Big Ideas

"Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming."  --- Richard Branson

June 7th was National Doughnut Day.  I hope you didn't miss it.  Places like Dunkin' Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Tim Hortons and more were giving away a free doughnut to celebrate.  The Salvation Army established this sweet holiday in 1938 to raise funds during the Great Depression and honor the “lassies,” as they called the female volunteers, who supported the soldiers on the front lines during World War I, serving them delicious meals, and of course, doughnuts.  Approximately 250 “lassies” provided assistance to American soldiers in France in 1917.

How does something as simple as a doughnut generate millions of dollars for Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme?  Sometimes, it is the simple ideas, along with great marketing and outstanding customer service that produces wonderful companies.  The key is to generate great ideas within your business to capitalize on.  Here are three tips (reminders) for producing some profitable ideas:

1.) Set aside "thinking time" once a week.  Actually, once a week is only a start.  The really wise business leaders carve out time daily for thinking.  This is the time to clear your mind of everything that needs to be done and simply sit and think.  It takes practice.  You may not come up with ideas during the first or even second and third session, but over time, your mind gets the hang of it and ideas begin flowing.  Be sure to write them down as they come.

2.) Start an "idea journal" to record all of your outstanding ideas, as well as your not-so-outstanding ones.  Journal every idea even if you think it is nonsense at first.  This journal is for your eyes only.  If you don't record all your ideas, you'll get in the habit of discounting most of them.  This is not good because many you may think at the time are not good, may turn out to be the big hitters.

3.) Get team members involved in idea generating.  Tap into the wealth of knowledge, creativity, imagination, and talent of your employees to bring forth new ideas for your business.  They may have seen that in addition to the wonderfully produced widgets, the business can also offer thingamajobs to go along with them.  Be sure to allow some think time for your team as well and encourage them to brainstorm ideas during company meetings, picnics, retreats, and outings.

Ideas come from many directions and many points.  Good ideas may just change your business altogether or provide an additional stream of income for the company. 

Failing Forward

"A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position."  --- John C. Maxwell

In his book, Failing Forward, John Maxwell addresses the response of leaders toward failings.  Maxwell says that, in life, the question is not if you will have problems, but how you handle those problems.  He says that with problems, we should stop failing backwards and learn to fail forward.

The book offers great insight and wisdom as only Maxwell can deliver, but here are three key takeaways you can use beginning today:

1.) Failures are only as bad as you perceive them to be.  Take stock of what caused the failure, how serious is the damage, and how much time and money will it take to recover.  Suppose you realized you hired a person that doesn't seem to fit the position, yes, you've lost some money in hiring, training, etc., but would keeping this person on the payroll cost you more?  Would sending him or her down the road send a wealth of messages to your team, your vendors and your customers that you only want the best fit for your company?  Putting failures in an objective light may minimize what you perceive to be a monster.

2.) Remove the "you" from the failure.  Don't allow failures outside to get inside you and don't take them personally.  Too often business leaders see failures as an extension of themselves and therefore see themselves as the failure.  Decisions that were made that led to the failure were bad, wrong, incorrect, or whatever, but you are not the failure.  Separating you from the failure helps you to see the failure as something external and much easier to correct.  If you internalize the failure, it stays with you and is difficult to shake and move on.  If you see it as external, you begin to brainstorm solutions and learn from the mistake.

3.) Get up, get over it, get going.  Often we wallow in the failure and over time actually find comfort in the wallowing.  This is a non-productive outlook and hurts you and your business.  When faced with failure, and we all will be, embrace it for what it teaches, learn how not to do it again, then get going.  Put it behind you and keep on trucking.  Failure is a terrible name for a pet so don't keep it around feeding it and taking it for long walks.

Sitting is Killing You

Stay Healthy

Businesses are tough to run.  Business leaders have challenges coming out of every corner practically every day.  This is why business leaders need to be in tip-top shape with a body and mind able to handle the rigors of a life in the lion's den.  Dealing with vendors, managing costs, organizing tasks, leading employees, and reeling in customers all takes tons of energy and a machine (our bodies), that can handle the stress that is above normal levels comparatively.  Our employees can go home at the end of the day, customers can shop us out and government officials can put more restrictions on an already taxed business.  The stress levels of these people is minimal compared to business leaders.  That is why a leader's body and mind should be in the best condition possible.  When time constraints prevent us from exercising, there are still some things we can do to create a healthier body for the battles we face.

First, if you smoke, quit.  I know it sounds simple, but it is so important to do all that you can to stop.  Smoking not only takes years off your life, it weakens your immune system which weakens your ability to handle stress.  Eating right, taking vitamin supplements, and getting eight to ten hours of sleep is the bare minimum that you should be doing as well.  When it comes to beating smoking, you have to be tough, but fortunately there is help.  Begin today taking these simple, basic steps toward building a healthy foundation better equipped to deal with everything thrown your way when trying to succeed at your business.

