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My Business On Purpose

The Business On Purpose Podcast is a weekly podcast dedicated to equipping, inspiring, and mobilizing you to live out your skill set to serve others and glorify God. My goal is to help small business owners and organizational leaders unlock the things you cannot see, and develop actionable strategies and systems that will help you live out your business on purpose.
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Now displaying: 2020
Dec 29, 2020

5 questions to ask every new hire...EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK!

It never fails to happen after hiring...the honeymoon phase is over, the patience is wearing thin with the new employee, and they seem to maybe have fibbed a bit on their resume. Well, they’re your problem now...YOU HIRED THEM!

We see it so often with our clients. A business owner gets so excited to hire someone and thinks they’re going to magically fix so many problems just by existing in the business! But, as you and I know, that rarely happens.

New hires come with baggage! They come with bad habits and different ways of doing things. So often, business owners tolerate things that drive them nuts until finally it all boils over and they blow up...ok, let’s NOT do that if we can help it.

This is the reason we put together an incredible onboarding process for every new hire. I know this process backwards and forwards, because I’ve been participating in it weekly for almost the past 6 mos. That’s right...every week. For 6 months!

Here’s what I can tell you… it works! It has given me radical clarity for how to do the job I’m being asked to do and also has helped shape me into the employee that my boss desires.

So, here’s 5 questions to ask your new hire...every single week! Carve out some time and get it on the calendar for onboarding time. Never cancel it and watch the results!

1. How are you seeing us live out our Mission/Vision/Values?

Give your employees a chance to tell you if they even know the mission/vision/values of your business. You might be shocked to realize you’ve never communicated that to them. Hopefully, you hear a little bit about how your business is accomplishing these things and it’s an encouragement to you as the owner, but if they can’t point to anything you need to swallow your pride and figure out a better way to show these in the day to day.

2. What are you seeing?

You’ll never get your employees eyes back. Now, what does that mean? Well, they will see things and experience things that you want to capture. Things that seem a little off or things that they’re probably asking why do we do things this way? You want to give them an open ended question to be able to ask about them. WHo knows? It may give you perspective you need that you had never considered before, since you’ve see it done one way forever! It’s so valuable to capture their experience and what they’re seeing from day one.

3. What questions do you have about your Job Role?

This ones simple, give them a chance to tell you where they’re struggling and where they lack clarity in their role. So often new employees just want to act like they have it all together, but this gives them the chance to admit where they’re struggling so you can get them up to speed faster! It also helps you record processes that are unclear or ones that you need to have written down!

4. What do you need from us?

Again, this ones simple. Give them an open ended question to ask for help, if needed. This is relational more than anything. Ever week they will hear that you are for them, on their team, wanting them to succeed and willing to do what it takes to help them succeed. That’s all you can ask for as an employee.

5. Here’s what we see…

Here’s your moment to offer encouragement and critique their work. Notice that it needs to be BOTH! But too often, we wait for a year end review to offer critical performance reviews. This gives you a weekly time to make small tweaks along the way. It makes job performance normal instead of it feeling like the end of the world when your boss unloads on you! It also keeps you from sweeping things under the rug and building up resentment towards employees. Let’s talk about it, get it out of the way, fix it and move forward!

That’s it. Record the answers as you go, so you can come back to them and have documentation from all of these answers. It’s life changing for your employee, too. Imagine having a boss that gave you a voice to speak out on what you see, gave you clarity about what you’re being asked to do, offered to help whenever needed and then offered constructive feedback each week.

That’s what your business needs! That’s what your employees need from you, as the owner. Don’t wait for them to figure it out, but take control of the onboarding process today...even if your employees have been around for months or years. It’s never too late to start.

Have a great day y’all!

 

Dec 26, 2020

What matters most?

Here at BOP we have a mission statement that is the why behind everything we do. It’s “Liberating business owners from the chaos of working in their business…” but we also add this on at the end, “and freeing them up to concentrate on what matters most!”

It’s something we stand by and something that fuels everything that we do. Yes, business coaching is a passion of ours, but it’s the “what”, not the “why.” It’s the freedom to concentrate on what matters most that pushes us.

You see, when you’re locked into chaos, you’re blind to the needs around you. You’re blind to what you’re supposed to be doing because you’re stuck putting out fires and doing what you HAVE to do.

