There’s nothing that makes me feel more like a failure than when I don’t know if I’m going to have the cash to cover payroll. Vendors can wait, you can negotiate with bankers, even landlords will give you some leeway. But when your payroll is late you are affecting the lives and families of your…
My client called because he was going to have to skip his paycheck this week. Something that hadn’t happened in a long time. “Brad, I used to be able to keep track of my business in one spreadsheet. I had my pipeline on one tab, and my income on another tab and my expenses on…
Getting retainer clients who pay you a fixed fee every month is one of the best ways to make your revenue more predictable. It’s incredible to know that you’ve got $45,000 from 5 clients coming in on the first of every month! But there’s a problem with fixed monthly fees — what are you delivering…
“Well this is garbage, we’ll have to start this over from the beginning…” When I heard my client, Trish, say that to one of her team members my heart sank. I immediately looked at the designer’s face and saw that she was barely holding back tears. Trish was trying to be helpful. She didn’t see…
I want you to think about the best team you’ve ever worked with. The team that had you engaged; that got the most out of you; where you accomplished more than you thought you could. Got it in your mind? I’ve asked a ton of people to tell me about their “best team,” and when…
I usually hear this from clients right after they hire a new person. “I’m pulling my hair out! After spending three months interviewing candidates, and checking references, I thought this person was going to be PERFECT for this job.” “But it’s their first week and every single thing they’ve done has been messed up…and it’s…
One of our clients, a high-end personal training studio owner, had a problem that she just couldn’t figure out. She knew how many clients she had and how many sessions each had purchased in their package, but every month her income would come up short. So if she started the month with 160 clients at…
I got a call from a client who ran an agency that billed mostly fixed monthly fees. Her management team meeting had just ended, and it was a disaster. Her team was adamant that they needed more people. Everyone was busy, working overtime, and getting burned out. Raises have been paltry, and their best people…
“Sure, Brad, this mastermind thing sounds great. But I can just get 4 business owner friends together and make my own Mastermind…” Six months ago I was talking to a business owner about how much she needed to make changes in her business. She realized that time was running out. Her lead generation efforts were…
When I learned to drive, we watched a series of videos that taught us some simple “rules” for good drivers. One of those rules was “Aim high when driving.” The instructor was trying to keep us from looking right at the end of the car instead of watching further down the road and trusting that the…