Where You Lead, They Will Follow

"If your thinking is sloppy, your business will be sloppy. If you are disorganized, your business will be disorganized. If you are greedy, your employees will be greedy, giving you less and less of themselves and always asking for more."  --- Michael Gerber

In his book, The E-Myth, Michael Gerber explains that most business owners tend to work in their businesses and not on their businesses.  He calls this person the technician, which is needed in a business.  However, the business owner also needs to be three people: the entrepreneur, for creativity, the manager, for running things, and the technician, for doing what must be done.

Even while incorporating all three characteristics, the business leader needs to keep in mind that team members are watching how you handle yourself throughout the day.  By definition, as a leader, you have followers.  These followers will mask or emulate your work habits.  There are at least three key points to keep in mind throughout your workday to let your actions teach your team members:

1.) Know thyself.  Know what your limitations are and be aware of what you can and cannot handle.  For example, if you are not a natural-born organizer, delegate what you can't or are not willing to do.  This allows you to avoid being put in a situation of doing a sloppy or poor job.  It sends the message to your team members that when needed, they should call for help instead of poorly completing a project.

2.) Know how to learn.  Always be on the lookout for new learning opportunities.  Keep a well-stocked library in your office and offer materials to team members when requested or if you believe it will help them in their roles.  Set an example of figuring out how to be the best in your leadership role.

3.) Know when to apologize. One of the most overlooked, yet most simple gestures is to say, "I'm sorry."  Business leaders screw up things too.  It is called being human.  When it happens, continue along that same vein of being human and apologize.  The message this sends speaks volumes to your team.  Most employees will give instant forgiveness and some will begin to realize that they are working with a real person.  

It is difficult enough to keep up with the three roles you are playing without the pressure of many eyes on you.  But, if you do these simple things, you take the pressure off so you can continue leading a team that is proud to follow you.

Costly Employees

"Start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees, motivate them and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can't miss.."  --- Lee Iacocca
 

In a typical small business, labor is your biggest expense of the business.  The cost adds up when you factor in attracting ideal candidates, interviewing and orientation costs, training expenses, and compensation and benefits.  If so much is being spent on employees, why do we miss opportunities for continual development of talents and skills?  Why do we get so frustrated with employee retention efforts and keeping our team members' eyes on the ball?

In order to keep the employees you want to keep and create a better, more dedicated team, there are at least four things you can incorporate into your monthly schedule for 2013 that are painless and not too time consuming.  Be diligent in applying these and you should begin seeing immediate returns on your employee investments:

1.) Initiate true performance reviews.  No, not the annual forms that rate an employee from 1-5 where almost everyone is a 3.  Those have little value.  Instead, review every employee's performance (at least your top leaders if you have too many employees to review yourself) and personally and in confidence address any issues with the employee.  The reason for the performance meeting is to see how the two of you can help to improve the employee's performance.  Solicit feedback from the employee and together come up with a six-week plan addressing the particular issue.  Be sure to follow-up with the employee at the six week mark.

2.) Communicate employee's role.  This is a biggie that is usually overlooked in many businesses.  This simple process helps to eliminate headaches down the road.  Explain, in writing, what the role of the employee is.  Some call these job descriptions, but whatever you label it, make sure that the employee understands what his or her job is at the company.  Explain in detail how their job affects others and how what they are doing impacts the success of the business.

3.) Communicate your role.  Let your employees know what they can expect from you in terms of honesty, transparency, a good paying job, training, benefits, rewards for value added, etc.  This is another area some business leaders overlook.  Yes, it's true that they took the job assuming these things, but it is good, and necessary to remind team members from time to time about the relationship and what is expected of each other.  Leaders, as well as employees, become too relaxed in their positions and lazy in the relationship.  Communication will restate the reason for being at the company.

4.) Money IS a motivator.  Don't fall for the studies that say employees want more than money.  Of course they do, but they are working in order to make a better life for themselves and their family.  Reward your team members handsomely and especially after a value-added event.  Recognition, growth, personal development, purpose--- all of these are necessary, but money does motivate.  If you've hired the right person and want to keep him or her, pay them what they are worth to your business, and then some.

Wisdom Meets Passion

Great Read!

Wisdom Meets Passion, by Dan Miller and his son, Jared Angaza provides great insight, and yes, wisdom for anyone looking to combine both wisdom of experience with on-fire passion.  I found the book to offer great advice and tips for improving creativity as well as for stirring passion for business and life.  Miller's and Angaza's writing style makes the book a quick read (a few hours) while providing good information for starting a business as well as going outside of my comfort zone.  It was strange at first because I too have believed in a linear approach to business and career, but the father and son author combination helped to open my eyes to new avenues.  I highly recommend this book to every business leader as well as those considering a business start-up.  The writing style of both Miller and Angaza lends to the effect of listening in to a father and son share life ideas from two very different perspectives:  Miller's wisdom of life experiences and Angaza's passion for life and his "being different" in his pursuit of a simpler life helping entrepreneurs in Africa.  Both styles help the reader, at least it helped me, to grasp a better understanding of what others see as a generational gap, but the authors see as a wonderful combination for living.