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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: May, 2021
May 31, 2021

Defining Your Avatar: Your One Perfect Customer”

Happy Friday folks. Brent Perry with Business on Purpose here. It’s nice and rainy here is good ole’ Tennessee, but we still have some good content to talk about.

If you have worked with us in the past you know that on the vision story we walk with you through, we ask a couple of questions about the type of clients or customers that you want to work with. And on the flip side of the coin, we also ask questions about what type of clients or customers that you don’t want to work with. 

Story about sales job at WireMasters (2 different customers)

I am reading a book right now, written by John Lee Dumas, host of the podcast Entrepreneurs on Fire. And one of his chapters is titled, Create Your Avatar. Which he goes on to explain that “an avatar is a single individual. Your avatar is your perfect customer, your model client, the ideal consumer of your content, your products, your services, and your offers.

His idea is simple, spend some time really thinking about your perfect customer. 

Now, let’s make sure we’re on the same page. Just because you spend time thinking though, and creating this avatar, doesn’t mean we expect this is the absolute only customer you will work with. That’s not reality. As a business owner, you will with a doubt find yourself working with all different types of clients in the field you are working in. Then what’s the point? Why spend time daydreaming about your ideal customer, when in reality you feel like you don’t want to say no to anybody. 

Couple of things…

  1. As Dumas explains, “Allow your avatar to be your guide at every fork in the road.” Meaning, as business owners you are faced with many decisions throughout the day and weeks…. and it usually involves a decision to go right or left... a fork in the road. After you have defined and dreamed up your perfect customer, you now have help in that decision. Which way would your avatar go? They are your perfect client, after all, let them help you in your decisions.  
  2. Use some freedom in defining your perfect customer, to say no to some people. There will be clients who will just not be worth it to work with. Your avatar will be north on the compass, and you will be able to identify someone not taking you in the right direction. Start with 1, see how it goes. 

So how do you create your avatar? Well be specific, and ask some questions and jot down your answers. The more specific you can be, the better your avatar will work for you.

Some examples, 

Age

Male or female

Married

Kids

Hobbies

Communication style (text, emails, phone calls)

Do they commute to work? Work from home? 

What does your business provide that they are looking for?

Why would they choose you?  

Thanks for your time. I hope there is something here that you can take with you.

Spend some time with your avatar over the next couple of weeks. You might be surprised how this simple tool can help liberate some of the chaos in your world. 

May 24, 2021

How To Determine A New Hire Salary

There are two areas of a small business when an owner will resort to gut feel faster than any other; who to hire, and how to compensate that new hire.

We were a few months into coaching a business owner when the time approached for her to hire a new role in her contracting business.  After helping her think through what to offload to the new team member, write the role, and determine the onboarding process (something she had never done before), the next obvious question came, “so how much will you offer in compensation?” 

Her response, “I have no idea.”

The good news is that she is not alone.  The bad news is that strategy will almost always lead to a bad outcome down the road.

Employee salaries are a bit like government programs, once set and offered they become difficult to retract and adjust. 

What factors should be involved in determining a new hire salary?  What factors should we pay less attention to?

It would first help to refocus on a question we rarely ask...what is the point of an employee salary?

Business owners often feel a responsibility to “provide for our employees”.  That is not true.  It is the job of the employee to provide for themselves and their family, and it is their decision on how that gets done. 

The business becomes one vehicle that can be used for the provision for each employee in the business if the business is generating enough margin to indeed provide compensation.

Culturally, we tend to believe that businesses magically make money and that employee salaries should naturally increase in direct response to time.  In other words, the longer a person is on the job the more money they should make.  Obviously, this is damaging.  

I worked with a fellow employee years ago who was at the company for over a decade and was making double what myself and other less experienced employees were making, and yet he continuously underperformed.  In essence, he was being rewarded year after year for simply showing up.

Employee compensation should be built and continued based on the value the employee brings to their role and overall to delivering on the mission of the business.  

So how do we determine employee compensation that aligns with business revenue generation and profitability?  We must listen to our business and hear what it is telling us based on what is actually happening in the business. 

First, you must know your numbers.  

As a reminder, we are not financial professionals and make it clear that we are offering suggestions based on what we have seen other business owners do.  Make sure to consult with a financial professional when making these decisions.  

Knowing your numbers sounds obvious and yet most business owners do not know their total revenue, cost of goods sold, or gross margin (or what Mike Michalowicz calls Real Revenue = (Total Revenue minus Cost Of Goods Sold)).

Seeing your net income on the bottom of a profit and loss statement is nice (and necessary), but it is not the entire story.  We must be aware of all of the numbers below your total revenue and above your net income.  

What percentage of your real revenue is spent on personnel, taxes, insurance, fees, dues, equipment, communications, marketing, etc?

