What do you value in life? Does it get the appropriate time that it needs every week? Maybe, maybe not. Today I want to talk about how to not stop short of making time for what matters most!
Hey there friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.
It’s so, so easy as a business owner to have blinders on. To be the one that sacrifices every day and makes sure that nothing falls through the cracks. To just keep your head down and grind until you succeed.
But, what gets sacrificed in the moment…and what gets lost if it takes longer than you’d planned to arrive? Well, many times it’s your mental health (which we’re seeing is a much larger deal than we’ve ever realized), other times it's your marriage and family, and other times it’s just joy and fulfillment in life.
So, if you’re honest, which of those, when you go head down and grind out those 50/60/70 hour weeks really gets lost in the shuffle? And now let’s take it a step further…
Let’s play this out 20-30 years. Is success in your business worth the tradeoff? If you were to look back on your life and see it all in hindsight, is that tradeoff worth it, or is it worth digging in and finding a different way to do things?
We hear excuses like this all the time…” Thomas, this is the only way I know how to do it!” That’s great, let’s start asking around and finding a different way to do it.
Or maybe it’s this, “Thomas you just don’t understand, if I hire someone else to manage those things, then I’ll have to raise my prices to cover it, or I won’t make as much money.” Ok, then the thing you’ve lifted into that position of what matters most, is the almighty dollar. The take-home paycheck. And is that worth it when you look back 20 years from now?
So…if you need to stop this recording after I ask this next question, do it. It’s that important. You may need 5-10 min to really be honest with yourself. Cut it back on afterward and finish the last few minutes.
“What matters most when it comes to how you spend your time?” What matters most when it comes to how you spend your time.
It’s why we spend so much time crafting a vision story. So we can know exactly what we value. It’s writing things down like, what time do I want to leave every day, because we know that if we leave it to chance we’re going to work way longer hours than we should, and the things that matter will get pushed aside. It’s writing things down like what the trips we want to take and how often to take our spouse on a date. It’s making sure the main thing stays the main thing.
Now, I know it’s not realistic to say you want to go home at 2 pm every day and think that your business is going to thrive. That may just not happen, but I also know that if you don’t paint a realistic picture of what your week looks like, with boundaries around it to keep you from getting carried away, then you don’t stand a chance at staying at hitting your target. Because 9 out of 10 times, there’s always another task you COULD do, another sales call you COULD make, and another number you COULD double-check. And on and on it goes.
And here’s where it starts getting serious. If you realize that your business is keeping you from what matters most, it’s not worth it! Nothing is worth sacrificing your mental health, your family, and your joy in life. NOTHING!
So, find a way to do it differently. We believe that the BOP roadmap liberates business owners out of chaos and frees your time up for what matters most. We’ve literally walked hundreds of business owners through it and gotten them back engaged where they truly need to be engaged.
Last thing I’ll hear regularly from clients…the business is doing great, our numbers are up, the staff is tracking and we’re just doing awesome.
I love hearing that! But I go back to those personal pieces on the vision story and start asking about other things. When was the last time you went on a date with your spouse? Well, last year. Ok, let’s try another…you said you wanted to take your son out for breakfast one Saturday a month, have you done that? No….ok, how about that weekend camping trip in the fall that you thought would inject some life back into your family? No, and no and no and no.
We have to press pause and make sure that our business isn’t thriving at the expense of what matters most. We have to make for darn sure that we’re not stopping short of making time for what we, and by we I mean you, believe matters most. So that 20 years from now we can look back and be proud of the things we made time for. The people we made time for and the experiences we made time for.
We at BOP truly believe that’s our work worth doing…every single day. So, if you struggle with that, let’s take an inventory of if your business needs help. Would you take our healthy business owner assessment? Go to myboproadmap.com/healthy. It takes about 7 minutes and you will see how your business is set up on things that we believe will liberate you from chaos.
And then let’s have a conversation about how to find you more time for what matters most.
Life and business necessarily intersect.
In the last 13 weeks, we’ve seen births, divorce, death, war, inflation, new hires, sales records, con artists, cancer diagnosis, treatments, remissions, birthdays, renewed vision, record monthly revenue, and record monthly expenses.
There is a word that is being suggested in the public discussion of psychology right now that is worth taking a look at… the word LANGUISH.
To languish is to “lose or lack vitality… being forced to remain in an unpleasant place or situation”
Author and Org Psychologist Adam Grant says…
It’s not burnout, because we still have physical fuel.
It’s not depression because we still have hope.
So what is the unpleasant place?
What is causing us to feel weak and withered, to feel LANGUISHED?
DISTRACTION
Translation - we are willfully allowing ourselves to be pulled apart… pulled away.
Distraction (distrahere in latin) = PULL APART
We’ve all felt being pulled apart before…
This is our new reality, and with it, we must find new ways for each of us to Flourish… new ways to both remain attached and ignore the things that will distract..
NOW is a time for something different.
NOW is a time to pivot, to stop staring at the ball of fire that was the last two years, to see what was melted down, turned to ash, and begin to till that into the soil of something new.
On average…
Grant suggests that we do not fight Languish with Optimism (that’s empty)... but instead we fight Languish with FLOW
Before we do… what is FLOW?
Johann Hari has written a powerful book entitled Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention - And How To Begin Working Deeply
In his book, Hari describes flow as a state of mind when “you are so absorbed in what you are doing that you lose all sense of yourself, and time seems to fall away, and you are flowing into the experience itself.”
Flow is not focused on results. In fact, sometimes the outcome can bring a bit of sadness because the project is complete.
We don’t know how to prioritize the limited resource of time we have. So how do we find our FLOW?
Fascination (Desire)
Like-Mindedness (People & Culture)
The third element of FLOW is your
Operational Process
The final element of FLOW
Wealth that you can draw from
When we find our FLOW… we FLOURISH, liberate ourselves from chaos, and make time for the things that matter most.
Hey, y’all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose.
To get “pipped to the post”-
To be defeated or overcome by someone by a very narrow margin or at the final, crucial moment, especially in a race, competition, or athletic event.
I remember a coach once showed us a video of a college track meet. It was honestly just the last 30 or 45 seconds of the race, and the video only showed 2 runners. The leader was a guy running for the University of Oregon and he had a sizable lead. In the back of the frame, you could see a runner from the University of Washington, but as the video started it looked as though the race had already been won.
So much so that the runner from Oregon was letting up a little and waving to the crowd to get them pumped up and on their feet.
But as the clip continues, and with incredible Grit and Determination, you see the runner from Washington gaining ground.
And yes, and you can probably guess by the definition I shared at the beginning, the runner from Oregon did get Pipped at the Post. Meron Simon from the University of Washington came back and won the race right at the Finish Line. He didn’t let up and ran with purpose until the end.
When you hire a new team member, do not get pipped at the post!
You’ve just hired a new team member, and there is probably some excitement / some relief that you are finally filling that role that you have been needing or dreaming about / and there is probably a little anxiety.
And as your new team member prepares for the first day with your business (and yes, this includes full-time, part-time, virtual assistants) it’s time for the onboarding process to begin.
Onboarding is making sure the right people are trained in the right way with crystal clear expectations and insight into your business.
It should be an intentional, methodical process that empowers your team members to run towards the vision.
Being diligent in the hiring process, but not taking the time to properly onboard a new hire would be like running the race and letting up at the Finish Line.
At Business on Purpose, we believe in the importance of onboarding so much, we have an entire module dedicated to the process. We have even built out templates looking at day one, week one, month one, two, and three.
In your businesses, you need to run with Grit and Determination through the Finish Line. Make sure you have a process for onboarding your new team members. SO they can run with you towards your vision.
Thanks for listening.
If you haven’t done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.
Also, check out our website here, and if you haven’t done so already, take the Healthy Owners Assessment located on the home page.
Employees and hiring, hiring and employees… that’s so much of what we’re being asked about in our coaching sessions. So, what’s the trick? Why is it so hard and is it going to ever get easier? While I don’t have the answer to all of that, I’d love to give you some thoughts today on how to make it easier.
Hope you’re doing well today, Thomas Joyner with the Business on Purpose Podcast today! Excited to have you listening and watching.
There really is nothing more pressing right now for small business owners than the topic of hiring and acquiring really great employees. It’s so frustrating… and look at the numbers. 4.3 million Americans left their jobs for somewhere else… in August of 2021 ALONE!!! That’s insane. And since the pandemic started, surveys are recording 20% of people have switched careers. In 2 years. 1 in 5 people! So what do we do with that? All of that uncertainty and the knowledge that everyone is hiring and everyone is looking around?
Most businesses think if they can just craft the right indeed ad or just find the right spot to market themselves to potential hires it will all go well. But there is so much work internally that needs to be done to attract the right talent.
There’s an old quote in the church that applies incredibly well to business. What you win them “through,” you win them “to.” What you win them through you win them to. What that means is this. The means through which you attract people will be what you have to continue to use to keep them.
