Small business people understand that cash flow, policies, and the company’s focus are all directly tied to actual people. Larger companies, however, seem to often forget this fact.
“I’m just a paper pusher.”
“I have to keep my team efficient and make our numbers.”
“Our bottom line is better this year so management is happy.”
In thinking about business, work and careers it’s easy to narrowly focus on your role, responsibilities and metrics for success. This tendency may be amplified if you work for a government agency or large company.
And yes, those metrics are important, but what if you start thinking about your job in broader terms – in terms of the lives of people that you (yes, you) are directly affecting?
Business is ultimately about people. Not just the people at the top. Not only the owners, CEO’s, presidents and the folks with the corner offices. Not just the people who work at a particular company. It’s about all of those people, of course, but in reality is about much more than that.
This “ripple effect” is far-reaching and it’s both real and important.
The often forgotten mass of those affected by the actions of the employees of “Comany A” are people who work for and with companies that do business with the main company. Too often I’ve seen representatives of large organizations adopting a lackadaisical attitude when it comes to processing invoices or approving purchase orders. Taking weeks or months to get that paperwork through might not seem like a big deal to the state employee or to the corporate VP. After all, their paychecks are probably not directly affected by this. But the fact is, to the little guy – the one feeling the ripple down effect – those actions might make the difference between being able to afford groceries or not.
The consequences of our actions are not always immediately apparent to us but that doesn’t mean they aren’t real, both in life and in business. Even seemingly mundane tasks can make a big difference in someone else’s life. Yes, all of the business metrics are important and we have to fill out reports and other paperwork, but ultimately it’s the people who matter. Real people with real lives. It matters that invoices are processed quickly. It matters that lab results are reported correctly.
It matters that someone does their job right the first time, not just to please your boss but because somewhere down the line you’re touching someone else’s life. And what could be more important than that?
Money, in and of itself, has no value. In order to mean anything it has to circulate. It must flow.
I had an interesting conversation the other day that I want to share with you. I was talking with a woman who is a professional writer and she was telling me about her early career where she was a single mom struggling with money. She described how she was forced to buy the most basic necessities, and how, as a side effect of that, her kids learned the value of money and of working hard.
But what was really interesting about the conversation was when she told me that during that challenging time in her life she was always volunteering to bring food in for food drives or for church functions, how she’d bake brownies for school or donate to local charities. All of that from someone who had nothing, yet somehow they always had enough.
In fact, she told me that the only time she literally couldn’t make ends meet was after she started questioning her generosity and when she had made a decision to stop giving so much.
It’s ironic, but I’ve experienced the exact same thing, as have countless other people, I am sure. I know that for myself, every time I give (even when I feel like I can’t afford to be doing so), I always end up receiving more wealth in some form or another. I might pick up a new client who I wasn’t expecting to approach me, or I might get a forgotten about tax credit in the mail. However the money come back it happens, in one way or another, without fail, and I really do find it very interesting.
In order for money to come to you it also has to flow out. In order to experience being abundant or wealthy you also have to give, spend and act generously. Of course, you don’t always have to do this with money – time, expertise and even sharing a kind word are certainly other ways to give – and they leave you feeling good.
When you hold too tightly to money (or anything else for that matter), you never get to truly experience its goodness or full potential. And guess what? The same principles apply to business, too. On a very base level the whole purpose behind any business is to serve, to help support the employees and others who benefit in some way from the existence of the business. It is not only about (or should not be, anyway) getting the highest number in the bank account.
In my opinion it is bigger than that. And of course money and profits are hugely important, but they’re not as important as the lives that are impacted by the business and by the positivity that it has the power to spread. At the end of the day we are all in this thing called life together, at least at some level.
So, let the money flow for good causes, for helping your employees, vendors and others achieve financial freedom. Become prosperous so you can fully enjoy life, but share in that prosperity too because that is where the real value, joy and meaning ultimately comes from.
The single most important ingredient for growing any business is the creation of customers who are so happy that they tell your friends about you. That’s it, plain and simple. But how many companies lose sight of this critical element and focus instead on any number of other things: cutting corners, increasing profits, beating the competition…
But what it really comes down to is this one thing. If you can find a way to make sure your customer feels special, feels heard and feels well-served then tell me, how easy is it going to be for your competitor to steal that customer away? Probably not very easy at all, because people will pay a little more and will even go out of their way for a company and a brand that they feel “gets” them and treats them well.
This type of thinking has led people to be able to successfully create restaurants and other businesses that are miles from the nearest town, yet people will go out of their way to go there because of the way it makes them feel once they arrive. It’s also one of the key reasons that some companies succeed while those right next door to them do not.
