I frequently tell business owners,  “A CEO’s job is to break things. Just don’t break them faster than your team can fix!” I do believe that — someone in every organization has to push the limits to achieve the “next thing.” Someone has to call out the stuff that's not done well and advocate for change. In most privately-held businesses, that person is you, the business owner.  What that looks like from your team’s perspective That pushing, driving, and perfecting can feel a little exhausting to your team. They may feel like nothing is ever good enough. Or just as they are about to accomplish a goal, the expectation increases or moves farther away. Most “worker-bees” want to make … [Read more...]

I’m so grateful for those who have written in the last few weeks. I’ve gotten a bunch of positive responses like this one from Byron, When you decided to increase your emails to this current pace I was “Crap, now I will have more emails to delete”…..just the opposite…I am amazed how you can come up with such thoughtful ideas on such a consistent basis! Very impressed and look forward to your emails! I love to hear this kind of stuff. I do put a lot of time into these emails because it’s the kind of help I think business owners need right now.  What am I getting wrong? What am I missing? I also recognize that I have a limited view of your life, challenges, and opportunities. I can’t see … [Read more...]

In a recent survey I did of over 100 business owners I asked this question: What’s your biggest business challenge? More than 50% of respondents answered, “Obtaining New Customers.”   Not only was it chosen by a majority of responses, but it was also the most chosen answer by owners of every sized business, big, established business and small, start-up businesses.  All of us want more business.  But you know what the second most chosen answer is?  “Finding enough Team Members to do the work.” This perfectly represents the balance of running a services business!  If we’re bringing in new clients, we need to find good people, if we’re hiring good people we need to be … [Read more...]

What are you dreading about your day or week in the office? Is there an employee you are sick of?  Do you have a client that’s driving you nuts?  Are you financially stressed? Is there too much work on your desk? These things are like little rocks in your shoe.  They aren’t crises, just annoyances, right?  You tolerate them for a while — some you become callused to and stop noticing them — others build up until you can’t stand it anymore.  But if you were running a marathon you wouldn’t tolerate a rock in your shoe! You’d stop and get it out. You know that over four or five hours of running that rock would do serious damage. It would slow you down, or even knock you out … [Read more...]

I’ll never forget looking at her Visa bill.  I was sitting in a business owner’s office. She knew that her business wasn’t right, and hadn't been for a long time, but how bad was it? They were barely making money in the good months, and bleeding in the slow months, and this had been going on for several years. Over the years she had gone through her credit line, pulled money out of her house, and now her credit cards were maxed. The minimum monthly payment on just her credit cards was more than $7,000/per month. Even today, as I write this, that number stops my heart. “How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” ~from Ernest … [Read more...]

We were just talking about the only way to have clear priorities, to know how best to use your time is to commit yourself to fewer things and learn to say NO more.  That makes sense, but what do I say no to? You are a talented person; you are good at a lot of things. There are a wide range of ways you can make a dent in the universe, but only if you don’t try to do them all. Today, you can likely only do one of them.  So here’s some homework to work on together. Grab a piece of paper, a pen, and your most recent to-do list and let’s work through this. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” ~ Steve Jobs  What are the things on your list that someone … [Read more...]

There’s one data point from my recent survey of business owners that’s still haunting me. When asked, “What would you consider your biggest personal challenge?” Almost half of all respondents said, “Setting my own priorities.” This was the top response for owners of all sizes of businesses, for new business owners, and people who had owned their business for decades. We’re not good at it, and we don’t seem to learn how to get better. The answer is simple, but not easy If you want to make it easier to set priorities, you need to have fewer projects going at once. If we are choosing between a super-profitable priority and a terrible time-waster, we don't have trouble setting … [Read more...]