What to Do?

Posted on August 11, 2013 by anentrepreneurswords

Question: Lately I’ve been faced with some tough decisions. I struggle in this department. How can I make this easier?

Answer: Entrepreneurs by definition have to make a lot of hard decisions. Do we add a new product line or not? Should we raise our prices? Should we fire a client? Can we afford to buy a new piece of expensive equipment? All of these decisions are weighty for a reason. They could have adverse consequences if we’re wrong about what we decide.

Life is full of tough calls. Whether in our business or personal lives one factor that makes decisions hard is a little thing called emotion. The more we can eliminate emotion from our decision making process, the more likely we will be to turn the tough call into the right call. Without emotion we can then turn to a factual approach in this process.

Something that has worked for me over the years has been the use of a decision tree. When I have to make a complex or difficult decision I draw one or more lines down the page. At the top of each column I write a decision that I could make to address a particular situation. There might be two or three possibilities – maybe even more. From each decision I draw lines with boxes underneath. We all know that when decisions are made there are consequences. These boxes contain the consequences. By laying out all of the decisions and the various potential consequences I am able to assess the probability of outcomes and determine which yield the best result with the lowest risk. Doing this insures that emotion remains on the sideline.

Some people say, “Follow your gut instincts.” So you may ask, isn’t gut instinct an emotion? Actually gut instinct is the result of experience. There’s no such thing as pure gut instinct that isn’t based on some level of experience. And this experience can be developed by making decisions over and over utilizing facts and decision trees. Eventually you just know what to decide because you’ve done it so many times. But a strong factual foundation was laid early on.

We can all make the tough decisions with ease when we take the emotion out of the equation. By turning to an examination of the facts we are able to logically figure out what steps to take. And after we do this long and often enough, we develop strong instincts that enable us to act quickly and decisively.

This blog is being written in tandem with my book, “An Entrepreneur’s Words to Live By,” available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle (My Book), as well as being available in all of the other major eBook formats.

A Glance Back

Posted on August 4, 2013 by anentrepreneurswords

Question: I was recently told that I don’t listen very well. I think I do but I feel like I’m being defensive if I say so. How should I respond?

Answer: Take a glance over your shoulder. What do I mean? When we’re driving a car and we’re going to change lanes what do we do? We check in the mirror. But if that’s all we do we could still have an accident. Why? Because the mirrors don’t necessarily allow us to see in our blind spot. Instead, we look over our shoulder to visually make certain we aren’t going to collide with another car.

This is a great life metaphor. When we look in the mirror we don’t always see what others see. To “glance back” is to accept feedback from others, and sometimes it may be something we don’t want to hear about ourselves. Then we have to make a choice. We can be defensive and reject what we are being told. Or we can swallow our pride (often false pride) and take a long and introspective look. Perhaps there’s some truth to the ugly rumor that we have a characteristic or trait that needs to be modified.

If we want to succeed as entrepreneurs we must be willing to become vulnerable and pay attention to how others feel about us. Earlier in my career I was a bit tone deaf when it came to being sensitive to other’s feelings. Apparently I had a tendency to run roughshod over people. I was told this several times and could not see my blind spot. In reality I was in denial about what I was being told. Ultimately I began to change my behavior after it adversely impacted my relationships and caused hard feelings. To stay on the straight and narrow I give my colleagues permission to “hit me on the head with a two-by-four” if ever again I fall into the same behavior.

It’s a rare individual who has no blind spots. We should accept the fact that we have them. But what we do to learn about them is a test of our character. When we pay attention to how others are responding to us we’ll be able to sense whether or not the reaction is positive or negative.

Actively glancing over our shoulder and checking with others to learn of our foibles will help us strengthen our relationships. In so doing we avoid allowing our blind spots to become destructive.

Square Pegs, Round Holes

Posted on July 28, 2013 by anentrepreneurswords

Question: There are times when the harder I try to get something to work the less likely I am to succeed. Naturally this is frustrating but I don’t want to give up. Help!

Answer: Take solace – we’ve all been there at one time or another. Here’s what happens. We have a goal in mind. Let’s simplify it for illustrative purposes. We want to thread a tiny fishing line into a tiny eye of a tiny hook. We have the best of intentions – we just want to thread the hook. But our eyesight may not be the best; our fingers might be too big; the light might not be right; we may have trouble holding the hook steady (and maybe the line too) – all of these elements may be working against us. What do we do? We keep pushing that line at the hook’s eye and we keep missing. Over and over and over we do this with the frustration mounting.

How do we finally thread the line through the hook? We slow down. We make sure the light is right. We put our reading glasses on. We take a deep breath and relax. And guess what – the line goes right into the eye of the hook. The lesson here is that when we try and force things we often fail.

As entrepreneurs we need to use this simple lesson as we go about our daily business. I spent many years trying to “muscle” my way to accomplish my goals. There were times when I tried to “will” things to happen the way I wanted. This was a classic case of trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. It just didn’t work. Oh, there were plenty of times that I accomplished my goal. But that square peg may have been mangled in the process.

