In a “normal” year, we would be in the middle of the busiest hiring season of the year. About half of searches and new hires occur between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. This is far from a typical year, but I still see a fair amount of hiring going on among my clients. We’ve gotten beyond the lockdown and the fear that the economy is going to crash. Many of you are experiencing substantial growth in the second half of 2020, and you might be thinking about adding to the team! How do I hire now! But hiring during the pandemic introduces some challenges. We’re doing video interviews, instead of in person. With everyone remote, am I looking only at local candidates, or can I broaden … [Read more...]

Most of us have been doing some version of WFH for at least 5 months now. Things that we thought we’d never do 5 months ago, interviewing candidates, on-boarding employees, pitching for work, doing a kick-off meeting or strategy meeting with a new client, brainstorming and refining creative ideas…we’ve done all those things at this point. To do that we’ve adopted new tools and ways of working, most of us are still beginners in our use of remote tools. I can’t wait to see what we’ll be doing once we get good at breakout rooms, polls, and all the whiteboard and prototyping tools we’re experimenting with. What does this mean for our businesses going forward? We can find talent … [Read more...]

We are in the middle of the most important three months of the year for B2B services companies. It’s budget season, and your clients and prospects are making their plans for 2021 over the next few weeks. Do you have a plan to get money allocated to projects you can complete for them? 1. Budget Season is an immense pain in everyone’s butts. Your client has a job, but then in budget season, they have a whole other job – working on the budget! They guess at what folks want; they get feedback about what’s available, they submit revision after revision-- one likes it (except the CFO). Your clients are going to be a little more crabby unless you are there to help them with their budget! 2. … [Read more...]

If you run a B2B business, this is “go time.” We’re in the playoffs. It’s showtime. Use whatever metaphor gets your juices flowing, but it’s a crucial time to set your business trajectory for 2021. Over the next 100 days, your clients are making plans for 2021. They are setting priorities, creating budgets, and laying out their key initiatives. You want to be a part of that conversation! At the same time, they are trying to spend down their 2020 budgets and finish up their 2020 initiatives. You want to be a part of THAT conversation too! The uncertainty that 2020 has brought complicates both of those conversations. Most of the plans made boldly in the Fall of 2019 have been … [Read more...]

In his famous book Good to Great, Jim Collins writes about interviewing Admiral James Stockdale, who was a POW in Vietnam. There’s one line from that interview that has remained seared in my brain ever since. Collins asked Stockdale about how he dealt with the cruelty, the deprivation, and the uncertainty of not knowing if he’d ever get out. His reply was: “I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.” He went on to say: This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford … [Read more...]

Last week I wrote to you about the challenges I was having. I got several nice notes back from you, encouraging me. I appreciate that! My attitude lifted seeing your notes and reading your replies. This week I’ve been talking with more business owners who are facing similar challenges. With all the change and stress 2020 has brought, our resilience is dwindling, it’s hard to make a plan, to start something new. But Labor Day is passed, school is back in session, and it’s time to get serious about closing out 2020 on a positive note. Sure, this has been a chaotic year, full of challenges and uncertainties. AND: Your clients are still putting their 2021 budgets together They … [Read more...]

Yeah, I had a rough week with my emails. First, on Saturday, I send out an email about my new video helping owners of expert firms to make key strategic choices about how they build their business. BUT, I didn't include a link to the video! Thanks for those of you who reached out for the link, I appreciate you! Then on Tuesday I messed up the scheduling and sent out both Tuesday's email about what I learned from my sales cohort and Thursday's email about living a bigger story on the same day! I've got a new marketing team starting next week! Hopefully we'll get these issues worked out. In the meantime have a great Labor Day weekend, I'm not going to send an email over the weekend … [Read more...]

In the wake of the death of Chad Boseman, my wife and I cued up Get on Up, the James Brown biopic that he stared in. James Brown has an unbelievable story. Born in abject poverty, abandoned by his parents, incarcerated at 17, he followed the only thing he loved. Music. But the thing that moved me about the story, the thing I can’t get out of my head, was the way Brown overcame every barrier put in front of him. While repeatedly being told no, no, no, Brown just kept on making them into YES. You can’t take a gospel show into honky-tonks. But he did. You can’t leave the Chitlin' Circuit and headline in white venues. But he did. You can’t break Payolla and get played on … [Read more...]