While building customer loyalty is a long game, more marathon than sprint, it’s also well worth the investment. Customers who are valued and who feel connected are much less likely to chase the next shiny object that comes by, and that’s true even in a world of ever-shortening attention spans.
So, what can you do today to say thank you to your customers, to let them know you care? Give it a try and see what happens. You might be very pleasantly surprised.
Indisputable Truth: The solution to a problem is often right in front of you but cannot be teased out without some creativity and thought.
I recently participated in a workshop where we were presented with a problem involving rare pheasant eggs. This supplier has a certain price that he needs to get for his eggs, as there is a limited supply and his boss is pressuring him to come back with at least a certain dollar amount. Three buyers come forward with offers on the eggs but none are offering enough to satisfy the boss’ requirements.
One buyer wants only some of the eggs because a limited amount of the shells for a pharmaceutical product his company produces. Another buyer wants to sell the eggs in very high end restaurants where they are made into a special meringue-like delicacy and the other buyer wants to buy all the eggs for a nutritional supplement that his company makes, but he is not authorized to spend as much as the seller needs to receive.
Negotiations ensue but are guaranteed lukewarm success unless one thing happens. Have you guessed it yet? It’s a creative solution and requires a level of cooperation, but because all the buyers actually need a different part of the eggs, it is feasible that everyone could work together to get what they want and the seller can over-deliver to his boss on the money front, thereby guaranteeing himself a nice fat bonus.
Now, before some smarty pants comments on this blog about any technical reason that the above scenario couldn’t work, I ask you to please not bother. That really isn’t the point. I’m not an expert on eggs, nor do I wish to be, but what I do know about is strategic partnerships and cooperation. And after I started to change my business strategy to that of a lone wolf to an expert collaborator and partner, everything really start to shift for me in a very positive direction.
Any small to medium sized business person will tell you: life can be very lonely when you’re trying to run your business. You most likely have limited resources and are wearing a few too many hats. And trying to carve out your slice of the pie in a crowded marketplace can prove to be very challenging, to say the least.
This is where strategic partners can come in and become an important part of your high-level plan for sales and growth. If you can identify other businesses with complimentary products or services to your own, and come up with a plan that both sides benefit by, it becomes an attractive prospect to consider. Sure, it may take come creativity as in the egg example, and you may even find yourself working together with one-time rivals, but if you’re open to experiencing the magic of partnerships and collaboration you may quickly see how your influence can quickly extend to a whole new sphere of people that you may not have had access to before.
Now, of course I probably don’t need to explain to you what the word “strategic” means. Partnerships of any kind are never something that I would enter into lightly. There are a million reasons why they may not work, and whenever you do anything like this, I would strongly suggest a lawyer looks over any agreements that you decide to abide by.
But for all of the potential headache or risk, I would still contend that strategic partnerships are well worth exploring. If you can find other companies whose services dovetail or compliment your own, and either become an affiliate seller of those services, or if the two of you agree to team up and work together you will most likely find that your company is quickly getting in front of customers that you would not have been able to serve on your own. And in that exposure lies enormous potential and opportunity for growth – for both you and your partners. And that, my friends, is a beautiful thing.
How many excuses do you think there are for not starting a business, or launching a new venture or initiative?
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that this number may be one of those ad infinitum situations. Excuses are easy to come by, but excuses don’t build dream companies, nor do they create change in anyone’s life. So, if there is some idea that has been nagging at you, some creative idea you want to explore or a new business that is fueling you with a passion, today may be the day to flip the switch and start turning your dream into reality.
Whoa. I hear those voices in your head and that cacophony of reasons why you can’t do that thing you really want to do just hit me hard.
“But I don’t know how.”
“I’m not sure how to get started.”
“I don’t know if there is a market.”
“I’m not experienced enough.”
“Someone else is already doing this (bigger, better, etc.)…”
What if I fail? A million phrases like these prevent the majority of people from ever starting anything, but I’m sure that we can also agree that anything that currently exists was started from nothing. How many startups began in garages, coffee shops, bedrooms?
How many people just got on with it and figured it out?
See, I believe that it is not necessary to have every step of your journey mapped in advance. In fact, I think that knowing all those steps up front is practically impossible. Sure, you can plan and strategize, but you’re never going to be able to accurately predict every detail of your journey, and believe me, even if you could do that it wouldn’t be wise.
If you really knew up front how everything was going to play out, where would be the room for spontaneity, for miraculous serendipities and coincidences, for things to turn out far better than you were even imagining?
I think that, rather than waiting until you think you have the “how” all figured out, that a better strategy is just to start. Start by figuring out what success looks like – what your vision is, and decide that “this or something better” is what you’re going to create.
