Coaching business owners has allowed us some pretty exciting highs. Coaching also requires the thickening of a coach's skin. There are plenty of days where I show up to “practice” ready to coach and the response is a subtle eye roll from an owner, “Really? We’re going to talk about this again?”
Most Tuesday nights throughout the school year we have a group of teenage emerging-men to our house for “Man Up Night”. It’s really a case study in teenage male interaction. Shiny squirrels, bazaar sounds, curious thoughts, unrealistic competition, and the world's newest game, plunger wars (don’t ask).
One of these young emerging men walked into the house on a Tuesday and I asked him, “how was practice?” His response, “just like always...it sucked.”
The truth of that statement is that it is hard. What gets missed in our bemoaning practice is when that young emerging-man shows up this Friday night to his live game, he will be overwhelmingly grateful and satisfied that he put in the hard work of repetitious, enduring, methodical practice.
As your coach, at least for this moment, I am inviting you into the methodical, repetitous, sometimes painful work of writing.
Writing down your vision. Writing down your mission. Writing down your unique core values.
Why write them and not just discuss them?
Michael Gerber said, “if you don’t write it down you don’t own it.”
I am not sure who said this statement but it is true nonetheless, “if you do not write it down it does not exist.”
My first book Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters only exists because I took the time to write it down. Obvious huh? Think through the inverse. If I do not write it down, the book does not exist.
We have written down tutorials, modules, documents, and templates, and now they all exist and bring enduring value for others. Just this year over 1,000 people have my book, my thoughts, my perspective in their hand. Just this year our tutorials and templates have been used thousands of times.
How? I wrote it down.
Author, psychologist, and educator Kelly McGonigal reinforces the intentional act of writing, in this case, your values. McGonigal writes, “It turns out that writing about your values is one of the most effective psychological interventions ever studied. In the short term, writing about personal values makes people feel more powerful, in control, proud, and strong. It also makes them feel more loving, connected, and empathetic toward others. It increases pain tolerance, enhances self-control, and reduces unhelpful rumination after a stressful experience.
In the long term, writing about values has been shown to boost GPAs, reduce doctor visits, improve mental health, and help with everything from weight loss to quitting smoking and reducing drinking. It helps people persevere in the face of discrimination and reduces self-handicapping. In many cases, these benefits are a result of a one-time mindset intervention. People who write about their values once, for ten minutes, show benefits months or even years later.”
Why do we resist?
First, writing feels so “9th-grade-English”. We wrote in 9th grade because we were forced to write. Many of us found no joy or purpose in the writing other than simply to write. There was no “Friday night game” that rewarded the joy of writing, to the detriment of this great skill.
I walked into my son’s room as he was pounding away at a keyboard the other night working on a short essay. As I write and speak this out now I am thinking, “we need to have a Friday night game experience for his collection of writings.” The old adage is true, “what gets rewarded gets done.”
Second, we resist writing because writing feels so beneath us. We are smart people, we don’t need to write it down! We think, “I’m a grown adult, I’ll leave the writing to the 9th graders.” I get it, but we are wrong when we think this. Writing, documenting, capturing, recording is one of the most thoughtful, human, empowering tools you have in your toolbelt.
When you write and capture a process, a value, a vision, a mission, an idea, that written statement transforms into a powerful motivator and invitation that forces the rest of us to either run towards what you have written (in agreement), or run away from what you have written (in disagreement).
If you want me to know where you stand, write it down, otherwise it is just hot air.
You need to hire someone? Write the role down.
You need to bring on a partner? Write it down.
You need to have a tough conversation? First, write it down.
You need to praise someone? Write it down.
Finally, we resist writing because it is hard. To spend time writing this right now means that I have elected to not sleep, text, email, or eat ice cream (although I’m still in debate). Writing this means that I have chosen to forego the easy work of responding to fires and instead invest in the hard work of writing it down, so now it exists allowing you to think through how you bring things into existence.
Write your vision, write your mission, write your values, write your systems, write your process, write thank you notes, write your thoughts and then repeat them over and over and over and over so we can read them and RUN!
Put in the hard work of writing and watch the reality of what Kelly McGonigal wrote play out in real time, it will “show benefits months or even years later.” How? Just start writing.
Oh yeah, I failed my 9th grade English class, so no excuses.
Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose, author of Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters. Scott also hosts The Business On Purpose Podcast and can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.
The headline landed this past week that so many thought might be coming…
Since 2008 virtually every business owner has thought, “when will the next recession come and how bad will it be?”
Yours truly has wrestled with the same question during moments of emotional and mental weakness in my well-documented struggle with fear.