Once you know those then you can begin to compare those numbers over the past few years and then determine if you are light or heavy in each area based on the return that you are receiving from each of those investments?

The money you are investing in marketing, is it generating leads?  

The money you are investing in software tools, is it producing efficiency in production?

The money you are investing in people, is it producing sales?

It is impossible to set a new hire salary, or to even know if you can afford to hire a new person if you do not listen to the numbers that your business is using to speak to you.

The second step to determine your new hire salary is to set your ratio.  I heard years ago that the average new hire salary should be set around a 1 to 3 ratio (1:3 ratio).  

What does that mean?

Essentially, for every dollar that you invest in a new employee role, that role should either…

  1. Generate an additional three dollars in revenue
  2. Or, free someone else up to go generate an additional three dollars in revenue

The 1:3 ratio is not set in stone and is simply a suggested starting point.  We have found experientially that the closer the role is to sales, the higher the ratio will likely be.

One business we coach runs a 1:7 ratio for each salesperson they hire.  In other words, if they compensate a salesperson at $100,000 annually, then they expect each salesperson to generate $700,000 in real revenue (total revenue minus cost of goods sold).

Using a ratio below 1:2 does not make much sense because you are simply breaking even on a role that is meant to help you generate additional profit.

The third step in determining a new hire salary is to run the calculation based on your ratio, and what your numbers are telling you.

As an example, let’s say that you have decided to pay your new accounting role a salary of $40,000 annually.

Before we apply your ratio, you must first apply a reality to your salary.  When you compensate an employee a base salary, it is not the full story.

The business is also responsible for payroll taxes and a variety of other often unseen expenses like increase fees on software licenses and insurance premiums.

As a practice, we calculate an additional twenty-six percent on each employees annual salary when running our budget numbers for a new hire.

When deciding to pay $40,000 in annual compensation, we are actually budgeting a salary of $40,000 plus twenty six percent on top which comes to a total of $50,400 annually that the business must budget for.

We then apply our chosen ratio not to the $40,000 annual number, but instead to the $50,400 annual compensation number.

In this case we will select a 1:3 ratio to run our calculation.  This means that for every dollar we invest in our new hire at a compensation level of $50,400, we expect to see a return of three dollars from our new hire at a real revenue level of $151,200.  

Again, either A) this new hire will directly generate an additional $151,200 in revenue each year, or B) this new hire will free up another employee to go generate an additional $151,200 in revenue each year.

The final step in determining a new hire salary is to set the number and run the model.

Your starter salary is always going to be a bit of an educated guess.  Of course you can consult Human Resource databases of market and industry compensations, and this is not a bad place to begin to get some initial numbers in your head.

Determining salary is both art and science.  The art is having your head on a swivel and looking around.  The science is to know your numbers, set your ratio, run the simple calculation, and then determine your final number.  

If you have to negotiate up on your salary in order to be more competitive in bringing in a new hire, that is fine, just know that it will also increase the real revenue number that the new hire is expected to generate.  

Having that conversation with a new hire can be very freeing for you as a business owner, and also very eye-opening for the new hire to let them know that you’ve done your homework and have been very thoughtful about their role.  

Know your numbers, set your ratio, run your calculation, define the number, and have confidence in your new hire process.  Your business and your new hire will appreciate the hard work.

May 17, 2021

Who holds you accountable?

Who holds you accountable? To your standards, your goals, your vision? 

Happy Monday friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.

Meeting with businesses can be a roller coaster. There are hundreds, if not thousands of variables at play every single day! So how do you navigate those? How do you work through those? How do you make sure you put the work in to build a business that matters.

What I see, more often than not, is that most of us don’t have a plan so we’re stuck in the same place spinning our wheels.

About a year ago, I was meeting with a heroic business owner and we spent a little over an hour talking about their business. The highs, the lows, the wins and the struggles. All of it. This guy had no problem articulating where he wanted to take this thing, and in all honesty, he had the confidence and drive to get there. He even had a plan for all of the stuff he wanted to develop in his team.

So we parted ways. I wished him well and told him to call me if I can ever help with anything. 8 months later we grabbed lunch again and I asked him for an update on business. The frustrating part for him... he hadn’t done anything with those plans to grow his team. 

Sales had gone up, their reach as a business had gone up, but organizationally they were struggling. He lacked the accountability to get what he wanted to accomplish done. He would wake up and there would already be a fire burning in his business. But instead of letting it smolder a bit, so he could work on some crucial elements of the business, he ran to the fire to put it out. He listened to the loudest voice shouting for his attention and, “Just never got around to it.” 

It’s a story that is not foreign to us.

A separate heroic business owner I met with months ago wasn’t much different. This one, however, needed some help with his Vision. So we worked hard for a few hours getting that written down and in place. We went our separate ways as they weren’t quite ready to take on a 1 on 1 business coach. 