So what is that? If you were to fill in the blank of what matters most to you, what would that be? That’s why the Vision story is so important! It’s doing the deep work of figuring out what you truly want once the chaos is gone!

What happens if you find yourself free from the chaos and watching afternoon talk shows, snacking on Cheetos every day. Or binging the next Netflix series that adds nothing to your life because you have nothing else on your to-do list.  Is that what this is about? Now, there’s a real story there and it’s hilarious, but No! It’s so much more than that. It’s taking that time free from chaos and figuring out what using that time for what matters most is all about.

Is it coaching a kids sport team or driving them to dance classes? Is it taking your wife on a date regularly and investing in your marriage? Is it being engaged with your family, not just physically present as a business owner told me last week. Is it setting up team development meetings to actually pour into your team and invest in their professional and personal development? Is it hiring new team members and providing jobs for your community?

Maybe it’s getting engaged in your church or a local non-profit, maybe mentoring a younger business professional and sharing what you know? Is it giving generously because you have more than you need?

I cannot make these decisions for you, but I know that there is freedom to be had from chaos and I know that when that comes...you have to know what you want to do with that freedom. It’s worth it!

Your work is more than “What” you do...it’s how it frees you up to make an impact on others and what you do with that margin that makes such a difference in your family and your community. And THAT, is what should drive you out of bed in the morning.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

Dec 26, 2020

Do your employees have clarity?

I played high school lacrosse growing up. Loved it! And I was new to the game when I first started playing...barely knew any of the rules, but I was a decent athlete, so I got on the field early on.

I remember our coach yelled almost non-stop at the games. He would be hoarse at the end of every game because he screamed the whole time!

I’ll never forget, during the first half of one of my first games, he started screaming at me after I picked up a ground ball.

“GET IT IN THE BOX! GET IT IN THE BOX! GET A TOUCH IN THE BOX!”

I had a guy guarding me, and by this point I was tuning out my coach and the non-stop noise being yelled from the sidelines. Next thing I knew, the referee is blowing his whistle and it was a turnover going the other way.

I immediately get pulled out of the game and the coach is just ripping into me. Veins on the side of his neck popping out...and I learned a few new 4 letter word combinations I’d never thought of before.

“Joyner, why didn’t you get it in the box? What’s wrong with you?”

I’ll never forget what I said as I yelled back at him, “Coach what does get it in the box even mean!”

I’m laughing right now, because my coach had never explained this rule to me before. Whenever there’s a turnover, you have 15-20 seconds to carry the ball through “the box” on the field and establish a possession.

His anger immediately subsided and he laughed as he realized I couldn’t be responsible for something he had never taught me. He just looked at me and said, “That’s on me Joyner, we’ll get you back in there in a minute.”

I laugh at this, because this situation is no different from the business world. I sit in Coaching meetings with business owner’s that are ready to fire an employee because their work is trash and they won’t do this or that.

My question is always, “Well have you trained them on that?” It’s always so funny to see there reaction. 9 times out of 10 they realize, I’m trying to hold them accountable for something that they don’t even know is on their job role.

So why does this happen so frequently?

Well, typically we assume things are common knowledge...typically we assume that they SHOULD know that.

Listen to this please, they SHOULDN’T know! What is common to you is not common to me! And, ultimately, your employees cannot be responsible for things you have not communicated just like it wasn’t my fault when I didn’t know the rules on the lacrosse field.

That’s why job roles are so important. We have every client build crystal clear job roles for every position in their business. It’s that important. They go over it with them, ask for any questions and record every process that they’re responsible for.

Why?

So that when you go back to critique their work you can know if 1) They’re being lazy and not doing it correctly, 2) The process needs to be tweaked, as it doesn’t work, or 3) There is lack of clarity on the totality of the process.

It’s so important to give your employees the gift of training so they can adequately accomplish the job you’ve hired them to do. It keeps them from being frustrated and you from being frustrated with them!

So, the next time you are upset with an employee, ask yourself where the blame lies. Is it actually your fault, as the owner, for failing to give them a 100% clear job role and training? If so, you’ve got work to do on your end.

Don’t let your employees underperformance be a result of your unwillingness to help them succeed. It matters and will be a GAME CHANGER for your business!

Have a great day!