Recently though I have wondered, “could I approach a market dip with enthusiasm and expectation rather than doom and gloom?”
I believe so, here is what I mean.
The lowcountry of South Carolina, where our family lives, has been on the receiving end of active hurricanes each of the past three years. It is nice to believe that we can hurricane-proof our home. The reality though is that the best we can possibly work towards is a thoughtfully hurricane-reinforced home.
My neighbor Fred actually owns a small hurricane-shutter business allowing homes and businesses to provide reinforcement in nasty weather. But if that hurricane barrels in as a direct Category 5, not even Fred’s storm panels will do much to assist in the event the entire house was blown from its foundation.
Even some well run businesses were knocked off of their foundations during the Great Recession. But in most cases, the businesses that were recession-reinforced were able to withstand.
Here are a few non-negotiables to reinforce your business so that if a market dip comes you can go into the storm with expectation and anticipation instead of doom and gloom. These are in no particular order.
First, your Vision story is even more important than cash.
Liquidity (accessible cash) is a delightful tool that we would all love to have in excess, but what is more crucial is vision.
In a market-storm debris usually gets thrown around and if your perspective is lost your course can get easily thrown off.
Ed Sheeran says in his song Lego House, “I think the braces are breaking…” In a storm braces have a chance to break and equilibrium thrown for a bit. While the storm is raging, and when the storm is complete it is both refreshing, comforting, and re-centering to know and have confidence in your heading. Ship captains and airplane pilots would surely agree.
The only way you can lead a team to run is to write the vision down (literally...write it down) and communicate it with incredible repetition.
Second, cash will offer buoyancy and give you options.
In a typical room full of business owners if I had everyone raise their hand who could make it through three months of business with no revenue...not many would be able to respond.
The hurricanes here in the lowcountry exposed some businesses to the reality that they could not even survive one week of zero revenue generation let alone a few months of market correction.
We recommend that businesses have an accessible reserve of three to six months of cash reserve to live on under the assumption that no new revenue was generated. This is not a move based on fear, but instead on wisdom.
A decision based on fear (or greed) is to have two years of cash built up (unless maybe you are a farmer:). Hoarding is not healthy either.
The likelihood of zero revenue is not very high in most industries. If you have cash, you have options.
One option is to float the entire business with no reduction of overhead, personnel, etc.
Another option is to thoughtfully trim the business expense in line with the new revenue. Obviously this is easier to do with a team of subcontractors verses a team of full time employees.
The most exciting option is to have cash available to purchase other businesses at a discount. Remember all of those hands in the room that would not go up? Many of those represent good products that are simply poorly managed and can be revived by your leadership. You may be able to purchase their business (assets, people, contracts, relationships, etc.) at a discount during a stormy market. You cannot do that though if you do not have cash.
The smoothest way to build cash that we have seen and exposed hundreds of business owners to is found in Mike Michalowicz’ simple book Profit First. Read it and do it. No excuses.
Third, team meetings will ensure that the right things will be communicated in the right way.
Having endured the geographical displacement of a few hurricanes now has helped train us on the importance of predictable communication channels.
Obviously our family is together so we are able to communicate in real time and with frequency.
Our mayor did a great job of communicating certain times where she would communicate to displaced citizens using Facebook Live.
Our local Sheriff would also hold regularly scheduled updates accessible to anyone anywhere.
If you do not have a regular method and frequency of communication (i.e. - agenda driven, leader led, regularly set team meetings), then a market-storm will further exacerbate the irregularity, frustration, and unpredictability of a communication-challenged culture. Don’t wait for a market storm to communicate using team meetings, build that habit now.
If you have clarity of knowing where your business is going, cash to keep you afloat, and a reliable method of predictable communication then your braces are less-likely to break and Ed Sheeran will be a musical companion during an opportunity rather than a prophet of doom through a storm.
Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose, author of Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters. Scott also hosts The Business On Purpose Podcast and can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.
“Wig”, as most call him, sat in front of me over the simplicity of a Subway sandwich shop table and motioned his arm with a fist up and down saying thoughtfully and slowly, “it’s about wisdom.”
Wisdom.
Last week I was with a group of Cross Country athletes from our local High School and had them answer this question, “What is wisdom?”
Their answers were thoughtful and aware-- sincere and slow.
These student-athletes were genuinely thinking about the question. It was not a case of “let me just spit out an answer so this guy can move on and we can go do anything other than this!”
Wisdom forces us to slow down and listen closely.
Wisdom invites us to lean in and fine tune our ears to hear.