I checked back in on them about a month ago and they haven’t stuck to their Vision. They got distracted and are chasing other things that are moving them further and further from what they truly wanted in their Vision story. Again, they ran away from the accountability that would have held them to it.

Sound familiar?

A third business I met with months ago. We sat down and spoke about getting all of their processes recorded. They were hoping to sell their business in the future but really wanted a sellable business that someone could come in and run from day 1. We went back and forth for a while, but they felt they didn’t need the accountability and they could handle it on their own.

Well, I checked in on them a couple of weeks ago to hear their process. Like most businesses, they just got busy, haven’t started, but are doubling down to get moving. Nothing had changed for them because no one was there to hold them accountable.

So why does this happen? We have so many good intentions, we’re talented and smart individuals. Why can’t we seem to get the business headed in the right direction and keep it going that way?

Well, I think it’s because of a lack of accountability 9 times out of 10. When we lack accountability, the wind can blow us wherever it wants us to go and there’s no anchor holding us to a location. 

That’s part of why we named our new content the Business on Purpose Compass. It’s to be a guide, pointing us the right direction. 

But here’s the thing about accountability. It’s not a one-time event. No, it’s consistent. It’s unwavering. It happens over a long period of time. Sometimes it’s abrasive. Sometimes it’s encouraging.

That’s the power behind it. It’s the simple reminder to stay focused on your team meetings, to train your team to your standard, when chaos is buzzing in the background.

It’s a simple phone call in the middle of the week asking about those 2 processes you said you were going to record but hadn’t gotten around to it yet. No, you said you were going to do this, schedule time for it, and let’s keep moving forward.

We have a tendency to self-sabotage when left to ourselves. But when someone who is fully objective can look over your shoulder and offer perspective, hold you accountable to your vision and values, and give you the tools to get there... that’s freedom!

So, what kind of accountability do you have in your life? If none, how do you go about getting it?

Well, maybe you need to set up a biweekly lunch with a group of like-minded business owners? Maybe it’s being fully transparent with them once or twice a month and then letting them speak the truth and hold you accountable. Maybe you need to join a mastermind group of people to help you think through what you can’t understand and shine some light on your blind spots? 

Maybe you need a business coach to meet with you twice a month, give you a roadmap and a compass to build a business that matters. To not let you settle or chase after your tail.

The one thing I can tell you? You need accountability. Period. Or else I can all but guarantee your problems this year may not be exactly the same as next year’s, but they will all have the same root. 

We say this all the time, but people come to BOP for the content. They love our content...but that’s not what keeps them around long term. They come for the content, but they stay for the accountability. 

Who’s holding you accountable? If the answer is no one, we would love to talk and find a way to be that for you.

That’s all for today...if you’re looking for some free content to hear more about us and what we do, please subscribe to our podcast and youtube channel. Just search my business on purpose, click subscribe and enjoy!

Have a great week!

May 14, 2021

When To Hire Employees For A Small Business? 

He finally admitted, “we were so desperate to find people that our hiring process consisted of simply determining if they had a pulse!”

Unfortunately, this is where many business owners find themselves as their business grows and they become a slave to the soupy chaos of product creation, delivery, billing, payables, taxes, and dealing with employees.

The good news is that regardless of your business or industry, it does not have to be that way.  There is hope and that hope comes dressed in what looks like hard work.

You are going to discover the first step in finding purpose-centered and value-fitting people to help you accomplish the mission of your business and it actually has nothing to do with hiring.

In early history, a team of twelve spies were commissioned and sent on a reconnaissance mission to discover a significant section of land in the Middle East to determine if they were fit and ready to take over that land.

As with most group decisions, there was dissension among the spies as to the fitness of their small nation state to annex this land that belonged to other groups. 

In fact, only two of the twelve had confidence to move forward.  Their confidence held firm and eventually this tiny nation state moved in to occupy a territory of land that was promised to their forefathers years prior.

Before you hire it is important to have the mind of a reconnaissance spy peeking into your own business and asking your business some pointed questions.

When in London riding the tube you will hear an automated voice imploring you to “mind the gap”.

When you feel a gap in your business, there is an urge to fill the gap with an employee...and fast.

Before you send a new employee into that gap that you feel, it is crucial that you first see the gap, and to sloooow down.

Here are four questions you can ask your business to determine if it is time to fill the gap by hiring employees.

First, have we properly delegated all tasks to our existing employees?

A bookkeeper called me one day in total frustration saying, “if one more client drops off a shoebox of receipts for me to organize for them I’m going to quit!

Her client abdicated their responsibility and my friend in a no-win situation.

Abdication is the failure to adequately prepare so that others pay the consequence.  