Think about this in your business. If you hire someone away from another business by offering an extra $2/hr or an extra 10k in salary, what happens the next time someone offers them more money? You either have to pony up the cash or watch them ride off into the sunset. You won them to you through money, so you have to keep them with money.
Maybe you explain to them that they will be on some really cool projects or innovating in the industry. Well, once work gets boring they will start looking around for greener pastures or other businesses that may be more innovative than you.
So, how are you trying to attract new employees? Have you put in the hard work to not just market your business to new clients, but new employees. Are you a “destination” business that has all the right ingredients to attract top end talent? Or heck, even just reliable talent?
Are you pointing to your Vision, and inviting in people who want to go where your business is headed? Are you pointing to the culture and having your employees highlight how great it is to work for you? Are you marketing yourself as a place that respects work/life balance and allowing your team to spend time with family and actually take vacation. I know I dogged on compensation, but healthy and competitive compensation should ABSOLUTELY be a part of that sales pitch.
Can you ask yourself this question… what is the person I’m looking for… looking for? I know that feels weird to say. But if you draw up your ideal employee, what kind of business do they want to work for?
And are we working hard to build our business into that type of place? That the people we’re looking for would come… and ACTUALLY stay?
Finding the right people doesn’t just happen by accident, but only when we look internally first, knowing that the means by which we win our employees over will be the same reasons they choose to stay for the long haul.
So be intentional about those things. Know who you are and why you’re that way! And watch quality employees choose to stay with you for years and years… even in the midst of opportunity elsewhere. We’ve seen it time and again as business owners, we work with lead with Vision and intentionality.
That’s a powerful team that anyone would want to be a part of!
We have a saying that we have found to be true over time and thousands of hours of 1 on 1 coaching with our heroic business owners, “life and business necessarily intersect”.
There is not a business owner or key leader that we have yet to meet that has figured out how to separate life and work.
What happens at home cannot help but follow you to work. What happens at work cannot help but follow you home. They are interconnected, as is all of life.
Even our global society is unable to insulate itself from the actions or reactions of decisions around the world.
Russia stages a war against Ukraine and the corner gas station in Iowa is immediately impacted.
Life and business necessarily intersect.
We try to act like it is not true with statements like this, “well, it’s just business” or, “I keep work at work and home at home”.
It is a ruse.
How do you separate yourself from your business? You don’t… as long as you have your business.
A few weeks ago I met with a dear friend who shared about the turmoil within his marriage and the unfortunate end towards which it seems to be heading.
It has and will continue to affect his work.
What are some ways that we can operate from a place of health both at home and at work when neither may be ideal?
First, understand what triggers you.
You can’t help but bring work home at times. What you can help is knowing what things tend to set you off and act as a trigger that cascades you to bad places.
Part of understanding these triggers means taking time to work with a skilled advisor to help dig into the things that shaped those triggers.
Some triggers are born from trauma and others born from elation. All are triggers and all carry with them a “shots fired” response.
When we understand our triggers we can be better prepared to practice discipline in our responses when the triggers are switched.
Second, we must vigorously define the boundaries of our time.
Johann Hari in his important book Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention – And How To Think Deeply Again reveals a simple and profound statistic saying, “one study found that most of us working in offices never get a whole hour uninterrupted in a normal day.”
Just sit on that for a second. One hour.
Can you think of the last time you had one entire hour focused completely on one thing? No buzzes, dings, alerts, notifications, email checks, social scrolls; just deep work on one important thing.
Ashley and I recently stayed with a niece and nephew of ours while my brother and his wife got away for a night. For one entire hour, my nephew and I buzzed, squealed, roared, rolled, colored, built, and laughed in the playroom. No distractions and it was hard.
An hour is a long time in a modern world. Out of 168 hours in a week, we cannot find one, to be solely focused on one important task of deep work without being impulsed to check something.
If you want to separate yourself from your business and have time to breathe, you must vigorously put boundaries on your work time. It will require the hard work of sitting quietly and thoughtfully with your calendar and manufacturing the time you are working versus the time you are not.
We all know that your mind will bleed those boundaries and there are moments you will be thinking about business-related things while you are in non-business-related time; the goal is not perfection. The goal is doing a much better job than we’re doing right now.
Thirdly, we must communicate our boundaries to others in a way that promotes the mission of both your family and your business.
Too many times people will announce their schedule to peers and colleagues with a spirit of “don’t mess with me or else I’ll lose it!”
Our calendars and our boundaries need to be built in a way that serves both your personal and work missions and brings more value to both rather than less.
Healthy businesses are those that work with their teams to maximize their team members skill set and time, while also acknowledging the need for healthy relationships with work and family/personal time.
Finally, the purpose of work is in part a fleshing out of the skill sets that have been woven into the fabric of our individual personas, in part a mutual value-add to our local and global communities, and a useful means to provide resources that fund our personal time allowing you to apply the fruits of your business success to the mission of your personal and family mission.
Hey, y’all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose.
In the 2014 NBA draft, with the 3rd overall selection, the Philadelphia 76ers drafted big man Joel Embiid.
At the time of the draft, the 76ers had come off a season with 19 wins and 63 losses with a ranking of 14th in the eastern conference… making them one of the worst teams in the league at that point.
In a courtside, interview with Embiid the following year he had a response that would quickly become the rallying cry for the city of Philadelphia. He was asked by a reporter if he had anything to add to the interview and Embiid, with a smile on his face looking directly at the camera, replied “trust the process”.
It became everything for this fanbase. Shirts, posters at games, hats, social media… it was everywhere. Trust the process.
But what many fans didn’t realize, this wasn’t the first time these words had been used. It’s been documented that the coaching staff would tell the players before everything… coming straight down from the ownership of the team… trust the process.
Since the 2014 season, here is how the 76ers have fared in the NBA…
2014 - 18 wins 64 losses - 14th in the eastern conference
2015 - 10 wins 72 losses - 15th in the eastern conference
2016 - 28 wins 54 losses - 14th in the eastern conference
2017 - 52 wins 30 losses - 3rd in the eastern conference
2018 - 51 wins 31 losses - 3rd in the eastern conference
2019 - 43 wins 30 losses - 3rd in the eastern conference
2020 - 49 wins 23 losses - 1st in the eastern conference
2021 - currently at 38 wins and 23 losses sitting 3rd in the eastern conference
From one of the last place teams in the NBA, to being a top 10 team in the NBA for the last 5 years. Simply because they trusted the process.
It didn’t happen overnight, and it has come with it’s ups and downs, but the improvement this organization has seen has definitely been noticed in the sports world and beyond. They built a process, and then all stacked hands to trust in that process.
My question to you today, what process or processes are you trusting in your business? And maybe the first question to ask is, have you built any processes that can be trusted?
The good news is that it is never too late to start.
As owners and key leaders, most of the time “building a process” simply means getting some of the knowledge and information out of your head and written down. You probably have the processes all thought through and detailed out, but it’s time to get it written down.
Sales processes, administrative, operations, marketing, team and culture… all processes can be documented.
An easy place to start… next time you are working through a process, record it. Simple as that. Or take 30 minutes in your schedule each week to work on creating processes that will further your team and your business this year.
We’ve been saying this year can be a year of flourishing for your business, and getting processes documented will be a great step along the way.
Thanks for listening.
If you haven’t done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.
Two business owners in the past week have both said, “once we get (insert challenge here) wrapped up, then we will be ready for coaching.”
It sounds like a fore-thoughtful thing to say, and yet we know deep down it is likely not true.
We know that time typically breeds the soil for distraction to set in, for busy-ness to compound, for mis-aligned interruptions to continue unmitigated, and we wake up in six months in greater chaos and numbness than we are in right now.
A man in his seventies was recently reflecting on life and was asked a thoughtful question, “looking back, what do you wish for?”
His response, “a simpler time”.
Although we tend to look in retrospect with the tinted lenses of simple, easy, and wholesome; a tour of the history books will remind us that world history is peppered with moments we would rather forget.
Complexity is on the increase.
In his research-rich book Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention - and How to Think Deeply Again, author Johann Hari.
One study that Hari discusses shows that the majority of office workers “never get a whole hour uninterrupted on a normal day…the average American worker is distracted roughly once every three minutes”.
Business owners are longing to build a team of people that will commit to the same desire and focus that they have given to get the business started.
Unfortunately, most people live under the presumption that they can multitask.
Hari explains that multitasking was a term devoted to technology that was capable of doing more than one task at a time because the scientists were able to install additional processors (think of it as multiple brains in one technological body); it was never intended to be a description of human capability because humans are essentially incapable of legitimate multitasking.
Compounding these two basic realities, people are constantly distracted from meaningful work, and the work they are doing is so fragmented because of the myth of multitasking, and you get a cocktail that is ripe for frustration and a fragmented mission.
Why is coaching important in the workplace?
It begs to ask the broader question, why is coaching important at all?
A coach provides at least five values that the player cannot provide for herself.
First, a coach provides perspective and clarity. In its most simplest concept, the coach brings perspective the player cannot, simply because the coach is not the player.