Wisdom speaks in truth, prudence, good judgement, plain-terms, knowledge, discernment, insight, strength, service, eagerness, right-ness, experience, longevity, instruction, joy, and life.
Business Owners are invited daily to walk away from Wisdom and instead to go down the wide, inviting, luxurious path of deception, feeling-above-truth, injustice, confusion, apathy, gossip, and near-term assumption. Of course it never feels or seems that way in the moment.
There are two reasons why Wisdom must be the primary value that hovers above all other published values in your business (and everywhere else).
First, Wisdom was around long before you were.
The personification of wisdom is well written and documented in the Jewish Proverbs.
“Rulers lead with my (Wisdom’s) help…”
“I (Wisdom) have riches and honor, as well as enduring wealth and justice.”
“My (Wisdom’s) gifts are better than gold, even the purest gold, my wages better than sterling silver.”
As you read through you begin to uncover the game-changing option you have in embracing Wisdom.
Those values and benefits are within Wisdom in part because of how long Wisdom has existed. “The Lord formed me (Wisdom) from the beginning, before he created anything else. I was appointed in ages past, at the very first, before the earth began. I was born before the oceans were created, before the springs bubbled their waters…”
Working through a recent parenting challenge I reached out to a mentor who is older and more experienced than I am. He walked me through a similar challenge their family experienced which gave me loads of confidence and courage to walk through in our family.
The majority of insight you receive will likely be categorized as opinion, the minority of insight you receive is Wisdom.
He had been there before, and his challenge instilled bravery in me.
Wisdom has been there before, which is why the secret to wisdom is simply, “Go get wisdom!” (Prov 4:7)
Second, Wisdom’s foundation is solid when everything else is flimsy.
All that time spent strategizing, marketing, thinking, and wondering can make our businesses feel like a house of cards.
Most businesses are built as a house of cards, fancy exteriors with very little substructure underneath. We see it all of the time and appreciate when a business owner takes time to become aware and admit it. Only then can transformation begin.
When we are fragile and in chaos we will do anything possible not to have our flimsiness exposed. Fingers crossed and arms clutched we hope that “everything will just work out.” Or we believe the consequence of the “everything will just work out” mentality won’t be as bad as the pain of putting in the work on the front end.
Wisdom says “put in the work while no one is looking and reap the reward on the back end.” The opposite of wisdom is “everything will just work out.”
Here are a few helpful ways to “go get wisdom”.
Once you begin the long discipline of procuring wisdom you will then be able to deploy wisdom. Once you deploy wisdom be ready for counter punches which you will then combat with…
Wisdom.
Everything else moves, shifts, and fades out. Wisdom endures.
I was exhausted and standing in front of a Customs Official in the Lagos airport. “Where is your yellow immunization card?”
My face turned yellow I’m sure as my eyes darted through my passport. I was no stranger to the Nigerian customs process and was usually well thought out and on my game. Not this trip.
It was a situation where I literally grinned, looked at this powerful lady and said, “E’karo Mommy, se’ dada ni’?”
She laughed cautiously and then asked again in a playfully inquisitive tone, “your yellow card?” I said with a thoughtful smile, “I will find it.” She waved me through with my passport, visa, and a yellow card I was committed to find. I eventually did find it.
It was a situation where I sat their metaphorically naked and hoping for the best with noticeable perspiration.
That is the typical posture when hiring a team member, hoping for the best with noticeable perspiration.
As business owners we are constantly working to maximize profit, cash flow and a host of other metrics and deliverables. Yet when it comes to hiring we look like middle schoolers out on a first date, awkward and out of place.
Two things that you can install into your business right now to help you mature the process for how you bring in that powerfully important asset and relationship of people into your business.
First, a written hiring process. An actual process that you will follow no matter how desperate you are for employees nor how well you may know said-candidate.
Important elements of a hiring process combine a mix of subjective (how you feel) and objective (what the data says) points.
Subjectively, having an initial phone call followed by a series of live meetings. A live-discussion sequence that we recommend looks like this:
“But can’t we do it faster?” If you want to be less informed and hasty then yes you can. Part of the value of multiple steps is to intentionally slow down the process so everyone can process all of the information.
Objectively, here are some elements of the process that will give you hard metrics to look at.
All three of the objective opportunities are severely underutilized primarily because they take time and effort.
Embrace the time and effort. See it as a gift allowing you to make an incredibly powerful decision. It’s romantic to think, “I was at a gas station pumping gas and a guy walked up to me and I hired him on the spot and he’s been the best employee I’ve ever had.”
That may work for your Grandmother’s dating game 70 years ago...but not for hiring.
Secondly, you need an Onboarding Process.