Delegation on the other hand is the relentless and thoughtful preparation and training that sets up another person for success, and then the consistent follow-up to ensure that the delegated task is being implemented well.

The tasks that you are looking to be deployed by the new employee...have they been documented and set up for repetitive training?

Second, we need to ask if we have a predictable and consistent habit of agenda-driven and leader-led weekly team meetings so that we can intentionally communicate with our existing and future employees?

I know, you think, “more meetings?!”  No.  Better, consistent meetings.

Most meetings are inconsistent and rarely have any element of follow-up and accountability.  

Ask yourself honestly, do we have a standing meeting every week that has a written agenda, a designated facilitator, and follow-up on action items from the previous week?

If not you are setting your existing employees and any new employees up for failure.

Imagine a marriage relationship with inconsistent and haphazard communication.  It doesn’t work!

Third, do we have clarity on what system in our business this person would be serving?

Each business, regardless of industry, is equipped with four major systems; operations, administration (accounting), marketing, and sales.  

What system(s) will this new employee be a part of, and then what processes will they own within their system?  

You as a business owner have never experienced true entrepreneurial freedom until you have experienced the joy of having an employee fully equipped to own their role and to know exactly what is being asked of them and how that fits within the structure of every other role in the business.

Your Org Chart and a Process Roadmap will allow them to see what parts of the business are fully dependent on them.

Fourth, are we willing to make the time to onboard a new employee and continually lead?

Hiring an employee is the start line of the marathon of working for your business.  When you hire a new employee you have simply invited them to ninety days of stretching and preparation.  Then after ninety days of intentionality, only then can the starting gun fire and the marathon begin.

Who do they need to know?

What do they need to know?

What tools do they need to learn?

What techniques for those tools are unique to your process?

What does communication look and feel like?

How does culture get intentionally installed instead of being just a cross-your-fingers hail mary?

We have to be disciplined as business owners to resist leading from our feelings because they give us false positives all of the time.

If you cannot make time to ask these four questions then you are not ready to hire because you can not see the gap you feel.  

When you have answered these questions, then you are ready to evaluate your answers and then determine if the finances of your business make sense to hire.

May 14, 2021

Number One Team

by Greg Gray
Business Coach
My Business On Purpose

Greg Gray is an international leadership and business coach, who has been serving others for over a decade. He is the author of Business Owner Freedom: Transform Your Business To Create The Lifestyle You Desire. Greg also hosts the Everyday Business Leader Podcast. He is a regular contributor to the Business On Purpose Podcast, that can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com. He resides with his family in Southern Middle Tennessee on their farm.

#businessonpurpose

May 13, 2021

What Makes A Great Leader?

by Greg Gray
Business Coach
My Business On Purpose

Greg Gray is an international leadership and business coach, who has been serving others for over a decade. He is the author of Business Owner Freedom: Transform Your Business To Create The Lifestyle You Desire. Greg also hosts the Everyday Business Leader Podcast. He is a regular contributor to the Business On Purpose Podcast, that can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com. He resides with his family in Southern Middle Tennessee on their farm.

May 11, 2021

“Let’s Talk About Your Time... Really, Your Mornings!”

Hey there, Brent Perry with Business on Purpose. Happy Monday. Or, whenever you have stumbled across this video I hope you are doing well.

What does your morning routine say about you? What does your morning routine look like? Does it matter? Maybe... let’s take a look.

It’s been said, “The morning is the perfect time to get into peak physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual state. The right morning routine would help you learn, grow, and improve every facet of your life.”

Are you taking advantage of your mornings? 

When I was just out of college (22 years old) I was a guy that could sleep in to 8:30 for my job, and if I ever woke up in the 7’s...man I was up and at it “early” in my mind. I would pat myself on the back if 7 am morning actually happened. I would sleep in at the last minute, jump up, grab a quick shower, grab a coffee on the way, and arrive just in time for my first meeting. This went on for a few years until I got invited by a group of men I looked up to and admired to run with them twice a week in the mornings. I was pumped, of course, I wanted to run with these guys and spend some time with them. They gave me the location, and the time... 5 am. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. These guys wake up to run at 5 am... like what? 

But for 2 days a week, it was worth it. 

(Now I'm going to take a minute to say all this happened before I became a dad of 2 little girls. I realize how crazy this seems now... I can’t even remember the last time I woke up after 7 now, but at the time this was a big deal).

But before I became a dad, where is what I learned from these men. They absolutely loved their mornings. They looked forward to them. And not because they could get more work done in the day. But because the mornings were theirs. 

Is your morning yours? 

It needs to be. 

By the time you step into your business, you should be ready. Again, physically, mentally, emotionally, and possibly spiritually. You want to be your best, and function at your highest potential. Take advantage of your mornings. And if you aren’t already, take back your mornings!