 

Dec 25, 2020

How To Restructure A Company To Increase Profits

The golden ticket in business is to figure out a way to increase profits without having to increase revenue.

Speaking to a variety of business owner groups virtually or in-person, owners want to know the “secret” to generating higher profits while selling the same amount of product or service. 

It is straightforward: the less you spend, the more you keep.  The more you generate, the more you can either spend or keep.

That’s about it.

As with most things in life though, the way you structure your business accounting can provide some powerful efficiencies that can lead to better outcomes.

Here are three systems that we have embedded into our business workflow to help ensure that we have healthy profit, while also working to pay appropriate taxes, and reserve cash for rainy days.

First, subdivide your bank accounts.  If you are running your business from just one or two bank accounts then you are in a state of constant temptation to spend money that may not be yours.  Just because cash is in your account does not mean it is yours.

Some of that cash is for debt payment, taxes, payroll, reinvestment, and other responsibilities.  If all of your cash is kept in one account bucket, then it all looks like it belongs to you.  Subdividing your bank accounts (we have nine!) will allow your mind to see where the different dollars are to go. 

Call me crazy, but we actually get excited when it’s time to pay our quarterly estimated taxes knowing that we have done the hard work of setting it aside. 

Second, track the ABC’s of your business.  The A stands for your cash Accounts.  The B is for Bookkeeping.  The C is for Customers.

Each week on a simple spreadsheet, you should record the balances of your accounts.  It allows you to watch the flow of cash in and out of your business, and to make sure that each of your accounts is being funded at the level of the budget that you have set for your business.

Tracking your accounts each week allows your business to “speak to you” and tell you where your business is thriving, or where it is struggling.

Each week you should also be tracking on the same spreadsheet your bookkeeping numbers, particularly outstanding receivables from your aging report, and any known payables due from your business to others.  

Finally, it’s a great idea about once a month to run a calculation of the number of days of cash you have on hand at any given time.  It’s a calculation of actual cash, known receivables, payroll and payables in-and-out in the next 30 days, and number of working days in a month.  

We have a calculator that we have built that allows us to see what that number is at any given time.

Jim Lewis, owner of Vision Stairways And Millwork, talks here about how implementing these practices allowed him to grow his profits while his revenue actually decreased!

We have put together a webinar tomorrow Tuesday, October 13th at 3pEST/12pPST and will be walking you through each of the three steps I just mentioned; subdivision of bank accounts, tracking your weekly ABC’s, and determining your cash runway.

Registration for this webinar Masterclass is free here at bopwebinar.com

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.

 

Dec 24, 2020

Why BIG Wins? 

When I grew up, life felt so much slower. Long days spent playing in the woods or playing games like kick the can and manhunt. Just being a kid! Days felt like they wouldn’t ever end, I didn’t really mind it at the time.

Now? Well, it couldn’t be more different. It feels like our performance is measured by the minute and the good old days are gone for good! We’re owned by our phones and never sit around long enough to actually celebrate. If there’s one recent trend, ok there’s about 50 things that could make this list, but if there’s one recent trend that bothers me... it’s our lack of celebration for things that truly matter.

Now don’t get me started on kindergarten graduations and birthday months and things in our society that are OVER celebrated... that could take a while, what I’m talking about is our inability to step back and celebrate hard work and achievement without looking forward to the next thing that needs to be accomplished. We’ve forgotten how to celebrate things that should be celebrated in the workplace!

Now, this goes back to the book of Genesis right...it’s a Biblical concept as old as time! When God created...he stepped back and said this is “Good.” Right? He took a minute to pause, to celebrate. When he created us, he said...this is VERY GOOD! His masterpiece. He didn’t sit there and say, “Ok, so what’s next...what’s on tap for tomorrow?” No, he stepped back and celebrated the fruits of His labor.

So why do we have a tough time with this? Why can’t we stop long enough to celebrate a job well done, a deal closed, a new venture? Well, I think it’s because our society feels it is ineffective and worthless if we’re not working towards something! It’s not about what have you done lately...it’s about what are you doing next! Our attention spans are so teeny tiny, that what has been accomplished is quickly forgotten about and what is yet to accomplish becomes the “White Whale” we chase after.