Then the fun begins and it’s just a matter of taking little steps towards your goals. Figure out small “bite size” things that you can do to support your dream on a daily basis. You might call someone up to ask advice, or put up a simple website. You might send out ten emails and follow up with calls. You might do a free talk or offer a class to your community. Maybe you start a blog or just start talking about your new venture and watch who starts showing up to support you. When you start to see the journey as the fun part you begin to shift your whole attitude. Instead of focusing on how far you are from the top of the mountain and how many thousands of steps it’s going to take to get there, you begin to see the whole trek as an adventure of epic proportions, and rather than dreading the start you begin looking forward to whatever lies before you.
This, my friend, is how great adventures begin and how great businesses are born – with an inspired idea and a determination to make it work. But please, whatever you do, don’t forget to enjoy the journey and to stay open to new opportunities along the way. You’ll be amazed at what starts to show up.
In the game of business as in life it’s imperative that you have goals and I think that it’s fair to say that most people have at least a vague sense of what those goals are. But the problem is, it’s hard if not impossible to be laser focused on where you’re going if your goals are little more than a fuzzy idea or a wistful daydream.
Now, I know that many of our readers are business men and women who may be sitting there smugly thinking, “I know the answer to this one. My goal is to make X dollars this quarter with profit margin of at least X percent.”
Well… that’s not exactly what I’m getting at either. Sure, numbers are part of it, but if you’re designing a business and a life that is really going to work for you then your end goals are going to have to be more meaningful than just numbers. You’re going to have to start thinking about what you really value in life and work on designing how you’re going to get that.
Let me give you an example. My friend Karen has built a successful business and she always has a very good handle on her cash flow, balance sheets and all of that. But one of the core values that she held near and dear from the very inception of her business was that time was what she wanted most of all. She committed to only working in the office from the very beginning of her business, and she continues this practice to this day.
On the days she’s not in the office Karen may be networking, speaking, or otherwise advancing her business. But she may also be out with friends, swimming or at a charity function. Her business is thriving and she has designed this life for herself because she was very intentional about what she wanted.
So, in order for you to welcome the highest level of success (however you choose to measure it) into your own life and business, you’re going to have to figure out what is most important to you. If your dream is to live in Hawaii, then focus your attention on making that happen. If you aspire to have a huge sum of money in the bank then you’re going to have a different focus and you’ll be making different choices then someone else whose big desire is to go on a big international trip every year.
Whatever your core values and big dream is, make sure it resonates with you and then structure your activities so they all support you attaining that thing it is that you really want. When you step into fully being aligned with your purpose not only will you succeed better and faster, but you’ll also have far fewer regrets than the person who puts off what they really want until the ever-elusive “someday”.
We work with a lot of small and medium size businesses that are run by founders and management that cares deeply about what’s going to happen with their company. These are frequently type-A perfectionists, but by structuring the company so that they have to sign off on every detail they are not doing their employees, shareholders or themselves any kind of service in the long term.
It’s true that the intentions are good and they want to do what’s best for the company, but without learning how to delegate – and trust – other staff and team members, the company can only ever grow so far. Projects inevitably become stalled, and the prospect of the founder or CEO ever exiting is impossible and the company ends up enduring the ramifications of your classic dysfunctional relationship.
The truth is, if you are running a business where the whole structure will collapse without leadership being hands-on with every detail it is time to build a new system. You know you have a well-oiled machine and a healthy business when no one notices when upper management is out of the picture for a day, a week or a month. And when you have strong systems in place that’s when your business begins to have more market value and when you’re likely to identify tasks that can be automated and outsourced, thereby driving up profits.
The need for systemization applies to start ups as well as to established, multi-million dollar companies. The more quickly you’re able to get those systems in place the better you’ll be in the long run.
I’m writing this post in early February which means spring is less than six weeks away, and there are only 46 more weekends before you’ll be opening Christmas presents again (just 44 weeks until the first day of Hanukkah!)
That’s pretty shocking, isn’t it? But I hope that instead of causing you to have a mild anxiety attack I can convince you of the importance of living in the moment and enjoying today for the miracle that it is. I recently read something that said if we only had seven more days on earth that we would surely make the effort to see all seven of those sunrises AND sunsets. We’d take the time to sit with loved ones, holding hands, hugging, talking… We’d eat ice cream, laugh and cry. The moments would be meaningful and our senses intensified to notice every detail, every nuance and bit of beauty.