So what do we do?

I love this quote by David Goggins, “Every morning in our lives, we have a choice to make. You have the choice to stay in bed and say ‘Forget it, I’m not going to work out today.’ or ‘Forget it, I’m not going to work hard today.’ That’s your choice that you make every single day of your life. Make the right decision.” 

Let’s make the right decision.

What time do you need to start working on your business in your daily schedule? 8? 7? 6? 

That time can be different for each of you, but there is a time that you can identify.

So let’s start, at minimum, an hour before that. Set your alarm (set 5 if you have to). And wake up.

Stretch

Drink some water

Read

Workout

Meditate

Shower

Walk for 30 minutes

Drink coffee in your favorite chair

Get yourself ready for the day.

My oldest daughter is the earliest riser in the family, she wakes up at 7:30. There isn’t a day in the week I am not up by 6:30 at the latest. And 6:30 is late. For me to be at my best, I am usually up around 5. 

Now, this isn’t about me.  Please don’t take this as a “look at me” post. I have had to learn over the years that for me to be my best on a given day, I need my mornings. And I think you do too. 

Thanks for your time. I hope there is something here that you can take with you. Drop a comment if you have some tips/hints for others about morning routines. 

Have a great week.

May 10, 2021

The ugly side of business growth

Ok, so you’ve reached your sales goal... now what? Is it all it’s cracked up to be? Let’s jump into that today! It’s a new week, I hope you’re doing well, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.

I’ve seen businesses that earn 300k with an 80% margin... and I’ve seen million-dollar businesses with 3% margin. You tell me which you’d rather have!

You see, we hear these massive sales numbers all the time and the owner’s exclaiming they’ve arrived! But that’s never how we measure success. $500k, a million, 10 million dollars...it really doesn’t matter. Because you can bring in all the money you ever dreamed of, but if you’re not profitable, you run the risk of working for free and getting stuck answering to a business that will demand everything from you with no payoff in the end.

Don’t believe me?

I was working with a business just a few months ago. “We did it! We landed the contract. Sales will increase by 50% next year by signing this one whale to a long-term contract.”

“That’s amazing! Congratulations... how’s your margin priced in there?” I asked, just wanting to double-check and not regret it later.

“Oh, it should be between 18 and 20% depending on a few pieces of efficiency and if we have to buy any new equipment.” Awesome, let’s look at it.

Well, we started jumping in the numbers and realized quickly that it was not as peachy as it seemed. 

“We’ll need to hire a new manager and a new team of subs to make sure we handle all of this extra work. The manager is gonna need a truck, and a trailer and insurance goes up, and our equipment isn’t geared to really handle this scale of work, so we’re gonna need 30-40k of equipment.”

Can you feel the margin shrinking, or is it just me?

We got all the way to the end and pressed enter on our calculations. Had they just moved forward without truly looking at the numbers, they would have lost 12% on the year. Now, maybe they could have survived it. Maybe they had enough in reserves to make it, and granted, some businesses start out knowing they will lose money for a year or two before becoming profitable.

But the differences is those businesses are prepared to take that hit. They have cash reserves to weather the storm! When you’re expecting an 18% margin and lose 11-12% that’s a gut punch you are NOT ready for.

So, we started making some cuts. We went back to the profit first model and started building in another bank account for capital purchases. That way we can pay cash for new equipment as it becomes available in a few months. 

Once we ran the numbers again, we landed at a healthy 7-8% margin (which is really good for this business) for year one.

Guys, that’s success. A lot of people can bring in sales. A lot of people can land the big deal because they undercut prices so they have razer these margins and have no chance if, and when, something goes wrong.

But that’s no way to run a business. That’s a huge reason we use the multiple bank accounts model. So that we can spy on our finances, make quick, informed decisions that will keep us profitable. It’s way easier to course correct early on than to try to make up for poor decisions.

So, do you know your numbers? Have you sat down and truly checked to see what your margin is going to be or are you bragging about top-line revenue thinking it will magically figure itself out?

If so, that’s going to get you into a world of trouble down the road. 

Hear me say this... top-line revenue matters, but not if the system is not in place to handle all of the work. So, if you can do the work on the front in to make sure you can maintain the margin, that is how we measure success.

This is the ugly side of business growth. We overextend ourselves and our entire team struggles. But... had we thought through it and put in the work to build out a system that is able to handle more revenue, we can sit back and truly be proud of the business we’ve built. One that is secure, ready to handle anything, and structured to last a long, long time.

I hope that makes sense and would love to chat with you if it doesn’t. Let me know!

Again, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and podcast. You won’t regret it.

Have a great week!

May 10, 2021

Why Is It So Hard To Find Employees Right Now

We sat down for an impromptu Happy Hour last week with a handful of our local clients.  The topic we thought was most relevant was “how do we manage material delays and price increases?”