Think about the iPhone or the newest gadget you’ve bought. As soon as it’s released the question is brought up of what the next one is going to look like! It’s madness. They even are working on the next release before the current release is out, why? Because you’re only as good as your next release... your next achievement... your next innovation.

I’m here to tell you that’s simply not true. Yes, we should be building new releases and innovating, but not if it costs us celebration in the process. Not if it robs us of ever enjoying what we’re working on in the moment. Life cannot be lived in these mountain top experiences, but is lived in the margins. It’s the conversations you have with a coworker when you’re at lunch. It’s the quick little glimpses we get as we’re walking into a meeting with some people instead of scrolling on Instagram waiting for the meeting to start.

One of the things we love to celebrate at BOP is BIG Wins. It stands for Begin in Gratitude and if you’ve ever sat in on a team meeting of ours or sat through a coaching time, you know we always ask you what your BIG Win is. It’s a Unique Core Value of ours because we believe that celebration needs to be an integral part of who we are. You work too hard to not be allowed to celebrate and celebrate regularly.

Many of our clients have started BIG Wins in their team meetings as they’ve realized how critical it is to morale and how tight it draws their team together.

It’s a moment of humanity in the midst of a grueling efficiency battle. It pulls the curtain back a bit to remember that our coworkers or employees are humans and not just chess pieces to move around. It’s a way to celebrate the PROCESS of achieving a goal, not just the goal itself!”

Because your employees want to be celebrated...so how are you doing that as a business? That’s what I want to leave you with today?

What’s the culture of celebration and wins feel like in your business? Is it go go go and never stop for recognition? Or is it one that pays attention to the little things? One that celebrates the wins along the way? One that isn’t playing the game of always looking forward, but is willing to slow down enough to celebrate the daily and weekly BIG Wins?

I hope so…

Have a great weekend y’all!

 

Dec 23, 2020

Four Steps To Setting Crystal Clear (As Mud) Expectations

Human beings long for clarity.  We want to know precisely when the train will arrive, exactly when school will resume in person, and definitively when my Instacart order will show up.

Large corporations have entire departments focused solely on communication; communicating with the public, with employees, with customers, with regulators, with vendors and suppliers.

What about a small business?

Typically, it is the owner who will have to embrace the banner of clear communication for the business team and begin thoughtfully and repetitively empowering others to generate their own clear communication.

Communication is one of the kindest actions we can take as business owners to bring clarity to all of those partners.  The very root of the word communication simply means, “to share”.

Oh if Mom could see you now as you recall all of the Kindergarten cliches about how sharing is caring.  

In fact, sharing is caring, but only if sharing is done in truth, kindness, generosity, shrewdness, and discretion.  

We’ve all met the “keep-this-between-me-and-you” guy who you know has spread what they are about to share with you, to plenty of others before you.

And we’ve spent time with the “I-hate-to-gossip” lady when she pivots with a simple, “but…” and then drops a gossip bomb.  That is not careful sharing.

Careful sharing means laying the foundational concrete of forethought, timelines, impact, and outcomes.

Here are four steps to creating communication that will be helpful and set some powerfully clear expectations for everyone involved.

First, remember that it is going to take longer than you think.  If I had a dollar for the number of times that the expectations were clear in my own head, and yet still led to confusion to others.  It’s not their fault, instead my expectations have not had the necessary time to build clarity for others.

Expect questions.  Expect curiosity.  Expect confusion.  Just because it is clear to you does not mean it is clear to me.  

Many business owners are driver-personalities prone to rush results.  Results of clear communication often come with slowness and time.

Second, write down your expectations.  The simple value of writing things down is proven every time to read an important historical document; the Constitution, Luther’s ninety-five theses and his volumes of other writings, or the history of trees.  

Oral cultures have existed in the past, but the ones that have endured have transcribed the oral stories into written histories. 

Many business owners and key leaders are even taking the peculiar step of writing out a simple outline before they go into a hard conversation with an employee or with a customer.  They will even use their written outline to show the other person that they have truly thought through their words.  

Write down your expectations so others have time to digest. 

Third, set a formal time to share your expectations.

It is not uncommon to hear a business owner frustratingly respond with, “but I told them (the process) the other day!”  

If all Ashley and I did for the health of our marriage was to talk “in passing”, then it would be a long marital road.  We must have intentional times to sit down and discuss and dream and ideate.  