The “small stuff” (i.e. most of what takes our attention on a daily basis) would seem insignificant as we got back in tune with that which really matters. I like to think that we would be kinder, more loving, more intentional with our thoughts and actions. In our “normal” every-day life, however, we tend to live with the illusion that we have all the time in the world. So often you hear about someone who gets a terminal diagnosis only to go on to say that in fact, that news was the best thing that could have happened to them because of the way it changed their entire outlook and life experience.
Without getting too esoteric, I would like to suggest that we don’t need the knowledge of a diagnosis or the threat of having just a week left on earth to decide to be more conscientious, mindful, and committed to finding in our work a real alignment with our true purpose. I believe that business and the higher sense of purpose/ spirituality/ mindfulness are all intertwined and actually lead to better business decisions and a stronger brand and culture overall.
If you’re of the same mindset or if you’re curious about this way of thinking, there are some things you might be interested in. I’ve got a weekly podcast where I’m interviewing thought leaders, authors, trainers and coaches on these topics. The episodes are each around a half hour long and you can find them (and the show notes) on my personal brand website, and you can also find links there to subscribe to the series in iTunes, Google Play and other platforms.
I’ve also got an active Facebook and Twitter page under that brand where an active community is forming and where your voice would be welcome. We provide daily inspiration, ask thought-provoking questions and run regular contests where you can win prizes (the next one starts Feb 13 – please join us!)
My book on this topic is coming out in October, so I’ll be posting more about that process in the coming months. If you have stories about how you’ve embraced mindfulness in business please share them below or reach out to me directly. You could be the perfect guest for one of our podcasts!
The sun continues to rise… one of my favorite shots from a recent North Carolina trip
It’s been a month since US voters cast their ballots and I’m finally able to write about what the whole experience has meant to me. I was, like many Americans, deeply concerned by the hate and racism that bubbled to the surface this year, particularly during the run up to the election. The whole experience was obviously deeply divisive and, in many ways, eye-opening.
There is certainly an undercurrent of tension, fear and frustration that brought us to this point, but there’s more than that. There’s this whole raw and ugly side to ourselves that we finally have to come to terms with. And to me this is the silver lining. Yes, we heard some horrible, shocking things being said publicly during the past year. We heard stories of hate and injustice. And we saw traits in our neighbors and in ourselves that had previously been well hidden.
But that doesn’t mean they weren’t there before.
This ugliness within has been brewing for a long time. I’m not a strong enough scholar of history to tell you if we’re talking decades or centuries, but if I had to bet I’d go with the latter. So much progress has been made, but a lot of it is obviously surface level stuff. We still have a core sickness, a cancer, that all of the fear mongering of recent months is just feeding. The sickness is there to be sure, but it’s time to take action so that we stop going down this unhealthy and downright dangerous road.
Yes, the ugliness in ourselves is hard to look at, but I’m grateful that we are getting to see it, because the only way to make real progress is to see what’s really and truly there, to face our worst fears, to face our worst selves.
And now that we’ve all survived November 8th and the run up to it, it’s time for the healing to begin. The sun continues to rise every morning and there are still plenty of good, kind and giving people out there, doing their thing. What we need to do now is to make a new commitment to focus on what we CAN control and how we can best move forward.
The only road to meaningful change is going to happen with one person at a time who refuses to be ruled by fear.
One person at a time extending a hand across the aisle.
One person at a time going out of her way to perform an act of kindness.
Just one person, and then another and another, saying, “Enough is enough.”
And this is really important. Fear is infectious and, like a fire’s flames, it has the power to engulf and dominate not just individuals, but families, societies, countries… But nothing productive can come out of this place of fear. We aren’t rational when we exist in that fear state. And if we get stuck there, we can’t move forward into any kind of real prosperity, abundance or love.
But the good news is, most of the time fear really is ‘all in your head.’
Unless, say, you’re being chased by a lion, fear almost always comes from imaging all of the things that could happen. You may have heard that top horror filmmakers usually will not show an audience what the monsters and demons look like, but will instead allow the audience to create their own image in their minds; an image that is much scarier than anything the filmmaker could have dreamed up. It’s the same with the fear we experience in our own lives. The vast majority of the time we fear things that don’t even ever happen. And if they do happen, we deal with them and, looking back, wonder what we were so scared of in the first place.
Does any of this sound familiar: “I’m so scared that I’m going to get fired from my job and lose my house.” “I’m scared that my husband will leave me and then we’ll have no income.” “I’m scared I won’t get into the college of my choice.” “I’m scared that the audience won’t like me.”
The list of fears is infinite, and everyone has their own special favorites, but just as the fear exists only in our own heads, we also have the power to eradicate those fears simply by taking control of our thoughts and actions. Fear can take a lot of our time and energy – so much so that it robs us of one of the great joys of life: living in the moment. It can also lead to irrational decisions and a skewered sense of reality (imagine the quality of life in the extreme case of someone who is terrified to step outside of their house).
