Why is it so hard to finish certain assignments?
Sometimes I procrastinate. I have something that would be easy if I just got it done, but instead, I put it off. Do you ever do that? Recently, I procrastinated on a deliverable that was my client was anxious to see. What I promised him seemed simple enough at the outset, it quickly showed itself to be a lot more complicated. The more complicated it got, the less confidence I had that I was going to get a useful result -- so I put it off and worked on other, more accessible, assignments. But I knew he needed it. So instead of delegating and renegotiating the deadline, I just kept promising myself that I would get to it. As time went by, and he kept reminding me that he still needed it, … [Read More...]
How many “grownups” do you have in your business?
I was chatting with a referral partner this week (The incomparable Adam Radulovic) and as we were discussing a company that I thought needed his services he asked me, “How many grownups are there in that organization?” “What do you mean, ‘grownups’?” I asked. “You know. Who’s telling the kids to do their homework, and making sure they’re picking their clothes up off the floor. Who’s driving decisions and accountability and making sure that the right things are getting done the right way?” BAM! Right there I learned one of the best questions to ask to assess the growth of a business. How many grownups does your business have? Here are some characteristics of grownups so you can know them … [Read More...]
Don’t do it because I told you to — do it because you want it!
Drove back from Boston to Chicago last weekend to ferry my new college graduate (and all her stuff) back home. Along the way, we played the license plate game. (We found 47 states in just over 1000 miles!) I couldn’t help but notice that every time we found a New Hampshire plate, I had a powerful reaction to the state’s motto. Somehow that motto, “Live free or die” made me want to push back. I found myself saying (in my head), “No! YOU live free. If I want to live in oppression, I can do that.” Observing that, I became aware of two different thoughts. First, I need to see someone about that oppositional defiance disorder! Second, there’s something about telling people what to do that … [Read More...]
Are you ready to change? (Reading Time 90 sec — but it’s a hard 90 sec)
In the last two emails, I've talked about some common problems that entrepreneurs confront when they are growing their business. They are over-invested in their importance and competence. They believe"If I work harder, it will get better." They don't see anyone helping them -- it's all up to them. They can't let go... If you are going to make progress growing your business, you are going to have to do some things differently. Things that make you uncomfortable. Things that you aren’t going to like (at first). Are you ready to do that? So I’ve got to ask you, what is your own bullshit that you can't stand any longer? * * * No, I’m serious. What stories have you been telling … [Read More...]
What is your NEXT challenge (Reading time 1 min 30 sec)
Let’s just say you are the world’s best baker — you are at the top of your class technically. Sure there are more things to learn, but what’s your next challenge? What’s the hill you want to climb? There was one other thing that struck me as I listened to the fantastic podcast I wrote on about on Thursday. They are arguably the best in the world at their craft, Chad at baking bread, Chris at making Pizza. So what do they do now? There's no need to invent new bread recipes continually. There’s only so much that you can do with pizza. So what is someone who is a driven entrepreneur, who wants to make a difference, do once they've mastered their craft? Chad went and found farmers who … [Read More...]
We all have the same problems (Reading time 2 min 30 sec)
My son, who works in the restaurant industry, sent me this fantastic podcast where David Chang interviews Chris Bianco (of Pizzeria Bianco) and Chad Robertson (of Tartine Bakery) about their lives and careers. It’s incredible; you should listen to it. But what struck me most about the interview was how the problems, fears, and challenges they talk about are so familiar. As they talk about their careers, you hear them say: 1. They work too much. Chad tells the story about how he’d make the dough, then sleep for 4 hours while the dough rose. Then get up and finish making the bread, running the bakery, etc. hoping to catch 4 hours of sleep before rising the next day to make the … [Read More...]
Stages in Business Growth (PART 3)
Just like children, businesses grow through predictable phases. We talked about start life as baby startups, that progress to raging growth companies in our first email. Then we talked about the adolescent crisis that leads to specialization. Today, we finally reach a more stable “adult” phase. Here’s my version of this story focused primarily on B2B service businesses. See if you see any of your own experiences in it. Stable adulthood If you can find a specialization, build a lead generation machine that consistently brings in work that fits that specialization, and learn how to get paid well for it, then your whole business changes. You can hire a team of well-paid experts who do … [Read More...]
Stages in business growth (Part 2)
Just like children, businesses grow through predictable phases. We talked about start life as baby startups, that progress to raging growth companies in our last email. Today we reach adolescence, before settling into a more stable “adult” phase in our next email. Here’s my version of this story focused primarily on B2B service businesses. See if you see any of your own experiences in it. Adolescent Angst It turns out that not all of that work that’s coming in is for things that you and your team are good at, it’s not all even things that you enjoy. But the work keeps coming! You are getting referrals, and that’s great. But the work that’s coming in, the work you are doing, wasn’t the … [Read More...]
Stages in business growth (Part 1)
Just like children, businesses grow through predictable phases. We start life as baby startups, then progress to raging growth companies, before settling into a more stable “adult” phase. Here’s my version of this story focused primarily on B2B service businesses. See if you see any of your own experiences in it. Baby startup Once upon a time, you had an idea. It wasn’t your first idea, you’ve had a lot of business ideas, but this one came at a time when you were feeling particularly frustrated (or desperate) and needed a change. So you started working on your idea, and before you knew it, you were in business for yourself. (Whatever that means!) Those first few years were hard. There … [Read More...]
My “don’t-do list”
I want to get started making videos to help me build an audience and to improve the search optimization of some of my content. I’ve been cruising around YouTube checking out creators who have unique styles. I’m itching to figure out what gear I need and plan out some videos to create. Starting something new like that is exciting, and my brain is attracted to starting new things! AND I’m also investing a lot of time into these email conversations! I just moved my office last month, and this month I’m moving houses, plus I’ve started two other big content projects that I need to finish. As we talked about in our last conversation, unless I finish what I’ve started, I’m wasting my time, so … [Read More...]
