Entepreneurship is not about generosity

If a salaried worker gives away money, do we call that entrepreneurship?  No.

Entrepreneurship is not about selflessness and generosity.  It’s about pursuing ones self interest and exercising talents and conquering challenges.

In order to be successful, an entrepreneur must learn to serve others – to make others lives better by providing the products and services others buy in voluntary exchange – as that customer pursues their own self interest.

If an entrepreneur does make money and wants to give it away that’s generous, and a whole different thing, but it has nothing to do with entrepreneurship or ones responsibilities.

Does that make sense?

Chocolate Covered Dog Crap

If monthly progress on solving your problems is so tiny that it’s hard to measure, you aren’t being radical enough in solving them.

Find out what you need to do, learn faster, (although my suspicion is most already know what to do) and get your old thinking out of the game and let the new thinking dominate!

Hope is not a strategy

When I see the word “hope” used as a slogan, I wonder what it means. Is someone “hoping” someone else will fix things?  

Hope is not an effective strategy. It is a merely a condiment that is only useful when applied to useful knowledge acquired, and disciplined action boldly taken. 

I hope I continue to do my part.

Financial Feedback

Many small business owners don’t get and use monthly financial statements.  Hire someone who can produce accurate statements and go over them each month.  Notice trends, gross margins, labor and material and other significant costs your business has.  Heck, notice everything!

Ask, what numbers do I need to improve to make a satisfactory profit?  Then ask HOW?  Then implement changes during the month to move the needles.  The next month, repeat.

It all boils down to numbers, and you need to know them.

Do you?

Who are your top 5?

Who are your top five MVP’s at work?

Tell them today.

A little note – “You’re of my top five MVP’s.  Thank you!”

Leader of…it all.

In a small business you are the leader of the marketing.  You are the leader of sales.  You are the leader of finance, and strategy, and the team, and training, and production.  

Your job is to grow your business by making yourself obsolete.  Get a leader of marketing who does it better than you do or can with your limited time for the job.  Then get a leader of sales.  Then finance and production.  Keep replacing yourself with people who are smarter or better than you are in that area.  

Don’t worry.  You’re more likely to be out of a job by NOT replacing yourself than by doing so.

Which part of you needs to be replaced most right now?

You were born to be successful

But it is not a given – you must prepare yourself and do the work.

Victory is sweet.  Work for it.

Get out

If you don’t think you can work without you physically being at your business, then you probably are working completely IN it, instead of ON it.

Each business and type of business is different, but I find these days that some of the most important work I can be doing I do at my home office.  I can get more done in less time without interruption. And there are certain mental tasks like writing, and analysis that are literally impossible to do, or do well with all my employees and daily activity around me.  

I love being at work and I love my employees, don’t get me wrong.  But my job requires about half of my time to be uninterrupted quiet time at my home office.

How about you? 

Growth environment

In some organizations, nobody wants any change.

A growth environment is one where people WANT to change.  

Have you created a growth environment at your company?

How achievers think about work

People that achieve great things love thier work.  They don’t see it as a punishment or burden to be minimized.  Work is a rewarding personal challenge.  Each day you get to see what you can improve, accomplish, achieve, build and create.

What does “work” mean to you?