I was onboarding a new client, she was telling me about some challenges she faced running her branding firm when she said, “I don’t do numbers.” “Excuse me? What was that?” I asked. “I don’t do numbers. I’m more of an art person; math, and numbers aren’t my thing.” “I see. You don’t do any…
Here in Chicago, we’ve just completed our third week under a “Shelter in Place” order. Three weeks of working from home, kids underfoot, hunting for toilet paper, and a thousand more adjustments. We’ve gotten our team settled, reached out to clients and prospects, applied for our PPP Loan, reworked our budget for 2020, and made…
I’ve talked to a lot of business owners this week and heard a lot of different stories. Some are fielding record numbers of new business requests; others had seen their business drop by 50% or more. Some who don’t know anyone who had suffered from the virus, others who had seen friends and family members…
One of the consequences of living in a crisis is that our time horizon gets real short. It makes sense–the future is uncertain–it’s not clear what part of the things that we’ve adapted to are permanent, and which are temporary. Our clients and prospects are going through the same thing, so it’s not clear how…
We’ve talked about my “boss” before, right? He’s a total nut job, always making commitments with unrealistic deadlines. He’s terrible at looking at a to-do list and having any idea of how long it’s going to take to complete that work. It’s his fault that I’m writing this email at a quarter of eight at…
I spent time Friday and Saturday talking with my sister about her daycare business. On March 1st, she was taking care of kids for 121 families; she’s got 5 families dropping kids off as of April 1st. We worked through the process of laying off all of her staff. “I feel like I’m starting over…
In our last email, I discussed some actions you need to take as a leader to be available for your team, your customers, and your community while we’re all “social distancing.” But you can’t give from what you don’t have, so today, let’s talk about keeping your bucket full so that you can continue to…
On October 17, 1989, my parents went to see the World Series game between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s. Just as the festivities were beginning, a giant earthquake hit the bay area, destroying freeways, toppling buildings, and throwing the region into chaos. When my parents got home to their brick apartment building in…
When you’re deep in the day-to-day of your own business, you might be surprised to find that most B2B service businesses follow the same “lifecycle.” Including yours! Recognizing this is the first step toward reaching your next level of success. Because it means you can follow a blueprint of what other business owners before you…
I was working with a client going over his sales pipeline (which was not as firm as we both had hoped) when he let out a big sigh. “I’m just not comfortable with this! Shouldn’t I be feeling more comfortable by now?” My client’s question brings up two issues. First, should he be feeling more…