Can You Fry An Egg?
I have heard business owners say they want more time to get everything done, but are unwilling to stop doing any of the things they are currently doing. And, oh, by the way, they want to work fewer hours.
So, let me be sure I understand your situation. You work lots of hours. You fulfill most of the roles in your business although, to your credit, you have delegated some things. You are not willing to make any changes in the roles you currently fill, yet you want to take your business to the next level.
Consider this a thunk up side the head with my fairy wand! Hello! There is no magic fairy wand that will magically give you 2 or 5 more hours in a day than anyone else gets. There is no magic pill that gives you 8 days in a week instead of the standard 7.
When I ask workshop participants how many want more time, hands inevitably go up. The same occurs when I ask how many want more clients and more cash. It is not unique to find someone who wants these. What is unusual is to find someone who does not immediately say but I can not or I know that. That is why 95% of all entrepreneurs will wish for remarkable results but the magic wand will fail to materialize.
The other 5% of entrepreneurs have been down that path and found they did not get the results they wanted. They are in the same class as Einstein in their understanding of insanity, doing the same things, expecting different results.
Oh, believe you me, I have been there. Morning after morning I sat in the same chair, at the same time and got sucked into the email hole. And, with nothing scheduled on my calendar, I was free to work on the next project. But just like with no written goals, there is no address to put into your GPS. With nothing specific on my calendar, that was exactly what I worked on, nothing specific.
I had to change that morning routine, the chair, the location. And, even when I think I have it running pretty smoothly, getting great results, I learn something new. Because I am open to new ways of thinking and acting, just one little thing I read or hear from a trusted source leads me to take action to apply that change to my business.
You say you want more time, more clients, more cash, but you have made certain areas off limits. I know you have reasons. I always have reasons for my actions. Sometimes they are more of the dog ate my homework reasons than perhaps the real underlying reason. That could be fear if I delegate that area, the truth will be exposed, or maybe it is a loss of control, or any number of other reasons you tell yourself are valid.
Ever said, It would be too complicated to show someone else how to do it? Most of us have figured out how to do it, so tell me why it is too complicated? Have you ever fried an egg? Could you tell someone else how to do it? Take a few seconds to think through what steps you would tell them to take.
Now, what if that person had never cracked an egg before? How would you describe that? Think through the instructions you created just a moment ago. Would you need to alter them?
Most of what you do in your business does not have to be done by you. You say, Oh, but no one can do it like I do. While that may be true for some things and not so much for others, it is a story we tell ourselves. I have done it. You have done it.
I fry a mean egg, but it is certainly something I could teach someone else to do. Just like delegating tasks in your business, you can describe the steps to take. You are not trying to make an expert out of the person on the first fry. You may have years of experience they do not possess that help you make judgment calls. They will get there.
You never will, if you do not take the first step to getting the fried egg off your plate and on to the plate of someone else.
Cheryl E. Cook, author of Small Business BIG RESULTS, publishes an ezine, “Small Business BIG Results,” conducts workshops, and speaks on topics related to small business success and growth. Get your free ebook, “50 Ways to More Revenue…More Profit…More Cashflow” at www.smallbizbigresults.com .
This Separates the Successful from the Unsuccessful
Have you ever made a New Years Resolution to lose weight? Was your goal to lose 5, 10 or 20 pounds? Did you plan to lose the weight before you went to the gym? No, that’s backwards, isn’t it? We go to the gym because we have a goal to lose weight.
Are there other things we do in life where we get it backwards? Let me guess. Before your housekeeper comes, do you do a little cleanup? Oh, come on. You just pick up a few things, right?
When you see the upcoming dentist appointment on your calendar, do you make sure you floss and brush just a little extra? I hate getting chewed out by my dentist, so I’ll admit to trying a few of those tricks.
Have you ever thought how nice it would be if your office were organized? But before the professional organizer arrives, you sweep everything that was on top of your desk into a drawer. No, wait, that would take several storage boxes, right?
Or, have you ever called in an Image Consultant to help you with your wardrobe only to clear out some of your old stand-bys before they arrive?
So, what do you do in your business? Yes, you know you need help doing something different; something to jump start your business or turn it around or produce better results.
But, you think you’ll just get things in a little better shape, first. You’ll improve your cash flow, increase sales, put your marketing plan into action, before you call on someone for help.
So, consider some decisions you may have made in your business, like the glossy brochures you decided to have printed. They now sit on a shelf in your storage room, because, your featured service turned out not to have many interested buyers.
That was perhaps $1,000 +/- you might have avoided. If only you’d taken that advice from a business expert to print smaller test quantities before making a larger investment. It may have saved many dollars even though the higher volume got you a lower price per unit.
Then there’s the idea you had to add a different service line to your business. You discovered too late the target market for this new service line was quite different from your core business.
Now you’ve spent tons of hours and marketing dollars in an attempt to get it off the ground. Oh, what you’d give to have those marketing dollars back now. As you think of the time you spent that cannot be recoverd, you feel a headache coming on.
