ever satisfied we stop.  But we are not the kind of person who is ever satisfied or we would not have begun in the first place.

But we must not let continued desire for what we do not have yet make is completely miserable.

We have to balance being happy in the present and proud of where we are based on where we started, with enough dissatisfaction of where we are based on where we could be.

We can’t let complacency or frustration ruin us.

“Learn to be happy with all you have, while you strive for all you want.” – Jim Rohn

Are you in the sweet spot of this tension?

Confidence is contagious

People want to know that the leader knows what he/she is doing, and can steer the ship they are on to a better place – or at least avoid the rocks.

We are wired to be very perceptive about how others feel.  We notice their body language and voice and facial expressions and see if they are congruent with what they are saying.  We know when others are confident or not.

If our leader is not confident, there is no way we are.  

If you are not confident in what you are doing, there is no way your team is.

If your team is not confident in you or where your company is going, they will not give their best effort in a given direction because they are unsure like you are.  They will question what they are doing and why, and they may leave.

Leadership is bringing out the best in other people while accomplishing the goals of the organization.  The balance between people giving their best or not is very well the difference between success and failure – profit and loss.

There is an inner game that drives confidence, but in the end, you have to have it to spread it.

Are you confident?

Make your business lighter

Revenue – Direct Costs = Gross Profit – Indirect Costs = net profit.

Yesterday we talked about increasing gross profit dollars coming in to pay for indirect costs (G & A expenses) so we can have a better net profit.

What if we had less Indirect expenses to pay?  

Look at all your expenses closely.  What can you cut without hurting your business?

If your gross margin is 40%, for every dollar in indirect expense you cut you can lower your breakeven by $2.50.

For every dollar cut in indirect expenses, you will send that dollar to your net profit.

Financial illiteracy is very expensive.

Be smart.  Take the time.  You got this.

You run your business on gross profit

Revenue – Direct costs = Gross Profit.  

Direct costs are cost you incurred BECAUSE you sold that thing.  Direct Labor, Materials, Sales Commission, etc.  If you didn’t sell it, you would not have those costs.

So the revenue you have minus your direct costs = gross profit dollars.  That is what you run the business on.

Gross profit dollars pay for indirect costs (“General and Administrative” costs) including marketing, all the people in the office and warehouse, vehicles, insurance, IT, etc., etc.  

Most importantly, what is left over from gross profit after all indirect costs are paid is NET profit.

You run your business on Gross Profit.

So, what is your gross profit?  To increase it you can raise your prices, or sell more, or lower your direct costs.

What do you need to do now to have more gross profit dollars come into your business from operations?

Your business is riding on your salespeople

I see businesses with as much as 5x difference in sales results from the top salesperson to the bottom one.

5X!

Imagine if you had less people like the ones at the bottom and more like the ones at the top?

True, there will always be a top performer and a bottom one on the team.  Even the world series winner had a guy with the top batting average and one with the bottom batting average.  But as a leader, I need to build the All-Star team line up and not the last place team lineup.  

First ask – “Is it me (us)?”  

Is it that you aren’t training/motivating/managing the team well?  If that is your problem, fix that first.

Then ask, do I have the right people?  Are they hungry, want to be here, excited, disciplined and do people like them?

So often we are examining many smaller issues in our business and overlooking this huge factor in our organizations success.

I know companies that can double their company by energizing their sales team and replacing salespeople who are not the right ones.

Is that your company?

Nothing happens until someone gets excited!

Communicating your vision….Enrolling others in your mission…..marketing….selling….rallying your team…

Excitement is contagious, enthusiasm rubs off, and ambition drives.

Who is excited in your organization?

The leaders ought to be!

Are you!

Could and should are different.

When you have a business with a team and some resources, lots of things become possible.

But just because you could, doesn’t mean you should.

Saying yes is fun for an afternoon, but it is a lot of work and it can be expensive.  

It can also take attention away from your core mission.

You could, yes.  But should you?

Discounts come out of net profit

Revenue – direct costs = gross profit – indirect costs = net profit.

If you give a discount, your revenue goes down, but your direct and indirect costs stay the same.

The discount comes right out of net profit.

Discounting is not a good way to get new business.

Double down or change course?

If an idea doesn’t work, don’t necessarily double down to make it work.

Maybe it was a bad/dumb/wrong idea in the first place.

Leaders need to recognize the best course of action.

What is not working in your business or life right now?