The coach is living life outside the day to day of the player. A player is always at her altitude, pitch, speed, and angle. A coach can adjust angles when needed in order to gain a different perspective of the same issue.
A good coach is one who simply relays what they see and then converts that information into something actionable.
This leads to the second tool in a coaches toolbelt, time to gameplan. Armed with perspective and unique information, a coach will then go into deep focused time to gameplan what they see, think, and hear and contrast it with. A game plan not only dives deep into what the competitor is planning but also navigates all of the factors influencing the game or the mission.
A good coach, armed with perspective and insight, builds a game plan and then readies themselves for the hardest challenge of all.
Third, the coach shows up to practice even when the player doesn’t want to. An NBA scout once showed the contrast between the preparation-loving Kobe Bryant and his rival, the showtime-loving Allen Iverson saying, “Iverson loved to play the game when the lights came on, Kobe loved to play the game before the lights came on.”
The repetition of practice is a direct influencer on the success of the game. The consistency of each game is a mirror of the consistency of practice.
Without coaches, practices would be far less frequent, and far less effective.
The fourth value of a coach is in their ability to lend courage.
We were almost seven years into our business and I knew a change was needed. I was essentially working two full-time jobs in the same business and my fuel tank was running on reserve.
My mastermind group was meeting in Nashville for a long weekend to dig into each other’s world and situation.
The verdict from my group of 10 guys was clear and unrelenting, “cut your time in half and double your rates…no exceptions.”
For years I was undervaluing my rates and overdelivering on my time in front of people. It was an unsustainable mix.
But I was scared and my mind was flooded with what if scenarios that ultimately led to a place of grief and terminal conclusion.
I needed courage, the will to stare fear in the face, and methodically walk through it. I did. And I didn’t die. In fact, the business didn’t die either… it grew because I now had more time to devote to the health and nurture of our team.
A coach, an outside team of advisors, lend courage.
When all of the values of a coach have been installed, the culmination of those efforts requires reflective monitoring to adjust for overages or underages.
Without monitoring, we don’t know where we need to make adjustments and modifications.
Why is coaching important in the workplace? Because coaching is important in life, and work is where we will spend a significant portion of our life.
Everyone needs a coach because everyone is distracted thinking that later will be the best time not realizing that later is here right now.
What’s the excuse that keeps holding you back from success? Is there a monkey on your back that you just can’t shake? We see it all the time… and I want to talk about it today.
Hope you are doing well today, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.
We ask mostly the same questions every time we meet with a new business. We want to know what’s holding them back from accomplishing the things they want to in their business.
It’s typically the same three things or some variation of these 3. Not having enough time to get everything done, not having the right people, or not knowing our numbers.
Let’s tackle those case by case.
Not having enough time to get everything done. Typically this happens because we live in chaos. We don’t intentionally move throughout our week with a weekly schedule, so whoever is yelling the loudest gets heard and gets our attention.
Just last week I had a business owner training where attendees were dropping out left, right and center. Business owners who had it on the calendar and just got pulled a different direction and into the chaos. We’re trying to buy you an hour of your week to help you work ON your business and it gets derailed.
It can be hard to watch because we know the thing that they need is within their grasp and yet they get distracted by the chaos. It’s almost like the overweight person texting their gym buddy telling them they got caught up finishing a bag of chips and didn’t make it to the gym.
The very thing keeping you from health as a business is what distracts you from being able to put the work in to fix it.
Let me say this… if you don’t make time to work ON your business, you will constantly be putting out fires with little hope for doing anything else. Some days you have to change it up and you need an outside perspective to help with that.
Not having the right people distracts owners too! The same event on Friday I heard things of employees not being able to be trusted to get something done, so it’s your job, the owner to dive in and save the day yet again.
So, when does that change? The ceiling for the business is being held back by your inability to train, lead and delegate in your business.
Or maybe it’s not knowing your numbers. Not knowing if you're paying your team enough or too much, or pricing your jobs correctly, or what the Net Income number on your P&L even means. So, instead of finding someone who can help, you just keep going. Thinking if you can just add more to the top line, find more revenue out there the problem will get fixed. Friends the problem is rarely the amount coming in. It’s often the amount leaking out the back door that is hurting your bottom line.
Problems with inventory and overtime. Problems with vendors and paying for subscriptions you haven’t used in a year. Even things like car payments or excessive benefits. All these add up and limit your profitability.
You need help. Heck, WE need help. It’s why from day 1, we’ve had business coaches ourselves and been in mastermind groups. Because we know we need a coach and need an outside perspective to get where we want to go, as well!
So, what’s holding you back? What’s the thing that over and over and over again becomes the excuse. Is it time? Let us help you figure that out. Is it people? We’ve got a plan for that! Your numbers…there’s clarity and help if you’re willing to ask for it.
Take some time today to figure out if you’ve been making excuses. And ask yourself what are you going to do about it! Does someone else have the answers? Probably so.
Look, being a business owner is TOUGH! REALLY TOUGH. Don’t believe the lie that you need to do it on your own. It’s just not true. And don’t believe the lie that your problems today don’t have an answer or that they will be your problems forever! THere is air above the chaos and we want you to fly there with us!
Let us know if we can help.
Hey, if you would like to see where you stack up, please visit boproadmap.com/healthy to take our free healthy business owner assessment today.
Dani Rojas steps up to the ball as he prepares for a game-winning penalty kick, and in one last deep-breath moment calms himself and exhales with his infamous dogma preached repeatedly on the Ted Lasso sports comedy-drama saying simply and profoundly…
Football Is Life.
For Dani, when the game seems out of his control, and life seems complicated, unfair, and uncomfortable, he calms himself and retreats back to his basic truth.
Football.
Is.
Life.
The show Ted Lasso has provided a pandemic-confused world, a respite of breath with profound insight packaged in off-color, but understandable humor.
When Ted Lasso meets chaos, there is always a bypass to peace. Dani Rojas reminds himself of that bypass with his Football Is Life enunciation.
For business owners, and particularly those in the construction (or processed material delivery) industry, the chaos of material delays, price increases, frustrated project managers and superintendents, client expectations, and global unpredictability have given rise to the schedule unpredictability complex.
What is a schedule? Its very basic definition from dictionary.com is this: “a plan for carrying out a process”.
In any business, every schedule should be a culmination of two parts; the processes needed to be achieved, and the dates and sequence by which those processes should be started and completed.
A schedule is a pre-mapped plan that includes the right processes, in the right sequence, happening on the right timeline.
In order to build such a pre-mapped plan, your schedule must be informed by three pieces of information; past, present, and future.
Past information and experience allow you to more easily navigate trends that have been true up until now.
If material procurement for windows in the past has a normal delivery turnaround of 7 days, then you pencil in your plan a window of 7 to 14 days out.
But wait!!!! Now window delivery times are upwards of 6 months! That brings us to the present and future information.
Present information and experience allow you to see what is really happening in today’s environment allowing you to just to what you think may come true in the future.
If window delivery times are now 6 months, then you adjust your planning based on the latest information you have. You base scheduling projections on the cocktail of…
Past Experience + Present Reality + Future Projections =
Communicated Schedule
You have three options in preparing a schedule for you, your team, and your customer…
Option one, create a schedule with the best information you have, update it daily or weekly, and communicate it with clarity and repetition.
Option two, create a schedule with the best information you have, do not update, and do not communicate it well.
Option three, do not put in the hard work of creating a schedule with the best information you have.
This upheaval culture that we have navigated in a post-pandemic reality has turned past partners into current and future enemies. The ideal setup was that the contractor, client, and partners were a team in coordination. Much of that has been twisted where the client and partners have become the enemy.
An aligned, well-prepared, often-updated, well-communicated schedule will bring that partnership mindset back into play and allow for the production or construction process to be far more enjoyable and profitable.
In the same way, Dani Roja proclaims that Football Is Life, you must believe that in your business Schedule Is Life.
If a project is budgeted to be complete in 12 months and takes 13 months, most would simply look at that and think, “well that stinks, but we are still billing for the project in its full amount.”
The challenge is that by adding an extra month to the project, billing essentially decreased by about 8% because although the full project amount will still be received, there was an entire extra month of fixed overhead added to the project because of the delay. While the schedule can be delayed, payroll and all other business overhead continue to be paid.
The 8% in many cases, eats into much of the profit of the job, and eventually, with more delays, the company just performed that project breaking even or in a situation where it actually spent its own money to complete the project.
How do you build a construction schedule (or any production schedule) that will bring clarity and make time for what matters most?
The secret has to do more with the time you set aside than the innovation needed.
First, you must block time to think through it and build it.
Just last week I was leading a business team through an exercise in helping each team member build their own weekly schedule around their role. While many were skeptical that such pie-in-the-sky exercise would actually work day to day, the team had real wind in their sails when the Director Of Construction pulled out his physical weekly schedule, held it up, and declared, “This works, but it only works if you build it and use it.”
In order to build it, you must make time and do it.
