What if we train them and they leave?

What if you don’t and they stay?

How will you know when you have won?

That’s what some people ask – When will you be done?  How much is enough?

It’s a good question if you think accumulation of trophies or material things is the game that is being played.  But success is a journey, not a destination.  A personal challenge to see how big of an impact or contribution you can make.  In this, it will never be over until we are satisfied, relent, or decide to do something else.

We win when we say we win.

Crush it on Friday

Today is Friday.  

You know what your top priorities are – those highest value activities you could be doing that will have the greatest positive impact on your business in the future…

Finish strong!

Integrating knowledge into your action

Many people learn a lot of stuff, but never change their working habits or action.

Just a few changes to what you actually do with your business can make a huge difference.  

Have you allowed ideas to influence your actions?

I'm angry – I'll fire someone!

When things don’t go our way, we get mad.  When we get mad we want to take action.  What can we do to rid ourselves of these problems?  “I know, I’ll fire the employee who made this mistake!”

The problem is that if you ask why the employee made the mistake, and ask why to the answer, and ask why to that answer – eventually you’ll come to the real reason – you didn’t train them well enough, you didn’t lead them well, set expectations, give them the resources to do their job, create a good culture, or put the right systems in place.  If you get rid of them and do the same thing with their replacement, the same thing will happen.

Don’t fire people because YOU messed up or because YOU have a bad attitude.  

Get positive, and get to work to fix it. 

The perils of being a "Yes Man"

Capable people like to show they are capable by doing lots of things.  People that see opportunity everywhere like to take advantage of those opportunities.  Jugglers like to see how many balls they can juggle – and they find out when they start dropping them – usually all of them at once.

Saying yes to everything “because you can”, “because you think it would be interesting, fun, exciting and want to see what happens”, or “because someone asked you and you don’t want to disappoint them”, is a recipe for being overworked, unhappy, strained personal relationships, and ultimately failing or not finishing many of the projects you started.

Focus your talents, time and energies on one, or just a few things in this chapter of your life, and be great at them.

It’s ok.  Just say no.  

It's fun to START stuff

Many entrepreneurs think big, dream big, and would go after Moby Dick in a rowboat – and bring the tartar sauce with them! They get some adrenaline and glory from just declaring a new venture and lining up on the starting line.  But starting, even starting well, is only part of what is required for it to end well. 

You’ve got to examine the results you are getting from your action, make adjustments, and take more action.  Then you have to notice the results you are getting again, make changes and take more action. Then you repeat this process about a thousand more times over 20 years, all while maintaining your enthusiasm for the journey and never giving up.

THEN you can mix up a new batch of tartar sauce!

How do you (de)motivate people?

They usually come to your company motivated on the first day.

The most important thing to do is avoid de-motivating them.

Have you suppressed their motivation with unnecessary rules, policies, treating them like children, signs, scolding them, swearing at them, bad attitudes, or allowing their department manager to dispense any of the above?

Stuck with "A beginner's profit"

Have you lived the same business owner’s life over and over? Do you have one year experience 15 times or 15 years experience?  Are you getting better at running this thing?

"Hidden Profits"

If you have $20,000 in receivables on Jan 1, and $60,000 in receivables on Dec 31, you made $40,000 and loaned it to those that owe you money.  If you have $20,000 more in product inventory at the end of the year than at the beginning, you made $20,000 and decided to buy inventory for future jobs with it.  (Hopefully the inventory is usable and still relevant.)

If you bought a new truck or computer or desks or buildings, (things that last and provide you benefit longer than a year), you made money and decided to invest it in your future.  Many business owners don’t make as much money as they had hoped, but have built/invested in their businesses to be greater profit generators in the future.

What “hidden profits” did you have last year?