A customer comes to your business. They engage your services to solve their problem. What keeps them coming back, though, is the experience they have while you’re solving their problem. I tell you that to tell you this (indulge me): Between ages 5-8, I had a piano teacher I loved. Dorothy Jonas. She was petite, … Read More
What do open invoices say about your business? Brian Tracy once said, All business is people business. That’s because businesses are built on relationships—whether you build those relationships online or offline. But when your clients don’t pay, what does that say about the value they place on that relationship? And when you let them not … Read More
At a recent networking event, I spoke about the importance of strategic planning. How it keeps you focused on your deeper, long-term goals. The very goals that often get pushed aside when faced with conflicting temptations and urgencies of the day. For example: If you complain your kids are growing up too fast, but insist … Read More
As Seen In … My client, Mike, is a busy entrepreneur. Whirling around like a Tasmanian devil traveling to client sites. Putting out fires. Encouraging employees. There’s barely enough time to handle strategic planning, much less the kind of “what if” planning should his airplane crash. Or car veer off the road on the way to … Read More
I was sitting with my client Miriam over cocktails, a couple of weeks ago. She was having challenges growing her corporate training business and we were coming up with a game plan. (Sometimes, wine helps). Out of frustration she asked, What’s the secret? If there’s one thing—one magic bullet to running a successful business—what do … Read More
It’s zero five hundred. I’m waiting for a prearranged taxi to chauffeur me to Command Naval Surface Forces Headquarters on Coronado Island, near San Diego. No, I’m not in trouble; just part of the U.S. Navy’s Leaders to Sea program, where business influencers get to experience Navy operations and training in real time on board … Read More
I’m too busy. Clients come first. It’s too tedious. I’m intuitively creative—I don’t have a process. What’s your excuse for not writing down your business systems? (C’mon, everyone has them). But what if I told you that written procedures could make you wealthy? Does that make them more enticing? Here’s how: 1. Returning clients. Clients … Read More
As Seen In … … they weigh everything. ~ Zorba the Greek So do my clients when it comes to growing their business. Do I want more? they ask. Of course! they reply. There’s the mortgage. The kids’ college fund. Mom’s medical expenses. And that bucket list trip to Tahiti! Yet surely as the sun sets … Read More
It’s my birthday week, so naturally, my thoughts turn to cake. (I love cake.) As a kid, I got to choose what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday. Not there was such a wide selection in those days. You got Duncan Hines® chocolate cake or golden cake. Chocolate icing or vanilla icing. Fruit filling … Read More
The best strategic plan addresses what you can stop doing. That’s counterintuitive, especially for small businesses who grasp at any shiny object to bring in revenue. But it’s not until you simplify and focus that you gain the clarity and strength to leverage your time, talent, and treasure. My ‘stop doing’ list became a lifeline. … Read More
As Seen In … Like Erma Bombeck famously said about housework, Succession planning expands to fill the time available. It can take years. Except … when it can’t. Let me share with you stories of three business owners who had to create contingency plans in a hurry: For lifestyle reasons, Kimberly Martinez had already chosen … Read More
As a small business owner, it’s common to think of our company as an island. Isolated. Self-contained. Having to generate all resources from within. Surrounded on all sides by unknown threats. That gets lonely. And stressful. It puts a huge burden on the business owner to “make it all happen.” What if you took a … Read More