Second, you must block time to update it.
That same Director Of Construction, after months of living out and refining his weekly schedule, then took it a step further and, after blocking time to think and build, created a simple spreadsheet listing out a typical construction billing cycle based on the cocktail of historical experience, present delays, and future projections.
It is not perfect because it cannot be… but it is much closer to useful than nothing at all.
He updates his weekly schedule monthly, and his billing cycle sheet weekly. The time to work on his schedule is actually blocked on his schedule!
Third, you must act both on the information you have today, and build contingency on the information you could have tomorrow.
Stop longing for the past, bemoaning the present, and laboring over perfect projections for the future.
Instead, take what you know from the past, listen to what you are seeing in the present, and listen to what you might be hearing about the future. Mix that cocktail and build the best schedule you can based on the information you have.
Finally, you must communicate your schedule, and it’s fluctuations, early and often.
Over-communication will help cover a well-thought, but ultimately imperfect schedule. Clients, vendors, and partners will have far more grace and forgiveness for a schedule-centered process that get altered by forces outside of your control, than a poorly communicated schedule where you have no defense and everything will seem like your fault.
Communicate when you are going to communicate. Tell them what you are going to do. Tell them what you are doing (even if it is nothing at all). Tell them what you did.
Your schedule is your silver bullet. It’s all you’ve got. Try to wing it, and it will send you straight to the ground. Build it thoughtfully and communicate it well, and you will find that Schedule Is Life and you will bury it in the back of the net.
After its founding, the Roman Catholic Church began to do what many long-standing influential and powerful organizations do; a slow digression into a leadership model of just-do-what-we-say-and-don’t-ask-questions. Stand up, kneel down, sin, confess, pay, rinse, and repeat.
While there was certainly massive value that the early Catholic Church brought the global community from the sixth century up through the Renaissance (and still continues), there were also some clear abuses of power.
As renaissance art, mass publishing, and the globalization of empire building were merging, it provided the fertile soil of louder and more informed and thoughtful voices to emerge and begin asking questions.
In 1507, Martin Luther became a Catholic Priest. Over the next 13 years, Luther would wrestle with the internal realities of conviction, theology, and the written word to come to different conclusions than what was publicly being professed.
Sending his list of 95 propositions to the Archbishop of Mainz on October 31, 1517, Luther decided to lead.
Over 500 years later, an American man, holding Luther’s namesake, decided to share his dream and thus offer his commitment to lead.
Before the reformation of Luther, and after civil rights of Luther King Jr., women and men around the world have been offered to plant themselves in the fertile and charged soil of a louder, more informed, and thoughtful voice of leadership.
Before Luther, Luther King Jr., Anne Frank, Sojourner Truth, Churchill, or Marcus Aurelius; before any of the influential, culture turning, reforming leaders… there was a person or a group of people in need that they translated into an invitation to lead.
There is an invitation to lead standing right in front of you.
Standing in front of you is an ideology that requires 95 counter propositions in a thoughtful way.
Standing in front of you is a child who needs a dream because their surroundings provide no outlet or opportunity for that which seems trivial.
Standing in front of you is a group of people marginalized, put down, underappreciated, taken advantage of, misunderstood, and tired.
Standing in front of you is a job that can either be a lifeless means to a paycheck, or a platform for life-giving transformation through every transaction, production, bookkeeping entry, strategy meeting, and employee onboarding.
Standing in front of you is an opportunity to lead.
Nobody made Luther think, act, or respond.
Nobody made Luther King Jr. organize, speak, or walk.
Nobody made Anne Frank coordinate a hiding place against the devil in her father’s house.
Nobody is going to make you lead, but that doesn’t stop you from having the opportunity right in front of you.
Rob and Jessie Shrieve own Coastal Shores Landscaping. It is understood in the industry that any leadership effort should be focused on the non-field staff while the field team is tolerated and left to float.
The Shrieve’s made a choice that the newest, most unskilled team member would receive the same effort, encouragement, training, accountability, expectations, discipline, swag, perks, and opportunities as the most skilled, knowledgeable team member in the business.
Last week they devoted an entire workday to leadership, technical, and soft skills training for their team.
Every Thursday they provided technical and “Life 101” training to the entire team of over 25 employees.
Nobody made them lead, they accepted and implemented.
To lead is your decision… and we sure hope you will.
Hey, y’all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose.
A couple of definitions for the word margin according to Merriam-Webster,
“a bare minimum below which or an extreme limit beyond which something becomes impossible or is no longer desirable”
“the limit below which economic activity cannot be continued under normal conditions”
“the difference which exists between net sales and the cost of merchandise sold and from which expenses are usually met or profit derived”
As a business owner, you are probably well aware of the margin in which you run your business. You look at cash flows and profit and loss statements. We even have some tools specifically for some of our clients at Business on Purpose that calculate exact margin ratios for each job being bid or finished.
But that’s not the margin I want to talk about today. There is another definition in Merriam-Webster for margin,
“to provide with an edging or border”
“to provide with an edging or border”
If you want to see your business Flourish in 2022, you have to be willing to draw some borders for things that matter in your business. Your weekly schedule, your people, time to work on your business, not just working in your business.
This is Building Margin in Your Business that I want to talk about today.
I was working with one of our clients a few weeks back who started a non-profit organization that has really taken off in the last year. She has a full-time job at a university teaching business ethics, while she also sits as the Executive Director and on the Board of Directors of this non-profit.
We started talking about her weekly schedule and the balance of her roles and responsibilities during our coaching time together. As you can imagine she feels, as most of y’all do too, there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done. 8 pm the night before she had gotten the kids ready for bed, was about to jump on a zoom call for a PTA meeting for her kids' school, still had papers to grade, and work on a board of directors meeting coming up…this is what a long night looks like when running a business.
The bad news is that we can’t get you more time in the day…the hours are set. The days and weeks and months will continue to fly by. BUT we can help set boundaries in the day to day that will allow space for taking care of the things in your business that are potentially being neglected or glossed over.
You have to own your schedule!
You have to make time for team meetings or they are not just going to happen.
You have to set aside time for onboarding a new team member.
You have to create margin in your day to bid on projects, or prospecting, or cold calling…keeping your pipeline full.
These are just a few examples that may relate to your specific business, but chances are you already have in mind the tasks that need to have space to be completed, but so often they get pushed to the next day or the next week.
Own your schedule.
Wherever you are listening or watching right now, do me a favor. Get your calendar out and start adding some time in your week. Protected time that cannot be moved. Treat these times as if it’s lunch with your best client…somebody calls to get on your schedule it can’t be moved. Just like you wouldn’t cancel that lunch, you cannot cancel on yourself.
Let’s make the time to work on your business. Let’s make the time to care for your people. Let’s make the time to learn and grow and equip yourself as the leaders in your business.
Thanks for listening.
If you haven’t done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.
Is there a magic formula for sustaining success in my business? I wish I could say yes, but there are some strategies to help you get momentum!
Good morning friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.
So… we get it all the time. Thomas, I feel like I take 2 steps forward and 1 step back every week. Or maybe it’s worse, 1 step forward and 2 steps back. How do we get momentum? How do we take that success, replicate it, and then repeat that over and over and over?
I’m here to tell you, there’s not a magic wand to wave. It takes work and consistency and… wait for it… process.
However, we have found a few strategies that every business can implement to keep you sustaining success.
So let’s dive right on in today.
The first step towards sustaining success in your business is…
1. Find someone to help you implement
It sounds simple, but it makes as big a difference as we’ve seen in every business we work with. So much so, as it’s become a question we ask as we interview potential new clients. Do you have a key leader who can help you implement all of this?
Ok, but why? Why can’t I just motivate and charge forward with my team following my lead? Well, in short, you can. But what happens when you burn out? What happens when your team starts to tune you out and your voice becomes stale? A whole lot of nothing.
That’s why having someone who helps you implement is invaluable. Another voice on the team helping push everyone towards the vision. Helping you see things you couldn’t and implement all the changes and corrections along the way. Someone who can see your mistakes, think critically, and help you correct them in real-time. That person is a game-changer.
We build out a ridiculous amount of tools with our clients and the ones that we see thrive week in and week out are the ones who can pass these tools down the chain of command and out to the team as they implement. They don’t just sit in a google drive folder somewhere to rot and collect dust. No, they are used to empower the team to get better.
If you don’t have someone helping you implement, hire them today or develop one amongst your team. It’s that important.
2. Listen to your customer
Hey, Thomas, we do google reviews and send out surveys to hear how we’re doing.
That’s great! But I’d wager that most of that is to give you a sentence or two to use on your website… or maybe even to drive sales.
But how often do you invite a client to lunch and REALLY ask how their experience was? And I mean everything. How did they feel early on with our estimating? How did the schedule go? Did it line up with the expectations we set out? Did we even set expectations? How was our communication along the way? Could it be better? Was our team dressed professionally? How was the quality of work? How was our clean-up? Did we follow up with you to make sure everything was perfect? Did we collect payment in an easy fashion?