So, how do we make a shift away from a fearful society into one where we the people are back in control? The way we do it, I think, is by a decision that we choose to make, one by one. A decision to not fear our neighbors. A decision to respect our fellow humans and to treat them with dignity. A decision to not lash out with anger, violence and insults, but to do everything in our power to make the world a little better. We each have our own gifts and our own light to shine on the world, and the world needs each and every one of us to show up and do so.
So, let’s agree to let go of our fear and despair and to move forward into a place of enlightenment and joy. The decision to control what we can and to not buy into the fear factor is, I believe, our biggest weapon and one that I intend to exercise every single day as we move forward into a brighter world.
Yes has meaning if you are conscientious about how you use it.
As a recovering people-pleaser the word I used to have to work on was ‘no’, as in, “No, I really can’t make all of the costumes for the Girl Scout pageant on my own.” Or, “Much as I’d love to support yet another fundraising effort I really don’t need any more wrapping paper (or popcorn, cookies, chocolate, magazine subscriptions…).”
As a young mom it wasn’t easy to learn how to say no, but I did it out of necessity as I learned how to juggle children and all of their activities, running the household, working from home, and – very occasionally – reading the odd book, watching a movie or seeing my girlfriends as an effort to recharge my batteries and retain some sense of self.
After I got over the fear of rejection saying no became easier. It began to feel empowering. I was in charge of my time and how I chose to spend it, at least as much as I could be, given the constant demands of kids who needed an endless stream of rides, help with homework, parties planned and laundry done.
But I started to notice that, as the kids got older and became more and more independent, my tendency for saying no really didn’t ease up. I consider myself a friendly person, and frequently network and attend other events and meetings that I think will grow my business. I also maintain some semblance of a social life, seeing my friends regularly for coffee, lunch or cocktails. I love to travel and on occasion I even find an opportunity to go out to the theater or (gasp!) even dinner.
But I’m also an introvert at heart and I strongly value my private “alone” time. I’m one of those people who thinks that being locked in solitary confinement – at least for a while – sounds like a pretty good vacation option. As long as I have some books and writing supplies, I really wouldn’t mind having some uninterrupted time to work on some of my projects and to read some of the books that have been piling up on my bedside table.
As “no” became more and more of a default for me, however, I eventually started to notice that it had begun to feel less like an empowering act and more like a cop-out.
My “ah-ha” moment came when I read Shonda Rhimes’ Year of Yes. I saw myself so clearly in what Rhimes described in the book: her life as an introvert who would much rather stay at home and invent stories than go out in the world and talk to actual people (in case you don’t know, Rhimes is a highly accomplished television writer whose credits include Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, among many other well-known shows and films).
In the book Rhimes writes about her decision to spend a year saying yes to any opportunity that showed up, especially those opportunities that she found a little scary. Once she committed to showing up and saying “yes” her calendar quickly booked up with speaking engagements, TV appearances and a seat at multiple awards ceremonies.
Although I’m surely invited to fewer glamorous events than Shonda Rhimes, opportunities do come up from time to time and I’m working on saying yes to them, especially when they push me a little bit out of my comfort zone. Recently I was invited to an event to honor a martial arts master in our area who had been running his dojo for 50 years. Although I had heard of this man we had never been directly introduced, and my first instinct was to decline the invitation. However, remembering my commitment to yes, I fought against this instinct and found myself RSVP’ing that I would love to attend.
When the day came I decided to attend with an open mind, and with no real agenda. Cocktail hour was enjoyable and an opportunity to catch up with a few folks I hadn’t seen much in recent months. Then, when it was time to move into the sit down dinner part of the evening, we all learned that the table we had been assigned didn’t actually exist, due to a mix-up. In the ensuing confusion we invited another table-less person to sit with us, and I ended up sitting next to him. It turns out that this guy had flown in from California for the event and that he is in the same field as I am: video production. Our conversation that evening led to follow up calls and now we are in discussions about collaborating on a documentary project.
I like this story because it clearly shows the power of the Universe and its magic, once we’re able to do just two things: first, we need to show up by saying yes to opportunities and second, we need to get out of our own way, staying open to possibilities of what might unfold in any given moment.
If you’re like me and have been quick to say no in the past I implore you to take a chance and say yes the next time you see the opportunity. Do it with openness and joy and no real agenda, then just watch with curiosity and observe how things play out. If you’re so inclined, drop me a line or comment below. I’d love to hear about your experiences!
The Balance: Business, Marketing and Life 