In “the before times,” I met with a business owner who wanted help to sell his business. On the surface, his business looked like a highly commodified local business. The kind of business that is mainly undifferentiated from dozens of firms in any large city, and therefore, is pretty hard to sell. But when he…
So you’ve got just a few goals for this year, and you must accomplish them. You want to increase your commitment, but you feel resistance. Even though these goals are critical, you’re not sure that you will follow through. What’s that about? Commitment is scary Going all in on your goals means that if you…
After Tuesday’s message, you’ve narrowed down your expectations for 2022 to just the most critical initiatives, things that have to be accomplished. Good work! Now let’s make sure that they happen. How have you done in past years? Looking back over past years, what percentage of your annual goals got accomplished? Not how many did you…
Do your goals for this year involve starting a bunch of new initiatives? Expanding your marketing efforts? Landing new clients? Offering new services? Of course they do! I’ve never seen a company founder whose goals were, “Let’s do the same things as last year – just a little bit better.” What do you think your…
None of us got to the point where we were working non-stop because we thought it was a good idea! We did it because there’s so much work that needs to be done! Or so I thought. As I’ve been learning to slow down, I’ve discovered something unexpected. Most of the work I thought was…
When I was a kid, my dad would frequently tell me, “The time to rest is when all your work is done.” It was a good lesson for a teenager prone to lying on the couch reading a book all day! But as an adult, I’ve found that the reverse is true. The time to…
Shake up a snow globe, and the flakes swirl around and obscure the view. Let it sit, and things settle down. The view clears, revealing the scene that was there all along. When I run around, busy all the time, my brain keeps track of a thousand things. All those thoughts, loose ends, and unrealized…
I’m going to take the next couple of weeks off, so you won’t be hearing from me again until after the holidays. I used to be anxious about taking time off at the end of the year. Now I know, that there’s nothing more important than some time off; baking cookies, sitting by the fire,…
Agency owners are laser-focused on profit and productivity. And rightfully so, if we’re not productive, it’s hard to make a profit, and without profit, it’s hard to have an agency! But we need more than profit and productivity Think about your work, was there ever a time when it was produce, produce, produce, all day,…
Do you ever stop what you are doing and listen to the chorus inside your head? I just took 10 sec, and this is what I heard: What do you notice about this list? How do you think I would react if someone walked into my office and started blurting that stuff out to me?…