These are all questions that you need to know the answer to from your customers' perspective. I was so proud of a client of mine recently, who called every sub he used, sat them down, and figured out how to improve his customer experience from start to finish.
That’s a game-changer…that’s what creates rave reviews and sustained success. Because you own all parts of your customer experience. You don’t just throw up your hands and say…”Well, that’s out of our control.” That’s a fixed mindset. No, ask how you can get better. Invite clients you trust to lunch and talk through all of this. They will feel valued, heard and will probably refer you 10x more as a result.
3. Own your weekly schedule
Now, this one gets to the heart of the matter. If you were to sit down on a Monday and write down the things you KNOW have to get done and done well, what would those things be? I’d imagine it doesn’t start with email. And yet so many of us leave email open to dictate our day all day every day!
No, start with what matters. The big-time blocks…and find the best time to do those. Blocks for sales or prospecting. Blocks for estimating and invoicing. Blocks to meet with your team and train. Those things MUST get done well.
Then figure out the next group of items and add them to your schedule. Is it email and voicemails? Great, give yourself a set amount of time to finish it. Is it continued ed or recording processes? Do it.
Your task will take up as much time as you will give it. So learn to control the chaos and give yourself a realistic amount of time to finish something. Deep work…then move on. Even if you aren’t finished sometimes, to keep yourself on task.
Lastly, fill in the little 30 min blocks with the little tasks…cleaning up, ordering, simple admin tasks, mindless things that you can fit in anywhere.
This one's tough. Give yourself a few weeks to lean into the weekly schedule. Don’t change it immediately, but take notes and tweak after a few weeks.
That’s how you control the chaos. That’s how you sustain success. Or at least take a great giant leap towards sustaining success.
Hope you have a great week!
LIVE TALK FROM International Builders Show '22:
3 Must Do Steps All Business Owners Do To Lead In A Post-COVID Reality
by:
Scott Beebe
Founder | Head Coach
My Business On Purpose
Hey, y’all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose.
The story goes like this…
“The day of the opening, people from all over the world came to Epcot, to Disney World. One of the reporters came up to Roy Disney, the brother of Walt Disney, and said, "It must be bittersweet for you knowing Walt never got to see this.”
Roy Disney smiled and responded to the man and said, "You're mistaken. It's clear why you are merely a reporter of other people's visions and not a creator of vision.” He said, "Walt saw this. That's why you're seeing it now.” - words from Roy Disney.
You see, Walt Disney had a lasting vision that continued far beyond his passing in 1966. In his bio, he is referred to as an American entrepreneur, animator, writer, voice actor, and film producer. I would add another adjective for Disney, he was a visionary. And the good news… you can be one too.
The definition of visionary is simple, “thinking about or planning the future with imagination or wisdom.”
As a business owner, you have the opportunity to be the visionary for your company. And in reality, you already are, so how lasting will your vision be?
It’s no coincidence that one of the first modules we walk through with our clients is crafting a vision story for themselves and their business.
As we state in our vision video…
“Where there is no vision, people become detached.
Where there is no vision, people scatter.
Where there is no vision, people die. (This is a little ominous and straightforward, but it drives the point home).
We believe the Vision Story is the most crucial course to the future of your business and to liberating you from the chaos of working IN your business.”
And we don’t just want to help you create a vision for your business in the here and now, we want to build with you a vision that will last.
So how do you create a lasting vision for your business?
Step 1, incredibly simple… write it down!
In an article written by Lacey Stone in Time magazine she states,
“You have to work for it. But somehow, even if you don’t know how it’s going to happen, knowing what you want to happen and writing it down helps it become reality.”
Writing out your vision will be a step in making your vision become reality, and thus making it one that lasts.
Another step, also incredibly simple… share your vision!
Your vision isn’t just something that you write out and put in a drawer for nobody to see / have access to. Your vision should be shared, especially with those closest to you. Business partners, key leaders, team leaders, I would go as far to say as all your employees. Bring them into the vision that you are creating, and let them walk with you in that direction.
These are just a few steps to get you moving towards a vision that will be lasting. A vision that will guide your steps as you walk in 2022 that can be a year of Flourishing.
Thanks for listening.
If you haven’t done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.
What do you want to be remembered for as a business? It’s an important question without an easy answer, but let’s figure out how to get there today. Good morning friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.
I’ve spent a lot of time recently with clients talking through their mission statements. Now, most mission statements are bland…gutless, and generic at best. They serve little purpose other than putting some ink on a piece of paper to say that you have one.
But… attaching mission to your business can actually serve to give it a purpose that is powerful and can propel you towards significant meaning in the working world.
Typically, the question we use when we ask business owners about their mission statement is…”What gets you out of bed in the morning and excited to do what you do?” For us, that’s always been liberating business owners from chaos.” It gets us jacked and ready to take on both the good and the bad of our weekly schedules.
I was working a few weeks ago with a client and asked him that question… it didn’t really land. Well, maybe it landed, but it didn’t lead us to a powerful mission statement. So I rephrased it…what do you want to be remembered for?
That got the juices flowing. He started throwing out keywords that propelled him forward to realizing his mission and what he wanted to be remembered for. Words like service, creativity, teamwork, leadership. All of that. Pieced together to help him understand his why!
So… if I was to ask you the same thing. Do you have an answer?
Do you know what you want to be remembered for? And here’s the kicker… does your process reflect that. You have to take it one step further.
If you want to be remembered for having the best, most qualified team, do you invest in them, send them to trainings, spend time developing them as leaders to make sure they are the best and the most qualified?
If you want to be remembered for having the best product in your industry, are you investing in R&D, getting feedback from your clients to see where you can improve, and making sure that no one is better?
If you want to be remembered for serving and helping your clients succeed, do you have meetings on the front end to capture that vision, do you take the time to listen, and is that a part of your process?
These things matter. Your process has to reflect your mission because it’s what you’re going to be remembered for.
Or are you like most people? Winging it… day after day. Not really knowing why you wake up and do what you do. Or what sets you apart. No, the future is a bit fuzzy, but it’s ok, we’ll figure it out.
No… take the time to build out a mission story that propels you forward. A mission statement that gets you excited to wake up in the morning and get to work instead of complaining that it’s Monday yet again.
You spend too much time at work (almost ⅓ of your life) to just get by. Get excited, know what you want to be remembered for…and then build out and invest in the processes to realize that mission.
That’s how it’s done. I would wager that if you went about every day with that kind of intentionality, your team would want to be apart of you business for a long, long time…and the inspiration that trickled out to the community would be contagious.
I hope that makes sense, so spend some time today asking yourself, what do you want to be known for.
Have a great week!
We were celebrating the birthday of one of our clients whose business was 70 years old. To create a memorable experience, the owner of the business decided to hold a full day training off-site at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, and invite what many believe is the most decorated and successful coach in College Football History, Coach Nick Saban.
To the 100 people who attended, we were taken through a variety of stories regarding the Alabama Football program and through some of the fresh details of their National Championship run that ended in a loss to the Georgia Bulldogs just less than two weeks from the day we were hearing Coach Saban speak.
Saban told stories of success and failure and continued to use the word “leadership” throughout his discussion. To bring texture to his view of leadership Coach Saban would use word descriptions such as fit, character, adversity, mindset, culture, intelligence, and intensity.
Although he never provided a concrete definition of leadership, Coach Saban certainly took the audience into his cupboard of leadership ingredients and allowed us to see and smell some of the measurements he and his coaching staff use in leading a group of student-athletes into a world of elite college football where he soberingly adds, “there is always a reckoning”. In other words, the cake will always be tested.
In order to prepare for the reckoning, leadership must be present. In order for the cake of leadership to be baked with consistency and familiarity, then a set of ingredients must be used.
What are those ingredients?
While not exhaustive, it is helpful to begin listing out the ingredients of leadership remembering that leadership is also a phenomenon that “you will know it when you see it”.
As you think through the ingredients of leadership, here are eight must-haves.
First, every leader must lead with purpose (Vision and Mission).
At risk of sounding cliche, purpose is the hard work of actively, and physically writing down a detailed snapshot of the future destination where your organization or family are headed.
While vision is explanatory and detailed, your mission is simply telling the rest of us why you wish to go there.
Second, every leader must lead with defined values.
Values are the curbs along the side of the road towards your vision. They are the boundaries that ensure that you limit damage, and stay on the most intentional route towards your ultimate destination.
Third, every leader must lead with repetition.
Every leader must lead with repetition.
Every leader must lead with repetition.
Fourth, every leader must lead with grit. Grinding at the right time, instilling clarity into each and every role, identifying fear and pushing through with courage, and committed to trailing a mentor.
Leadership is a complex cocktail of work, clarity, courage, and learning. Grit ensures the potency of that cocktail.
Fifth, every leader must have extreme self-awareness.
You have tendencies, biases, routines, and habits that help to shape your persona to the outside world.
You’re prone to screaming, steaming, laughing, rising up, or withdrawing. Regardless of the tendency, leaders must be aware of their own selves if they are to ever influence another person.