You’ve heard of unconscious incompetence – where you don’t know what you don’t know. And, then there’s conscious incompetence – you know what you don’t know.
We each have our areas of expertise, but what separates successful from unsuccessful business owners is knowing what we don’t know. As smart entrepreneurs, we would surely ask for help in areas where we were conscious of our lack of expertise. We wouldn’t try to be experts in accounting when we had trouble getting through high school math.
Have you ever thought you’d get your business in just a little better shape before you call on someone with expertise to help you? You had good intentions. But, honestly, if it were going to happen trying it on your own it would have happened by now, right? It’s as difficult as sticking to that diet when no one’s watching or losing weight before you go to the gym.
It could happen. You could be the exception.
You’ve heard that doing the same things, expecting different results is the definition of insanity. So, let me ask, where would you be on the sanity – insanity scale?
Will you make change happen? Will you take action now? Resolve to make that success you desire in your business a reality now. Call on an expert for help in an area that you know what you don’t know. Make this the year!
Cheryl E. Cook is the author of Small Business BIG RESULTS, publishes bi-weekly tips, conducts workshops and speaks on topics related to small business success and growth. Cheryl has a passion for helping others and coaches small business owners to take the success steps to reach their goals. Get your free ebook 50 Ways to more revenue, more profit, more cashflow at www.SmallBizBIGResults.com.
Stop Delegating And Get More Time
Yes, as business owners, we have plenty on our plates. Long to-do lists, commitments in our business, at church, the kids’ school, and at home. It seems endless. There never seems to be enough time with business meetings to schedule, your visit to the dentist, the kids’ soccer games, dry cleaning to pick up, and the library book to return.
With all these things to do you’d think we’d be anxious to have some help. Anxious to have someone take just one thing off our plate. We hire folks to help us. It should be a no-brainer. We can just delegate, right?
If it’s so easy to do, why do I continue to hold on to a task I’ve already delegated. “Check back with me when you’ve taken just one step so I can make sure you’ve done it right.” No, we don’t actually say those words out loud, but we think them, with each thing we ‘delegate.’
I wish my husband would put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. But, I’ve trained him not to. My husband loads the dishwasher differently than I do. Not nearly as efficiently as I do (in my opinion), but the result would likely be the same regardless who loaded the dishwasher.
Most dishes would end up clean with the exception of this utensil or that dish that should have been rinsed first anyway. But instead, I reload the dishwasher. My way is, after all, more efficient (we women are better stackers and packers, right?).
So, I’ve trained him that it doesn’t work for him to load the dishwasher. I’ve just added another thing to my already over-loaded plate.
So, why is it so hard for us to accept that a job can be done differently from the way we’d do it and still have the desired outcome? You’ve perhaps heard it said, “Perfect is the enemy of done.” It really doesn’t matter that the cups and saucers are stacked just so in the dishwasher. So far as I know, there are no dishwasher police who will come by to check to be sure you’ve loaded it properly.
We delegate and then we’re afraid to let our staff try a different way. We want to help them avoid making any mistake. As Thomas Edison discovered, there were many ways NOT to make a light bulb.
When I make an appointment for myself and my husband with the dentist, I give him the appointment day and time, and, I should leave it at that. But…I have to make sure he remembers, the day before, the day of, and make sure he remembers where the dentist is located. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if he forgot the appointment or couldn’t find the office.
I worked with my business team on their recurring responsibilities, making clear what I expected and the deadlines. They were capable of rocking and rolling on their own. Then, just to be more helpful to my team, I distributed a Monday Morning huddle with a schedule of all the deadlines.
Just like with the dentist appointment where I trained my husband he didn’t have to remember the appointment (because I’d make sure to remind him), I took back ownership from my business team of their responsibilities. I trained them I didn’t really expect them to own their responsibilities; I’d stay on top of the deadlines for them.
This idea of being helpful, by reminding someone of an appointment, or impending deadlines is really no way to help yourself. It’s only a way of putting that delegated item back into your court.
We delegate to get things off our plate so we have more time for the things which really require our attention in our business. I’d like you to consider (along with me!) not delegating any more tasks. What I’d like you to do instead is to delegate ownership of that item. Let your team own getting the outcome you’re looking for. Let them be creative in their approach to achieving the goal.
If you can silence (or muzzle) the control freak within you long enough to let someone else have a successful go at reaching the desired outcome, you may just be on to getting something completely off your plate and under the responsibility of someone else.
So, let’s stop doing too much. When we delegate something, let’s delegate ownership of it and not just the task. Remember, there are no dishwasher police!
Cheryl E. Cook, author of Small Business BIG RESULTS, publishes an ezine, “Small Business BIG Results,” conducts workshops, and speaks on topics related to small business success and growth. Get your free ebook, “50 Ways to More Revenue…More Profit…More Cashflow” at www.SmallBizBIGResults.com .
If Your Customers Only Knew….