After some BIG Wins (we always start meetups with BIG Wins), we then lobbed the topic for discussion.  Within five minutes, all of our business owner clients were knee-deep in conversation about a different challenge... employees.

We started to slowly guide them back to our selected topic, and again within another five minutes, they were shifted back to a deep discussion about... employees.

It’s true, the number one challenge most business owners deal with... employees.  

Go out to eat and you will feel what it is like for a small business to not have enough employees.  Business owners are having to go to new heights to find and keep employees.

The common thought is that the extension of unemployment benefits are leading to a lack of motivation for people to get back to work.  That may be true, but there are other reasons.  

The pandemic pushed a significant amount of employable people towards the idea of remote work.  I can think of a few people in my social circles who have moved to remote work exclusively.  

It’s hard to tend the bar remotely. 

It’s hard to manufacture plastics remotely.

It’s hard to sort produce, load trucks, and stock shelves remotely.

Is it that people want to work remote, or is it that they just want to work somewhere they enjoy?

According to greatplacestowork.com, 84% of employees at The Container Store say it is a great place to work compared to 59% of employees at a typical U.S.-based company.”

The Container Store is a collection of physical retail and warehouse locations that require primarily in-person job opportunities.  

How is it they have high satisfaction but offer very little remote opportunity?  It can’t be the product, plenty of other retailers sell organizational products.

The Container Store has a remarkable culture of communication.  You can see it played out on their unique blog standfor.containerstore.com.

One of the seven foundational principles (core values) for The Container Story is communication is leadership.  In other words, when you communicate, you are leading.  The inverse is true also, when you do not communicate, you are not leading.

Before you write off my statement “culture of communication” as cliche, stop.  

Here is my question for you.  How have you communicated the job opportunities that you have?

Typically, an owner will simply say, “I’ll go post an ad to see if we can find someone.”  When they do find a couple of random people, they are fast-tracked through a half-baked hiring process and then wonder why in six months the owner is ready to get rid of the new employee.

Before you go try to the find the right person or people, here are four pieces of communication you can set in place to lead through your own communication.

First, shoot a video explaining your mission and values.  Explain, in your own words, how you integrate your mission into your day to day.  Also, walkthrough and demonstrate how you actually use your core values in decision making.

This assumes that you both have and use your mission and unique core values.  

Second, write a letter explaining exactly what you are looking for, and what you are not looking for.  This letter will accompany your job description.

Here is an example of the opening section of a letter we wrote to accompany:

We’re hiring a Marketing Strategy & Campaign Manager because we can’t accomplish our mission to liberate business owners from chaos without one. 

We need someone to wake up every work day and ask “how can I use A) all of the amazing BOP tools and talent, B) the right available digital tools, and C) the right invitation tools to get 100 people each week into the ‘BOP Train Station’ so they can have the opportunity to be liberated from chaos?”

We believe that business owners can have a great business AND a great life.  The best way to have them make time for what matters most is to liberate them from the chaos that distracts them.

And that is where you come in!

Third, write a job description that actually walks through the details of the job.  Scrap the corporate nonsense that fills most job descriptions with words like self-starter, or detail-oriented.  

Based on the DISC profile, approximately 86% of the world has a passive personality (C and S personalities), they need a catalyst to help them get started on something.  Only 14% of people are active personalities (D and I personalities) who would have strong capabilities to be self-starters.

Also, only 17% of the population has a predisposition to a high level of details (C personalities).

Tell us what the job actually is.  Cut the corporate speak, and write so humans can read it and understand.

Finally, publish all of your communication.  Post it everywhere!  Have a dedicated page on your website to all of the tools mentioned above with a specific URL that can be shared across your media platforms (yourwebsite.com/nowhiring).

This page will host your video, your letter, your job description, and the process for hiring so it is transparent and available.

You have not because you ask not.  

Start asking OUT LOUD.  Communicate and you will begin leading people to be a part of the intentional culture you are building.  

There is only one kind of culture that happens accidentally, and it’s not a culture you want, although most opt for it.

Your other option is to find the right employees by communicating the right message.  Start leading before they are your new employee.

May 3, 2021

4 Key Steps Away From Chaos

Chaos... that ever-present foe (or friend) to some of you. How do you take much-needed steps away from it? How do you close the door on it and lock it out for good? Well, let’s talk about that today!

Happy Monday friends! Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.

Every single sales meeting we do inevitably comes back to employees and sales. Every. Single. One. But what’s behind all of that? What’s really at the core, the root of the problem? Chaos. It just boils up and keeps us from training our employees as well as we should. We’re chasing revenue numbers and trying to meet sales quotas, so we never put in enough time to build out the necessary systems and processes to alleviate that chaos.

