Do you know why I send emails on Saturday morning (and have for many years)? Because I get the highest open rates when I send on Saturday morning! For whatever reason Saturday morning is a time when business owners get caught up on their email (or at least open and read my emails). But one…
On Tuesday we explored what courage can mean to a business owner. Courage is knowing that there’s danger, feeling the fear, and then going ahead anyway. But, being courageous is different from being fearless. When I look back at my career and think about when I was afraid, but pressed on anyway, those situations mostly worked…
When I hear the word “courage” I think first about physical danger; fighting fires, going to war, battles against Mother Nature. But there are other sides of courage that we talk less about. The courage to tell the truth. The courage to reveal your vulnerability. As anyone who’s been on stage can tell you, it…
You took the time to clearly lay out the assignment. You confirmed with your team member the process they would use to accomplish it. They agreed that the time frame was good and that they had the skills and tools they needed to get it done. But when they deliver it to you, you are…
Her goals were straightforward. Sounds like a formula for success, right? So we worked to fire up her marketing so there were more leads coming in. We instituted project reviews to make sure the work was good quality and was getting out on time. We set her up with a bookkeeper who would keep the…
You know the one. She’s late a lot; not just to the office, and to meetings, but her work doesn’t even show up on time. Usually, when you call her on it she blames someone else. The truth is she’s going in 100 different directions at once, and all the things she’s doing are important….
When you started your business you wore all the hats. But as your business has grows you have to give up some of those hats and instead take on the job of the “manager” or team leader. This is one of the toughest transitions for people to make. You have to change what you do,…
I have a friend who owns a farm. It’s a small farm, but still; he’s got chickens, sheep, goats, pigs, cows, and produce in the summer. I went up to visit him for a weekend and we spent the better part of the weekend building a chicken coop. Just the two of us, with some…
On most Saturday mornings I get up early. My school aged son watches cartoons for a while and I amble into the kitchen to start my batch of sourdough bread. I usually brew up a cup of tea and then start mixing the bread. It takes about 3 hours of on and off kneading and…
One of the things I say to new advisors who join our team is that clients always want us to fix “the team”. Clients tell us, “They [meaning their team members] have terrible attention to detail, they never follow through, they are always missing deadlines…” (the list goes on and on). Of course they are…