Day one is no longer day one. The first day for your new team member is actually the start of their warm up period which should be about 3 months.
A healthy Onboarding Process will include a simple layout of what the new team member will learn, according to their role, week by week over the first twelve weeks.
Weekly, the new team member will sit with their direct report and walk through a few crucial and well positioned questions and statements…
Spend 10 minutes reviewing that list of questions each week with your new team member and your investment will begin returning in a major way. A simple, implemented onboarding process is one of the simplest ways to ensure your hiring investment.
As Owners, let’s commit to stop just crossing our fingers and hoping for the best and let’s work the process.
Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose and the host of The Business On Purpose Podcast. He can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.
We stopped about 38 minutes through our coaching time and one of the Owners asked, “could you help us just sell our business?”
He was frustrated with his construction company because construction is hard. With all of the lead hunting, bidding, questioning, job costing, crew recruiting, scheduling, material ordering, monitoring other people’s schedules, weather delays, and market variations...construction is hard.
Instead of selling your business out of frustration (not usually a good idea), what if you proactively designed your business to sell and then stuck with it?
If you want a business that could sell here is a roadmap that is easy to follow and requires loads of vision, discipline, and repetition to implement.
Put in the work now, and you will see the returns later.
Here are a few items that are non-negotiables in order to lead a business that you can sell...
First, you must write your vision story.
The wisdom is true, if you do not have a written vision you (and others) will scatter. There are seven categories to think through when writing your vision:
Second, you must write and constantly repeat your mission and unique core values.
Whereas your vision story is a detailed, multi-page description of the future of your business, a mission statement is distilled from your vision and should pack a massive punch!
A mission in the well documented writings and talks of Simon Sinek is simply “your why”. It is a short on sentence phrase, less than 10-15 words telling us exactly why you got out of bed this morning.
For Business On Purpose we liberate business owners from chaos. That’s it. Our vision is four pages long and takes a longer time to reveal. If you are not interested or impacted by our mission, if it does not grab you then you will likely not be interested in our vision story.
By distilling our vision into a short, punchy mission we have been gracious and saved you time so you can either go deeper with us or move on to something else.
Your unique core values are the guardrails of decision making in your business. When we make a decision at Business On Purpose we run each of those decisions through our vision, our mission, and then five unique core values (unique values are not integrity, responsibility, and excellence...we should ALL value those).
Here our five unique values:
You will make haphazard, confusing decisions that violate your vision if you are not constantly reviewing and repeating your mission and values.
Third, you must have a documented set of repeatable and trainable systems and processes.
This is typically where most owners begin to really nod their head in agreement and internally battle because they know that the intention to build systems and processes does not equal the actual work it takes to build them.
Some of the systems and processes that must exist and be used regularly are items like…
Fourth, you will be well served to have a team of professionals around you (all can be engaged by contract or retainer and are worth their weight in gold), whether you sell or not.
A Business Coach will be the Bill Belichick you need to keep you locked in and focused on what’s next and what’s now. A great coach studies, gameplans, encourages, motivates, designs, and holds you accountable to maximize your capacity. Your coach will also help facilitate discussions between you and your team (you know, those tough conversations you don’t want to have:), as well as the other contract professionals on your team.
A Business Attorney will allow position you to make sure your “i’s” are dotted and “t’s” crossed with agreements, contracts, wills, trusts, liability (see an Insurance Pro to help), power-of-attorneys, and overall legal plans.
A CPA and/or virtual CFO will make sure that you are budgeting, projecting, tracking, monitoring, maximizing profit, paying your taxes, and retaining cash to fund the future.
A Valuation Specialist has the skillset to walk into your business and determine how much the business is worth to the market. Again, your goal may not be to actually sell the business, but instead to offer ownership to others who can help you grow.
Fifth, you must be willing to grind for a while.
The more you build your business to sell, you will actually end up building a business where people thrive. Sure, you can throw a bunch of borrowed cash at a business and flip it, and that is fine if that is what you are into. Our business is our platform to serve people.
Mod Pizza’s mission is brilliant, “we make pizza so we can serve people.”
YES!
A business with great vision, mission, values, systems, processes, and professional support will require a heavy volume of fuel for a while. That fuel is your time, care, and expertise. Be cautious about buying into the “scale-quick” mantra. Again, it may work for some, but likely if you are following the Business On Purpose values...we actually like working.
When you build a sell-able business, over time you will find that you will likely want to hang on to it and share the wealth!
If you want to begin building your Business On Purpose go get my book Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters. It is a step by step approach to building a business that you could sell...or hang on to.
Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose and the host of The Business On Purpose Podcast. He can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.