After you have your expectations written down, schedule a time to formally present them.

Finally, realize that sometimes you will never be fully understood...and that is ok.

This morning I was reading accounts of a few stories that Jesus was sharing with his apprentices.  Once he wrapped up, he walked to his hometown of Nazareth (which is halfway between the Sea Of Galilee and the Meditteranean Sea).   Some of the towns people he grew up with were curious as to how he had become so famous, and frankly were offended by his fame, and he turned to the small group following him and said simply, “A prophet is honored everywhere except his own hometown and among his own family.”

Sometimes, regardless of your clarity, you will simply be misunderstood.  I have yet to find the magic elixir of how to reconcile that feeling, but it makes me feel better knowing that even Jesus himself was not able to bring clarity to everyone.  

Neither will I, but for the ones who do find clarity it will be worth the effort.  For the rest, it may be clear as mud.

Part of setting clear expectations is having both thoughtfulness, and a process.  We have unlocked the entire Business On Purpose Roadmap coaching experience to help you build those necessary processes in your business, including your communication process.  You can go to mybusinessonpurpose.com/free to get started setting clear expectations!

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.

 

Dec 17, 2020

What do customers expect when they do business with you? 

I’ve always loved small businesses. I love supporting them! I love how you’re treated when you walk in the door. As the more you go, the more you they get to know you and know what you like!

 I lived in Greenville about 8 years ago and there was this tiny little restaurant that we would walk to from our house called the Soda Shoppe. It was amazing! I went there and would order pretty much the same thing every single time because I liked it so much.

One day, I walk in and the owner, who’s name was Ren, just waved at me and didn’t walk over. That was not like him at all and I just chalked it up to the fact that is was pretty busy at the time. Less than 5 min later he walks over with my exact order and drops it off at my table.

My jaw almost hit the ground! He knew me, knew the sandwich I wanted, with the correct dipping sauce and he just dropped it off and said, “the usual right?”

That’s where small business hits it out of the park. When they provide an experience and service at or above where you can find anywhere else. From there on out I’d just wave at him walking through the door, give him a thumbs up and it would be at my table in less than 5 min! I felt known, I felt cared for and honestly that was my spot from there on out!

So, what happens when the opposite happens. What happens when you frequent a small business and you do NOT receive superior service? Well, it happened to me the other day. I needed something for one of my various hobbies...and I decided that instead of jumping on amazon and saving a couple bucks PLUS my time, I would drive 15 min to this store to see if they had it.

I walk in...and the store was empty. 3 guys working unloading a few boxes and restocking shelves. I walked straight up to the owner, who I’ve talked to about 5-6 times recently and asked for what I was looking for.

“Ah we’ve had a hard time keeping that in stock. There may be some in these boxes but there’s just no way to tell.”

I kind of looked at him stunned, no problem solving, no let me look in the box real fast to see if I can make this sale. He simply said…”I’m sorry man, you may just need to come back tomorrow.”

Let’s just say I didn’t go back the next day. Now I get it, some days it’s tough, but you have to ask yourself some serious questions about the culture of your business. Now, more than ever, the customer has convenient options for how to get what they need! Now, more than ever, you have to find ways to exceed your customers expectations. That’s why they buy from you in the first place instead of going the convenient route. So, how do you do that. Is it hand written notes, is it working as hard as you can to remember someone’s name? Is it a follow up survey you can create in google to make sure their experience was excellent in every way?

This stuff matters! Do you know how many people I told about the soda shoppe? It was my go to lunch spot for 3 years! I took everyone there and the word started to spread. All because the owner took the time to build a culture at his restaurant that made me and the rest of his customers feel known, appreciated and cared for.

That’s what it takes! You’ve got to create customers that sell for you as they share the stories of their interactions with your business!

That’s what makes you worth the drive, worth the inconvenience, worth the price difference.

Hey I know I’ve mentioned this a handful of times, but if you haven’t signed up yet...what’s stopping you? 28 days free to our online platform. All the trainings, all the templates for free for 28 days! Go to to mybusinessonpurpose.com/thomas28 to sign up and start jumping into all the stuff we have for you. Do it...RIGHT NOW! I promise...you need it and it’s free so do it!

Have a great rest of your week everyone!

 

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