Having customers is really great! No, really, they are! But aren’t there a few things you wish they knew without you telling them? You know, the way you feel when you remind your 12 year old son to pick his clothes up off the floor of his bedroom. You want to reserve the parenting for your children, not your clients. So what is it you wished they knew?
Pay on Time – Don’t you just wish your clients could read your mind and pay you on time without you having to beg and plead? You hate to ask for money in the first place, and by the time you realize you haven’t received their payment and could really use it to meet payroll or a critical lease payment, you now sound a bit desperate. Having invoices that are explicit about the payment due date and a Credit Policy in place so your customers know what is expected of them is an essential tool in your Business Success Toolbox.
Send Referrals – Your customers love what you do so why do you have to ask for referrals? You’d really rather they tell their friends about you on their own without having to ask. Endorsements from clients to other potential clients are so powerful, yet you feel uncomfortable asking for them. Having a Referral Process in place makes it easier on you and your customer to tap into this powerful source of more clients!
Repeat Purchases – Getting customers who love you and repeatedly buy from you whether it’s weekly, monthly, or annually is a goal of most business owners, unless, of course, you own a funeral home. Keeping customers is so much easier than repeatedly incurring the cost and time to get new customers. The customers who love you would buy from you in a second, but unless you’re top of mind at just the right moment you may miss out. Your process for remaining top of mind with clients makes it easy for them to be repeat customers.
Make More Purchases – Customers who have tried your specialty chocolate macadamia nut fudge might also like your all natural mango frozen yogurt, but they had no idea you offered it. Once you have a customer, it is your job to educate them on other products and services you have that they would love. Your Marketing Plan should address how often you touch your clients with additional information about your products and service.
Let You Correct Errors – It happens. You’re human. Your staff is human. Someone will drop the ball at some point in time. If your customer doesn’t tell you about the issue with the product or service and simply walks away to your competitor you’ve lost an opportunity to turn the client into a raving fan. When a customer calls to cancel your ongoing service, you have to immediately put into action your proactive plan for Client Retention.
Cheryl E. Cook, author of Small Business BIG RESULTS, publishes a bi-weekly ezine, conducts workshops and speaks on topics related to small business success and growth. Get a free ebook “50 Ways to more revenue — more profit — more cashflow” at www.SmallBizBigResults.com.
3 Mistakes Business Owners Make that Keep them Working too Hard for their Money
You’ve heard the phrase shooting yourself in the foot, and probably like me, you’ve used the phrase a time or two. While we aim to be successful in our businesses, there’s any number of things we do to trip ourselves up.
One mistake I see business owners make is not knowing the metrics of their business. No, I don’t mean centimeters, liters and the like. I’m talking about those objective measurements that tell us exactly what is going on in our business. Sales, Returns, Accounts Receivable, Website Visits, Page Views, Phone Calls, and Traffic are examples of the metrics you most likely need to know to make intelligent decisions to keep rowing your business toward your goal.
You know what a Yield sign looks like, right? It’s a triangle shaped sign, bright yellow, with the word YIELD in black, right? Actually, the Yield sign was changed back in 1971 to a red background! Surprised? It was the first time I was asked that question. I was positive I was right. Would you be willing to entertain the possibility you may not know all the metrics in your business? You may say you know exactly what your sales have been each month this year. Do you know why your bank account isn’t reflective of your success in the sales department?
It could be you’re focusing on the wrong metrics, which is another mistake I see small business owners make. Focusing on getting clients in the door is the first priority when starting a business, right? So, why then does it seem you’re scrambling to cover payroll when pay day comes around?
As a business owner you must keep your eye on multiple balls at once. Yes, getting clients in the door is very important, but so, too, is getting paid by those clients. Oh, but you’re a retail business, so customers pay in cash. Your issue is while you have the sales, you run into issues with having money to pay for more inventory. It seems you’re always ordering more than you’re selling. Do you know why?
Okay, so I admit, I’m not very good at juggling. Actually, I would be quite challenged to toss one or two balls in the air and catch them. It’s not one of my strengths. So how do we juggle all the balls in our business? Another mistake business owners make is not having a system in place to automate all this. Most of your clients want to pay you, but do you make it easy for them to pay you. Do your clients have to ask for their invoice? How long does it take you to issue invoices? Do your clients know when payment is expected or are your terms due on receipt (funny, I don’t see that date on my calendar!)?
The only way you can consider growth is to be successful at getting clients in the door with the processes in place to get paid, and the procedures to ensure this happens over and over. Only by having systems in place can you then focus on anything other than the basics, like getting ideas on where and how to grow your business.
Did you discover you’re shooting yourself in the foot?
Cheryl E. Cook, author of Small Business BIG RESULTS, and a contributing author to Inspiration to Realization, Vol. III, publishes a bi-weekly ezine, conducts workshops, facilitates mastermind groups and speaks on topics related to small business success and growth. Cheryl is the Small Business Growth Coach. Get a free ebook “50 Ways to more revenue….more profit…more cashflow” at www.SmallBizBigResults.com.