Six, every leader must lead with desire.
There is little use in asking someone to do a thing with jubilee and enthusiasm if desire is lacking.
Sure, you can dictate and statute the road to getting your way. But far better to show real desire, and also recruit for desire.
Why is the world of sports filled with stories of world-class talent massively underperforming?
Desire.
Seventh, every leader must lead with an abundance mindset convinced that all that you need to accomplish your vision either is or will be available at the time you need it.
Planning is necessary, but will only get you so far. Belief in future opportunities is as much a profitable resource as cash in the bank; for there will be times where the latter is unavailable, but the former will be the only check you can cash.
Eight, every leader must lead with maturity.
Most Tuesday nights we have between 5 and 15 teenaged young men sitting around the fire pit in our backyard as we talk about BIG wins, and issues of life (relationships, money, leadership, Hemingway, etc.).
One of our more frequent topics is the idea of maturity, and one of the questions I get regularly is, “do you mature as you age?”
My standard response is, “you cannot have maturity without age, but you can certainly age without maturity.”
There are plenty of 18-year-old minds encased in 46-year-old bodies. Maturity is advancement and development, and it requires work.
While child-LIKE-ness is a value and asset, child-ISH-ness is a hindrance and roadblock.
Finally, every leader must lead with empathy. Sherry Turkle, in her powerful and important book Reclaiming Conversations suggests that we are in the midst of a crisis of empathy.
Empathy is feeling the inside of another person and their situation. While not understanding the details of that situation, you can certainly “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Paul writing a letter to many living in Rome - Romans 12:15).
Culturally, we are more conditioned to judge a person’s situation and render a verdict rather than simply feeling what that person feels in their particular moment.
It is not vogue to feel in leadership…but we must try.
These are just some of the ingredients of healthy leadership. I hope you’ll at least pick one, lock-in, and use it to grow in your leadership to make an impact on the people who follow you.
Hey, y’all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose.
In the 5th round of the 2021 NFL draft, with the 149th overall pick, the Cincinnati Bengals elected to draft a kicker out of the University of Florida named Evan McPherson. McPherson was the first, and ultimately the only kicker taken at that year's draft. The only 1.
259 picks in total, and 1 kicker.
Fast forward to February of 2022 and as you may be aware, the Cincinnati Bengals, who drafted McPherson, are about to play for a Super Bowl.
McPherson’s stats on the season:
McPherson finished the season 28/33 on field goal attempts (84.8%), with 9 of 11 from at least 50 yards.
In the Bengals playoff game against the Las Vegas Raiders, he made 4 of 4 field goals, assisting the team to a 26-19 victory that gave them their first postseason win in 31 years.
Subsequently, in a Divisional Round game, he again made 4 of 4 field goals, including two from over 50 yards. His 52-yard field goal as time expired gave the Bengals a 19-16 win over the Tennessee Titans to send them to the first AFC Championship Game since 1988.
McPherson also became the first kicker in NFL history to kick 4 field goals in multiple games during the same postseason.
In the AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs, McPherson made all four field-goal attempts, including a game winning 31-yard field goal in overtime in the 27-24 win, advancing the Bengals to the Super Bowl.
My favorite story from the postseason, McPherson said to his teammates, “Looks like we’re going to the AFC Championship.“, before taking the game-winning 52-yard field goal against the Titans as time was expiring and he was taking the field.
So why do you draft a kicker? Because roles matter. And they matter in your business as well.
We’re not all made to be the starting quarterback. Or the nose tackle. Or the long snapper. But a well-built team has all of those pieces in place.
And we want your business to be a well-built team. But that doesn’t just happen overnight. It will take some time and some work.
A few tips:
First, it is important to have a well-defined organization chart with detailed job roles.
Your organizational chart should be able to be easily translated by your employees. Knowing the flow of communication and work responsibilities for their specific role.
And speaking of roles, make sure that you have a detailed job description for your employees. One that they have access to, and is reviewed at regular intervals.
Second, weekly team meetings!
This is your chance to bring your team together. All the different roles in the same room, together. It’s a time to build culture, strategize, train, and equip your team. We want team meetings to be a priority for your business.
And the third and final tip, have a good hiring process.
Getting the right people in your door for the right role doesn’t just happen. But with the right hiring process and knowing your team, and what exactly you are looking for…
You might just draft your Evan McPherson.
Thanks for listening.
If you haven’t done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.
Why do your relationships with your employees always feel strained? Why don’t we feel like we’re a harmonious team running towards the same vision? Well, I have 3 pitfalls that business owners fall into today that cause friction and tension on every team I witness. Let’s talk about it.
Hey there friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here…just grateful for you tuning in to listen for a few minutes today.
Business Owners and employees. A match made in heaven? Right? Or hell! No, I’m kidding. But how can we help this obviously strained relationship? How can we have employees who feel respected and excited to come into work? Well, today I want to give you, the business owner, 3 things that you may do without even knowing it that probably contribute to friction and relational strain with your employees.
Now, obviously, all of these are somewhat on a spectrum. I will speak towards the worst-case scenario but take some time to look inwardly and see if any part of it is true for you. At the end of the day, employees want a stable environment where their work is respected and they enjoy what they’re doing.
Alright, let’s dive on in!
The first thing that business owners do that causes friction?
Failing to actively listen. I was challenged on this just last week. Occasionally we will sit in on each other’s coaching meetings just as a way to make sure we all have the same messaging and gain some powerful feedback on our effectiveness as coaches. I had another member of our team tell me to slow down a bit. As my client was speaking it felt like I was waiting for my turn to talk, to dive right in with the answer instead of validating the question and wait until they are finished speaking.
I was so grateful for the critique because I didn’t even know I was doing it. So, if I’m doing it, are you? When you’re sitting in a team meeting are you trying to get through it as quickly as possible so you can get the team back to making money? Are you listening to your employees as they bring up frustrations? Do you check your phone during your check-ins and onboarding times? Do you shoot down their dreams and squash their complaints? Do you do anything with the information given? Or does it just sit in a file somewhere… and the information shared just falls on deaf ears.
Or do you give eye contact? Repeat the problems. Take the time to work through it with them? Follow up and help solve the problem? Lean in, not get worked up? You see, active listening takes time. It can’t be rushed through because the receiving side always senses it! Your employees can tell when you’re not with them and your mind is elsewhere.
Resist the temptation to multitask in those situations and actively listen. It will help your relationships with your employees… I guarantee it.
This is one I see all the time in businesses… and just in my life in general!
Just this weekend, I saw this in my own home. We laugh about it now, but it was not funny at the time! So, we were about to head to dinner with my in-laws on Friday night. My wife was getting ready and asked me to go put some nicer and warmer clothes on our kids for the evening. Nice and specific, right? Can’t screw this one up
So, I went upstairs, grabbed the first warm thing in the drawer for my son, the second warm thing for my daughter. And here’s where I admit that I am not known for dressing my kids well. I don’t understand color schemes and toddler fashion. I heard warm and nice.
As I get downstairs with the kids dressed (my son in grey sweatpants and a dark grey thermal shirt. My daughter in a white thermal that barely covered her midriff. My wife got frustrated with me and went up to change the kids again. I had picked the wrong thermal shirt and did not realize my mishaps until it was too late. The lack of clarity on the front end caused friction.
Now, should I have known that gray on gray was probably not the best idea? Yep. Should I have grabbed a shirt for my daughter that covered all of her torso? Yes, most definitely yes. But this highlights the need for clear communication on the front end.
Your employees need a clearly communicated request. We hear all the time, well they should know what I’m asking for. Why? They can’t read your mind and probably don’t care as much as you do. So set them up for success. Get specific. And write that specificity into a clearly articulated process for them to follow.
That way it doesn’t have to be done twice! And that way you can celebrate a job well done instead of it leading to discontentment, resentment, and friction amongst the team.
It is your job as the leader to set the standard and communicate. All the way, no assumptions.
I get it, there’s a time for fun and a time to grind. Scott in his coaching time last week talked about grinding…at the right time. There’s a time to put on the blinders and just get work done! But, how are you capturing the heart of your team? We’re coming up on calendar year 4 of this COVID pandemic. How are you helping be a pressure release valve as anxiety and stress for families are at an all-time high?
I was so proud of one of my clients who rose to the challenge and planned a team bowling afternoon with all of their employees still on the clock. They literally paid their employees to go bowling for the afternoon and made it fun along the way.
That’s a team that they will not leave. That makes the hard conversations more bearable and shows that you care about them as more than just a cog in your businesses wheel.
Make time for fun. Is it something silly at your team meeting, a minute to win it game, or something to break up the monotony? Is it a movie night where they bring their families? How are you infusing some fun along the way? We spend ⅓ of our lives at work… isn’t there some room for enjoyment and fun in the midst of it all? I think so and I think every time you do, it releases some of that friction and makes you feel more like a team they want to be a part of.