Go outside and play
In the U.S.A., this is Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to summer where people go outside, barbecue, hit the beach, and take a long weekend off. I’m also taking this weekend off, to unpack all the boxes that we packed and moved earlier this week. So no business wisdom today — go outside and play. … [Read More...]
Focusing the entrepreneurial brain
There are as many different “types” of entrepreneurs as there are businesses, but there are some common traits I see that many of us share. We don’t mind hard work, we like to start things more than we want to finish things, and we have a nose for opportunity. These three traits are a cocktail for distraction! When the excitement of an opportunity has turned into the drudgery of slogging through the solution, it’s easy for us to daydream about the next “opportunity.” And we will find it whether that is looking for a new project, inventing a new service, or fixing some annoying glitch in our billing system. Answering the siren call of new, exciting things to save us from finishing … [Read More...]
You can only break things as fast as they can fix them.
In our last conversation, I talked about two ways to grow your business, a high-intensity, hard-working, risk-loving environment, and a more planned, lower-stress, environment. I pointed out that some of us are hard-wired for the former — we love “living on the edge”; but the wiring of most of our employees is different. (That’s why they are employees!) So how do we bridge that gap, is there a way for those of us entrepreneur types to learn to thrive in a more cautious, planned environment? There’s a magical middle that can work for everyone. Leaders break things; employees fix things Entrepreneurs are pioneers. We want to go where no one has gone. We see opportunity where others see … [Read More...]
Are you addicted to intensity, excitement and change?
I walked into my client’s office, and you could feel the excitement and tension in the air. The business owner had been out at speaking gigs the last three days and came back with a fistful of business cards to follow up on, and she’s been tearing into those. In the meantime, her operations manager is trying to figure out how to deliver on the work that’s already committed. The owner has been making promises, and he's left filling gaps right and left. He tries to get her attention as she breezes through the office, but she brushes him off. "I need to do my follow up; we can talk later." The look on his face as her door closed was pure frustration! As we walk into the conference … [Read More...]
Are you making progress? Tell me how!
Let's go back to some homework I asked you to do roughly a month ago. Do you remember? I asked you to write out the WHY you want to make more money in your business. If you weren’t with me a month ago take a minute to go back and do that homework. If you were with me, pull that page out and take a look. How does that homework look now? Do those reasons still resonate with you a month later? Are they still motivating enough for you to make changes — or have you lapsed into comfort with the situation you have now? Remember, you don’t have to achieve all this in one month, or one year. These are just the reasons that you want to make changes to your business that make you more … [Read More...]
Do I say no to a tedious cash cow?
Following up on my post about how focusing is essential to growth I got a question from a fellow business owner, Paul asks; Hi Brad, I love this Venn Diagram; in fact, I have a copy hanging on my office wall! The dilemma occurs when the intersection of something we do well and don’t love doing is a service that is super-high in margin, and akin to “printing money”. In other words, a disliked cash cow. Typically, in our business, these are mindless, repetitive projects that become a chore for anyone who works on them. But, they generate a lot of profit. And no sane company would turn away an opportunity like this because it is repeatable, “subscription”-type revenue which is sticky … [Read More...]
Why doing one thing over and over WORKS (Reading Time 2 min 20 sec)
Finding your core service that is valuable to your ideal client and focusing on that means that you are going to do a lot of similar assignments. For creative people, this sounds like a kind of death. “You want me to do this thing over, and over, and over, and…ARUAGHHHH!” Well, yes, and no… First, if you are growing your business, you don’t have to do that assignment over and over. Your team will do it. Plus, each assignment brings new challenges. The client is different, the situation, markets, etc. are all different. But here’s why you want to focus on doing something similar over and over. 1. You get good at it. The first time you do something you will likely be terrible at … [Read More...]
When you need to say “no” to more clients (Reading Time 1 min 25 sec)
When you started your business, you tried a lot of things before you found what people would pay you for, that you’re good at, and that you enjoy. There aren’t many businesses I work with who still pursue the business idea and model they first started with. So you try things, and you find clients. When they say “Do you do ______?” You say “yes” a lot, and pretty soon you can pay your mortgage—maybe you can even earn a nice salary. But this process teaches us bad habits. Saying “yes” a lot enables us to pay our bills, but it gets us into a bunch of assignments that don’t pay us very well (because we are learning as we go along) and get us into doing things we don’t like to do. So … [Read More...]
A story from someone who DOUBLED her price! (Reading time 1min 30 sec)
We’ve been talking about raising prices for a few weeks as one of the easiest ways to make more money right now. Today let's study a real-life customer story of someone who finally started raising her prices.; "I know you’ve been telling me that my prices are way too low, but I still have a mental hurdle charging more. "Recently I was looking at a proposal for one of my favorite clients that I’ve had for a long time and I knew my price for this work was too low. I have worked with them for eight years and have never increased my rates. So I called the client and brought it up to him. The client was extremely open with me about prices and told me that I was one of their best facilitators … [Read More...]
The stench of desperation (Read time 2 min)
We’ve talked this week about how to position your firm as the “costs more, but worth it” provider in your niche, and about the huge advantage a unique expertise to solve those big, scary problems that your prospects face can be. It’s a lot of work to develop that positioning — both in your mind and in the client’s mind — so you don’t want to undermine all that effort with this one, very common, mistake — desperation. When a prospect sees you as unique and exceptionally competent to fix their problem they assume that you have done it lots of times and have a good book of business doing that! We can see that you have testimonials and case studies showing happy clients — you are … [Read More...]