So what happens? It just sits there, staring us in the face and daring us to make a change. But we don’t. We just let it chase us around until we figure it out or burn out.

So, how do you leave chaos behind? How do you turn the corner and get above the noise? 

A few weeks ago we sent texts out to several of our clients to ask them that question. They are rocking the BoP Roadmap and the ones we texted are far enough along to have some perspective of how they got there. We sent them a simple text. 

“If you were to tell someone in one sentence how to succeed as a business owner, what would you say.” We were asking in the context of new Business on Purpose clients, but the message translates to any business.

Here are the top 4 answers we got:

  1. Put in the work and show up.

We are asked all the time, “What’s so special about the Business on Purpose Roadmap?” Our answer? It’s packaged in a way that we can guarantee if you put in the work, you will see your business change. That may sound arrogant, but it’s getting to the point where we’ve seen it work with enough businesses... so we have the confidence to say that. Just like boiling water. If you put water in a pot and add enough heat, it will start to boil. If you have a business and put in the time on your vision, mission, values, delegation, recording, and training on processes, everything we coach. You WILL get above the chaos.

Here’s where that’s tough. You have to put in the work. We can’t do it for you! Just a few weeks ago I was meeting with a business owner who wanted to work with us. I asked him how much time he would have, outside our coaching, to work on implementing this. He couldn’t commit to any.

So... I told him we may not be the right fit. That’s right, turned down a sale. Because if you’re not willing to do the work, we don’t have a magic wand to wave over your business. It’s hard work, but it will succeed if you put in the work and show up.

Side bar there, if there’s ever a coach or consultant claiming a magic wand to cure your business? RUN THE OTHER WAY! It never happens outside of hard work.

  1. Schedule time to work ON your business every single week, not just in it.

I was really proud of my client who texted back this one. Early on he struggled to find the time to work on his business. There were a lot of fires burning. A lot of things to do and spinning plates to keep in the air! He was a little frustrated at how slowly he felt like the ball was rolling, so I challenged him to set non-negotiable time to implement what we talk about every week. If he will commit to that for 2 months and it’s still not working, I’ll tell him to walk. No questions asked. The beautiful thing? He scheduled the time, never missed a meeting with himself to work on his business and the snowball is cruising downhill. He has an effective team meeting, he has a team leader that’s newly trained and crushing it as he leads in the field, and their finances are finally telling them something from subdividing their bank accounts and spying on their businesses money. 

It’s changed everything. But not without doing the work every week.

  1. Implement quickly... don’t wait

This one seems like second nature. Like, why pay for the coaching if you’re not gonna insert this into your business. But we do this, right? We read self-help books and say, “Man, what a great book!” A year later, we can barely remember anything that stuck out about reading it. We go to a conference and listen to amazing speakers, but we don’t write it down and implement it, so it’s forgotten a month later. We remember the feeling, but there was no lasting impact. 

So to succeed in business, you have to LEARN AND IMPLEMENT. It’s why that’s a core value at BoP. The longer you wait to implement, the less chance it has to make any kind of lasting impact. Put in the work and implement today. This week. Now!

  1. You get out what you put in, stop making excuses.

This one was one of my favorites because it was accompanied by another little quote. “Excuses are like butts... every business owner’s got one!” I love it! And it’s so true. Everyone has a reason why it’s not time for coaching or why they can’t seem to get free from chaos. But when was the last time you drew a line in the sand? When was the last time you were so sick and tired of constantly putting out fires that you did something about it and stopped with the excuses? We’ve heard them all! “I’m just too busy, I’ll jump on that when this slows down. We’re just in a busy season. I can’t find the right people. That doesn’t work in this industry. You just don’t understand!” Need me to go on?

No, freedom from chaos begins the moment you get sick of it enough to do something about it, get help, and get to work. It will never happen on its own.

So... which of those do you need to hang onto today? Are you sick of chaos? Ready to be free? Reach out, let’s grab lunch and get you started on your first steps of being liberated from the chaos. I can tell you after watching business after business dive in and taste freedom... it’s worth it!

Like I said, we would love to be a part of that journey for you. Make sure you’re following us on YouTube, listening to our podcast and let’s connect soon. Have a great week!

May 3, 2021

How To Make Work More Enjoyable For Employees

We were sitting by the fire when the phone call came around midnight.  On the other end were my son and a group of 17 and 18-year-old male voices practically shouting in unison saying, “You’re not going to believe this, we got Mr. B to do the worm in the middle of the dance floor!”

It was prom night, the final opportunity for these young men to slay the dance floor with their High School classmates, and they wasted no time making a night they would both remember, and joke about for decades to come.

Mr. B is the unpretentious and well-beloved principal of their High School, and yes, he succumbed to the pressure of a group of fun-loving Seniors and wormed his way into their hearts forever.  

