In the recent ESPN documentary of Michael Jordan’s last year as a Bull, there’s an incredible quote that I’ve watched almost every day since I’ve seen it. Michael was asked, “Has it [your success] come at the expense of you being perceived as a nice guy?” You should watch the video all the way to…
It’s 3 AM; you’re wide awake, unable to go back to sleep. What’s on your mind? When I’m awake at 3 AM unable to go back to sleep, my fears are running away with me. I’ve done something terribly wrong, I’ve miscalculated my expenses, my clients are never going to pay me again, I’m defaulting…
When you own a business you get to be the top dog, things run “your way,” and you get to decide what you want to do, when you want to work, everything about your business is yours to decide. It also means that when things go wrong, it’s your fault. When your team members drop…
If you are the only one who can close deals in your company, your growth is capped by your desire to spend all day selling. Even if you are a non-stop selling machine, there’s a limit to how much you can sell! So if you want to grow your business beyond that point, it can’t…
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others. When your business was young, and you just had a small team, you needed to “move fast and break things.” Your ability to get things done, your energy, and hard work was what enabled your success. But your…
First, take a minute to imagine a future where your dreams have come true. Really get a picture in your mind of what that company looks like. Where are your offices? What’s your team? Got it? Now… What’s your job in that company? Are you meeting with clients? Primarily selling? What time are you spending…
We all know that it’s hard to grow a business — if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. But just how hard is it? 80% of all businesses have no staff; they are just the entrepreneur and nothing more. If you’ve hired someone, you are already in the top 20% of US businesses! Only…
Earlier this week, we talked about how doing the wrong work can drain the life out of you, and how even stuff we’re good at might not be the thing that gives us life. If we keep working in these tedious roles, it drains our energy, and we risk getting burnt out. But there’s a…
Burnout is a big issue among business owners. Whether it’s younger business owners, who are overwhelmed and frustrated, or older business owners who tell me that they “just don’t have the energy for it anymore,” running a business is taxing on your attention and energy. So how do we get everything done without getting burnt…
On Saturday, I wrote about my client who filled his calendar all day, every day with meetings. Not meetings in which he got to do the thing he loves — meetings to cover administriva, operations meetings, places where he had to make decisions about things that he wasn’t an expert in. He had resolved many…