So, to recap. Friction is intensified when you
I hope that makes sense. If you need help thinking through this, please reach out. We’d love to help
Have a great week
The call hit his cell phone around 7:47 am on Wednesday morning. It was one of his most stable key employees calling and she sounded scattered.
Over the next few minutes, the key employee began explaining a situation happening at home that was agonizing. An addiction with a member of their home had led to that family member stealing money from this employee to the point that insufficient funds were flagged at the employee’s bank.
She was wrecked, broken, hurt, and trying to run the household with an overdrawn bank account.
The business owner who had received the call was in a place to have this employee stop by his office so he and his wife could sit down to grieve, and gameplan next steps. They were leading their employee through a remarkable and unprecedented situation.
Leadership matters because followers are often in a position where finding their own way is too taxing, or nearly impossible.
Leaders can only lead in an atmosphere where there are followers ready to follow.
In any culture there will always be followers to follow; the greater challenge is finding leaders who are committed to lead.
Vision is said to be the beacon by which the attention of followers can be harnessed into a movement that transforms.
Where there is no vision, we are warned in the Jewish Proverbs, people will scatter.
So where does such unifying vision emerge? From leaders; people who are willing to risk their reputation, their capabilities, and their relationships to craft a snapshot of some future, compelling destination.
And then, with great repetition and spirit, a leader invites followers along the highway of values to the destination of vision, all for a defined purpose or mission.
Leadership matters because without it, people scatter.
Leadership matters because without it, people take aim at nothing.
Leadership matters because when apathy sets in and fear slowly chips away, it is leadership that speaks up, calls out, and puts into motion the very vision-centered activity that will either have victory or defeat believing that either one is better than the apathy of nothing at all.
Leadership matters because lukewarmness is the default of a life without leaders.
When a leader emerges, technologies shift and grow.
When a leader emerges, ideologies begin spreading.
When a leader emerges, movements begin their important work of transformation.
When a leader emerges, life gets pushed, moved, spun, lifted, and dropped.
Theodore Roosevelt famously reminds us that it is the “cold and timid soul(s) who have never known neither victory nor defeat.”
Leadership matters because our own transformation and growth matters. Without leadership, we are left to a life of timidity and fear.
With leadership, we embrace power, love, and a sound mind.
ACTION: write down one thing in your life that would not be true if a leader did not step in and encourage you into a specific direction.
Why Commit to Processes? Why put in the hard work of recording, training, and holding the team to a set list of processes? Well, let’s talk about it today.
Hey there everyone, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here!
I’ve always loved Simon Sinek. The author and motivational speaker who just has some amazing thoughts on business leaders, how to relate to this newest generation and what that can mean for your day-to-day.
He was talking recently about the power of consistency. And in many ways, that’s what our teams struggle with, right? They want the big move, the home run, the grandiose event that shows they put it all together.
But in the day to day… there’s so much struggle to stay consistent and understand the process of how long it takes things to get accomplished.
He pointed out exercise. The first time you go to the gym. You put everything you have into it and come home and look in the mirror. What do you see? Anything different? Nope.
Fine, I’ll go again tomorrow and try this thing one more time. Look back in the mirror… nothing’s changed! This must not work.
Same thing with relationships. You stop by a girl’s house who you have a crush on… take her flowers and write her a little note. Is the relationship automatically healthy? Even though the inputs and process may be working perfectly, there’s nothing to be seen on a day by day basis.
What Sinek points out is that there are almost these universal laws, that, if followed, will produce results. I can guarantee that if you control your eating and exercise daily, you WILL get in good shape. It may take a year, but it WILL happen.
Same thing with relationships, if you commit to serving the other person… to caring for them, you WILL have a healthier relationship.
The important piece is consistency! If it’s doing it right 10% of the time? You won’t achieve the result you want. Even 50% of the time, probably not. But if you get to the 80% or 90% mark, there’s room in there for slipups, the piece of cake here and there, or the day off from working out. But it’s the habits and consistency that pays off over the long haul.
That’s where your process becomes so important. And the training of your processes that reinforce and develop CONSISTENCY.
Because the success for your business is never measured in doing it right for a day. Or a week, but consistency over a long period of time!
That’s why we get nervous when businesses celebrate the Big Deal they landed. Oh…we're going to double our revenue through this one deal it’s amazing! Yes, it is…but just like that first date with the girl of your dreams, where everything seems to go right…if you don’t have a process to fall back on none of it matters!
So…if you were to take time out of your day today and think about your processes. Where do you fall short? Maybe it’s starting with celebrating your team for the areas they are consistent. But it’s time to critically think about consistency and process.
It’s time to make a list of the areas you fail more than you succeed. Is it closing sales? Is it the handoff point from the sales team to the operations? Is it inventory management and you’re always looking for material? Is it communication with your team and training? Is it onboarding of new clients? Is it client retention for the long haul? Is it hiring and getting the right people on the bus, or maybe holding your team accountable once on the bus?
I don’t know. But I know without critical thinking and intentionality none of this consistency happens. You start swinging for the fences and striking out more times than not as a business. Sure, you may find some success along the way, but it will never be sustained.
So, commit to Process. Not perfection, not talent, but Process. Let that define you as a business. That people know exactly what they are getting when they call you.
And then let that Process turn your business into a wildly predictable (how’s that for an oxymoron)...a wildly, predictably, consistent team that shows up day after day and knows exactly what to do.
That’s the goal friends. Go chase after it.
Keynote from Superior Rigging & Erecting (SRE} Birthday Celebration
by
Scott Beebe
Founder | Head Coach
My Business On Purpose
In 1964 the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a ruling that reversed a previous ruling by the State of Ohio banning the showing of what they deemed an obscene film entitled The Lovers that was being screened at the Heights Art Theatre in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
After yielding remarkably different opinions across the bench of the Supreme Court, Justice Potter Stewart’s opinion was most unique stating, “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be (obscene), and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.”
There are troves of content available and promoted on the idea of leadership.
Leadership, although hard to define, is a trait among people that one could easily mimic Justice Stewart’s opinion by saying, “I shall not define (leadership), but I know it when I see it”.
Leadership is birthed out of the Latin word “ductus” which suggests the ideas of guiding, conducting, drawing, pulling, taking, commanding, marching, and forging.
Leadership can be hard to define because leadership is complex, and explains why developing leaders require focus, attention, and a roadmap.
In its simplest, purest form, the dictionary defines leadership as “the action of leading a group of people or an organization.”
It may also be helpful to have a peek into what leadership is not. Leadership is not coercing, forcing, cajoling, conniving, or deceiving.
Leadership is not commanding, controlling, dictating, or forcing. That is an authoritarian mandate, not leadership.
Leadership is guiding and going before. Leadership is embracing a continual state of risk because under healthy leadership, followers always have an option.
How can you tell the difference between a leader and a manager? A leader casts vision, influences behavior, and inspires accountability and action. A manager ensures that the strategic elements of the vision are mapped out and executed.
The 1960’s in America were a time of significant civil unrest, and also a time of significant leadership as President John F. Kennedy casts his Moonshot vision, and Martin Luther King Jr led his infamous march on Washington.
JFK never set pen to paper with rocket engineering plans or fuel displacement calculations, and yet he led thousands of young scientists to do what was impossible.
MLK set a flame using the words of his mouth to ignite a peaceful resistance among thousands towards a racially integrated and unified vision acknowledging that “we must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
Leadership is a conviction towards healthy transformation, towards creating opportunity, towards inviting those who desire a peace-filled future into a life forward motion.
Dr. King compelled such motion through his vivid invitation saying, “If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
What is leadership? Here is a potential definition to guide us…
Leadership is one person, or a group of people, who are compelling willing followers to keep moving forward to a defined and shared vision.
Over the coming modules, we will be walking through and defining the ingredients of what healthy leadership looks like so you can begin to feast and compel others to move forward.
Leadership may still be hard to define, but you will know it when you see it.
ACTION: write a one-sentence definition of what you think leadership is and share it at your next team meeting.
Hey, y’all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose.
A question I came across as I was reading over the weekend…” what habit in your life will yield the highest return?”
And then to take it a step further, how can you make that habit part of your daily routine?
The book is called Win the Day by Mark Batterson.
After you have defined the habit, whatever it may be, Batterson goes on to suggest (in regards to making this habit part of your day to day), he says “the key, no matter what it is, is identifying when and where.”
He goes on to give details of a study that was done in the 1960s involving students at Yale University.
Graduating seniors were educated about the dangers of tetanus and given the opportunity to get a free inoculation at the health center. Despite the fact that it was free and the majority of the students who were polled were convinced they needed to get the shot, only 3 percent followed through and got the vaccine. 3 percent.
Now there was another group of graduating seniors, the test group, that was given the same lecture with one caveat. They were given copies of the campus map with the location of the health center circled. Then they were asked to look at their weekly schedules and figure out when they would get the shot. And you know what… 9 times as many students in this group got inoculated.
Good intentions are good, but they aren’t good enough!