A year prior to that night those same young men began developing a written plan for prom, what they would wear, what they would eat, where they would go before and after, and most importantly, the energy and dance moves they would bring to the dance floor.

One of the young men made this statement the next morning, “Like Sherman I came in and left destruction in my path... only mine was on the dance floor.

The night was capped by the reality that their most unassuming and softest speaking friend would end up being coronated Prom King.

The after-party was a mix of acrobatic stunts still in tuxedo duds, an endless flow of food, long games of manhunt in the woods, crashing on air mattresses in an old shed, and then waking up to the delicious scattered, smothered, and covered delicacies of the always-open invitation to the Waffle House.

What of the Prom King? He decided to make his entrance to the after-party in running shorts, suspenders (no shirt), and his newly received Prom King Crown.  Of course, he did.  

These young men had fun.  

The type of fun you want to have.  Fun that builds a culture.  Fun that you want to remember.  Fun you want to share with others so they can enjoy a morsel of the fun.  Fun that breeds more fun down the road when you’re sitting around your own fireplace reflecting.

You push back saying, “well, that’s not my personality”.  That is where you are wrong.  Fun is not reserved only for those who are considered to be “fun”.  

Fun is not a scarce commodity.  Fun can spark at any moment.  You could even stop and have fun right now.

You could listen to a Jim Gaffigan joke and belly laugh... right now.

You could think about your most embarrassing moment and belly laugh... right now.

You could pull a goofy prank on a family member or teammate and belly laugh... right now.

The English word for fun has its roots in an old French word amuser meaning to stupefy, waste time, gape, wander, loiter, be lost in thought.

Jeff Campbell encouraged me to be “intentionally wasteful” every now and then.  That is what fun is.  

Of course, fun is not our continual state in life, but it is something we should certainly make more time for.

Here are a few ways you can begin to incorporate more fun into your day to day.

First, schedule fun.  Putting an activity on a calendar feels like it cheapens the sincerity of the activity.  It’s not true.  Think about the National Football League.  They schedule their fun every Thursday night at 8 pm, Sundays at 1 pm, 4:25 pm, and 8:20 pm, and Monday nights at 8 pm.  

An example of scheduling fun in a business is to start each team meeting with BIG Wins; something fun, interesting, or special that has happened in life or business that is worth sharing.  Every time our team shares BIG Wins we always end up laughing along with one of our team members following something they share.

Also, put dates on the business calendar to go do something different... something fun.  A make time to plan for those dates.  Not just classic team building, but even a one-day training each year where you inject some light-hearted fun in the day.

Shoreline Construction recently had their annual offsite team training that was loaded with learning and laughter.

Coastal Shores Landscaping did the same and the room was filled with smiles!

Those High School Seniors made a plan and they haven’t stopped talking about the results.

Second, give yourself permission to be intentionally wasteful.  The intention makes it purposeful, the wastefulness allows you to not be productive for a while.  

For a productivity hound like me, the permission to intentional wastefulness is hard.  It helps that I am married to a lady who knows that I struggle with intentional wastefulness and will often just nudge me and say, “Hey, enjoy... it’s ok.

Time is a scarce commodity, but it does not require perfect efficiency.  

Third, spend more time with fun people.  This is not a call for you to surround yourself with who live life steeped in mindless immaturity.  Jim Gaffigan is by far my favorite comedian on what is a very short list, and what to us sounds like goofiness is actually the product of hundreds of hours of thought, script, practice, rewrite, edit, practice again, and deliver.

Comedy is hard and requires mature discipline.

The most ineffective comedians are the ones who lace their comedy with profanity and crass thoughts.  Creating comedy with immaturity is easy, but not very funny.  Creating comedy with maturity is hard, but ragingly hilarious! 

We assume that someone is naturally funny and simply stands on stage and cracks whatever jokes happen to populate their brain the moment.

Jim Gaffigan's entire stand-up routine is deeply scripted, in fact, his wife is often the writer of the majority of his comedy bits.  

Being fun may feel hard to you.  Surround yourself with fun people who share your same values and work hard to have fun... and to be funny.

While many students made different, and in some cases, regrettable decisions on prom night, the group of young men who shredded the dance floor decided to surround themselves with fun friends who share the same values...and it led to a fun night they wish to remember.

So here is your challenge.  Go throw a frisbee today.  Go google a joke and share it with your friends, your family, or your team members.  Give yourself permission to laugh, to have joy, to loosen up a bit, and to be lost in some goofy thoughts.

By the way, my favorite Jim Gaffigan bit?

“I like to make people comfortable... that’s why I would like to talk to you about Jesus.”

First time I heard it, I cried... and smiled.  Maybe you will too.  Here is the bit starting at 00:17.

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