Define the habit. Then define the when and where. Or there is a good chance this habit, which can yield the highest return in your business, will stay just a good intention.
At the beginning of the year, I was working with a client and asked him the same question. He thought about it for a week or so and decided that the habit he saw that would yield an incredibly high return would be reading. Sounds incredibly simple, but he admitted that he hadn’t read a book in almost a year. He had intentions and even had books on his shelf that he had bought last year, but never got around to reading any of them.
Some were books on business. Some on marketing. Some mystery thriller books. Some books for his spirituality. All kinds of books, that he knew would make him a better owner, boss, husband, father, etc. But he never got around to reading them.
So he had defined the habit, it was time to define the when and where.
It was easy for him, he is typically the first person up in house so he can shower and get ready before helping others get out the door as well.
He decided he would wake up 30 minutes earlier each day. Make a cup of coffee. And sit in his favorite chair in the house.
He knew his habit. He decided his when and where and he has been crushing it.
He’s quick to admit that he hasn’t been 100% since he started, but he has already finished 2 books in 2022 and we aren’t even out of January yet.
So what’s your habit? And what is your when and where going to be?
Ask yourself this question over the next week, and see if there is a habit you need to take on that will yield a high return this year.
Thanks for listening.
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The final details were settled around 8:17 this morning when Gerrick Taylor looked out over the room filled with Taylor’s 41 employees and was about ready to kick off Taylor’s fourth annual full team offsite training day.
Just four years ago, he thought he had lost his mind at the idea of closing down all Taylor’s retail locations. The calculation was steep; full wages for all Taylor’s employees that day while posting zero revenue throughout the entire day.
The model did not make sense on paper, but he knew a larger investment needed to be made; an investment in people…in relationships.
Taylor’s began almost twenty years ago on the side of the main road in Lexington, SC when Gerrick received a tractor trailer load of pine straw from his Dad. As a High School teacher and football coach, Gerrick was looking to make a little extra cash on the side.
His goal was to sell four trailer loads of pine straw that summer. Summer ended with over thirty trailer loads being sold by one person, with one phone number before and after summer football responsibilities. It was a grind.
After trying to juggle school, coaching, and the entrepreneur's reality, Gerrick decided to leave teaching and coaching and put all of his time and attention towards growing what would eventually become Taylor’s Landscape Supply and Nursery.
For years Gerrick led a small band of employees with a grinders spirit; do what needed to be done when it needed to be done. If you run into a problem, cross that bridge when you come to it. It worked… for a while. Over a decade later, Taylor’s was becoming “too much plane for one man to fly”.
Back in 2015, Gerrick went through a process where he made an intentional decision to begin working ON his business, taking time to step off of the lot, out of a tractor, and sit down to articulate where he wanted to go (vision), how he would get there (values), and why it was important (mission).
After articulating the purpose of Taylor’s he then began the long, methodical, weight-lifting-like process of identifying and building the necessary systems and processes that Taylor’s would need to bust through the ceiling and grow.
Gerrick realized that people crave structure…they also crave repetition and clarity.
Taylor’s became a hallmark of weekly team meetings, stand up team huddles, helpful checklists, and accountability. Something deeper was still needed in order to create a glue-like connection among the team.
In 2018, Taylor’s held its first ever full-day, shut-down-the-business, all-get-in-a-room, offsite team training day.
It was good. It was not life-changing, because it did not need to be. It was not cause for a circus. It was simply…good in a very healthy, solid, beneficial way.
Gerrick realized that thoughtful, repetitious, fundamentals are often more powerful long-term, than short-term bursts of creative brilliance.
Aesop reminds us the “Tortoise kept going slowly and steadily, and after time, passed the place where the Hare was sleeping…(and the Hare) could not overtake the Tortoise in time.”
Slowly and steadily. Year one… two… three… now year four.
The only magic in a Taylor’s training day is this… it happens each year with purpose and an agenda.
Your team needs a time to break away from the day to day, and to be trained together. Other conferences are fine, but not like the value that a business team only gathering can provide over the course of one full day together with learning, conversation, workshops, meals, and happy hour.
What are the keys to building a great annual offsite?
First, articulate the purpose of your one day off-site.
What do you want to accomplish? What do you want your team to walk away with? How do you hope they feel, think, or act?
Whatever… WHATEVER comes to mind, write it down and allow that to determine the next key to developing a great one day off-site meeting.
Second, set the day on your calendar and draft a simple agenda.
What day will it be? Look at the flow of your year, is there a day or time that may be a bit less disruptive for your team? Consider seasons, times, family calendars, and workflows.
There is no perfect day and there will always be some conflict. Once you have considered all things, set the day and begin communicating that day and let the team know this is both exciting and mandatory. Client meetings, vendor meetings, and other meetings must be scheduled around this time, and only the most personal of conflicts should interfere with this day (weddings, funerals, births, etc.).
Your agenda should include a timeline of the day and the major elements of meals, opening and closing sessions, any keynote sessions (no more than two), and a variety of breakout and workshop opportunities (large or small group discussion times).
Again, align your agenda with your original purpose… allow that to guide the content.
You can always bring in 3rd party voices (speakers, workshop facilitators) to help with bring a unique perspective. Also, don’t overlook your own team members. Having them speak, lead, and facilitate is a great growth and leadership opportunity.
Third, what will your budget be?
You will need to have food, location services, learning materials, audio/visual support, speaker honorariums and travel, team member travel and logistics, etc.
Also, what are the non-obvious expenses that the business will shoulder like time away from work (especially in a retail environment)?
Fourth, set a schedule for preparation and communication knowing who will be coordinating what items, and when those will be communicated and tracked.
Finally, make sure your one day offsite includes ample time around the table where team members can eat together, laugh together, catch up, and work through a variety of ideas, issues, frustrations, confusions, and dreams.
Taylor’s full day off sites are not easy, not convenient, and not always perfect…but they are good.
Is your Vision Polarizing? Does it help decide who is in and who is out? Well, let’s talk about that today.
Good morning friends, Thomas Joyner here with Business on Purpose.
At the end of every year, we ask business owners to write a letter to their teams. They highlight things like where you’ve been, where you’re going, and how grateful they are for the team.
One of the key pieces is always Vision for the next year. And we’ll get into the why here in just a minute.
So, a couple of weeks ago, one of my clients did just this. Spent hours writing his letter to his team. They had a great year! And are positioning themselves for another great year. So, he laid it all out… the vision for the next year. How much work they had on the books, who they were as a business, the accountability they would put in place to keep the bar high, and the reward for the team if they reach their goals.
Even his wife came home after reading it all fired up, saying that she wanted to sign up to work for the team after having the letter read to her.
3 days later, 3 employees came in and quit. Why? Because the vision was so clear, so polarizing that they decided it wasn’t what they wanted to be a part of. They decided it wasn’t where they were heading and so they left.
Now, you may be thinking to yourself. Ouch! That stings! You put all this work in and your team up and quits on you. Should have been more vague…should have made it easier to hear and lowered the bar. Are you kidding me? Not. At. ALL!!!
The business owner called me more pumped up than I’ve heard him in over a year. I know exactly where we’re headed and our entire team is on board. This is the first time I’ve known we were all pulling the same direction in years!
He was absolutely floored… even though his team had shrunk by about 20 percent. Because he knew, that these guys would have fought him all year long and probably robbed his team of performance, profitability, and morale every day that they came to work.
That’s why we work so hard on Vision. It’s polarizing. It separates those who want to be there and those who don’t. It sets the destination and the standard and then allows people on your team to make a decision for themselves, which is a service to them even if they don’t know it!
I’ve never been more proud! Because it energized the business owner, and the rest of his team, to go out and do what they are uniquely equipped to do! That’s a powerful vision.
So, if I was to sit down and listen to your vision for your business or team. How polarizing and clear would it be?
If you were describing the destination to me, would it be something like this? “Well, we’re gonna head up to the northeast and find a town that we’re kind of excited about. We may drive fast, but it may take us another day or two to get there. That’s ok, though. At least we’ll be in the vicinity?”
No! You could arrive somewhere you don’t want to be!
But if it’s the city, the neighborhood, the street, the address, the room inside that house or building. Your team can decide if they’re on board or not!
It’s not vague in any way, but crystal clear. And here’s the beautiful thing about it. If the team comes to you halfway through the year and says, but we didn’t know this is what we were signing up for, you can hold them accountable. You can say, grab your letter I gave you in December that outlined where we’re going. I even took the time to write it down for you so you wouldn’t forget. And retrain to hold accountable.
That’s powerful! Imagine how exciting it would be to arrive at your destination a year from now. Or even to slightly miss it, but to be able to look back and say, well, we’re way closer than we would have been had we not written it down, shared it and planned for how to get there!
That’s Vision that changes you. It’s powerful, polarizing, and transformative. And that’s the vision you want for your team.
Anything less opens the door for chaos to creep back in and for your ceiling as a business to get lower and lower and lower.
So take time to revisit your polarizing vision today. It’s so so worth it. Thanks! Have a great day