I finally broke the code when I realized that my “muscle” approach was actually causing me to be “muscle bound.” I learned that my high sense of urgency was causing me to plunge into trying to accomplish something without the necessary foundation being laid. I discovered that doing more research and creating a solid plan was a good launching pad. It also became apparent that maintaining a higher sense of awareness about what was happening along the way would serve me well. How were people responding to my approach? Did I need to provide better and clearer directions? By relaxing and keeping a positive attitude I was able to still maintain my sense of urgency, and the path to success was smoother and more certain.

When we feel as though we are running into walls it’s time to take a step back. Reassess the situation. Create a new plan. Relax. Then start again with a new and positive attitude.

Noise

Posted on July 21, 2013 by anentrepreneurswords

Question: Sometimes when I’m trying to make decisions I begin to have doubts. There are so many external factors that could impact my decisions. How do I get past this paralysis?

Answer: We are so inundated with information these days it’s easy to become overwhelmed. And when we’re overwhelmed the paralysis you reference sets in. Sometimes rather than becoming paralyzed, this crush of information causes us to reach false conclusions and we act irrationally. The best example of this is the stock market. The day starts out with good economic news and the Dow Jones Industrial Average soars. So does the NASDAQ and the S&P 500. Early in the afternoon word of political issues in a foreign country cause a major reversal and the markets close substantially down. The next day, the markets rebound and close higher. How can a seemingly unrelated event in a foreign country have that much impact on our economy and on our financial markets? It shouldn’t and it really doesn’t.

It’s all just noise. Markets move on fear and on jubilance. Neither really makes much sense. But we’ve become conditioned to volatility in the financial markets and the overload of information permeates the rest of our lives causing similar volatility in our decision-making process . . . or just paralysis.

It’s important that we recognize noise when it’s present. The best way to do this is to have a clear understanding of the goal or objective we are pursuing. That goal has attached to it a series of decisions that must be made. Is there information that we sift through that might have a true bearing on this goal? If we always measure against the goal we can then block out the noise. For example, let’s say that my goal is to renovate an historic building in a small town and convert it to apartments. A lot of data will come flooding at me every day. I’ll hear about political strife in another country; political strife in our country; the stock market rose/fell 200 points; oil prices may be rising; a competitor just abandoned an historic renovation project (what does he know that I don’t?); interest rates may increase; the cost of lumber may increase; new regulations may be implemented by OSHA, and my favorite restaurant is closing. What to do?

I focus on my goal and I quickly process the information deluge. Of course there are a lot of unknowns, but if I’ve properly assessed the risks of my project, I have a mitigation plan for things like rising interest rates and higher material costs. The rest of it . . . I ignore.

Life is full of noise. The trick is to turn it into white noise that is in the background with no discernible impact on our daily lives. We do that by remembering our goals, our assessment of the risks and our plan to mitigate those risks.

Blockages

Posted on July 14, 2013 by anentrepreneurswords

Question: Lately it seems like everything is harder than it should be. My concentration isn’t as good as it needs to be and I feel like I’m running into walls. What is wrong?

Answer: Sometimes we experience blockages in our lives. We create these blockages and don’t even realize we are doing it. To understand and effectively deal with blockages, we must first understand the flow of positive energy. I believe that every human being is born into a constant flow of positive energy. Do you know what it feels like when everything seems to be going right? That’s the flow of positive energy. Now some may say that this sounds a little “woo-woo.” Woo-woo or not, there’s not a doubt in my mind that this river of positive energy is always there.

What happens when we place a log or a rock in a river? It blocks the water flow at that immediate point, though the water continues to flow over, under and around the log or rock. We create blockages that interrupt the flow of positive energy. When we have thoughts of limitation – a blockage will form. Every time we say “I can’t,” that’s a blockage. And these blockages aren’t targeted. They permeate every cell of our being. Blockages are also caused by disease, anger, envy and general negativity, just to name a few.

Armed with the knowledge that we create our own blockages we can proceed to eliminate them. The word elimination is the key here. I’m sure someone will say, “You claim that disease is a blockage – I can’t help it if I get sick!” Ah, but how we choose to deal with disease determines whether or not it will be a blockage. If we continually affirm that we are sick, the blockage to our positive energy flow will be created. As entrepreneurs, we must be on the lookout for blockages and eliminate them each time we become aware. Entrepreneurial spirit thrives on positive energy and dies under the weight of negative blockages. As an entrepreneur, there are times when I find myself in a funk and am not experiencing normal levels of success. The first thing I do is look for blockages and once identified, I eliminate them. If I’ve had an unhappy experience with a particular individual, I will apologize and try to make things right. Waiting to do this only keeps the blockage in place that much longer and has a profound impact on our lives.

Restoring and maintaining our flow of positive energy is crucial to our happiness and success. Quickly identifying the source of blockages and eliminating them ensures that we will stay in the positive flow at all times.

Perfectly Perfect

Posted on July 7, 2013 by anentrepreneurswords

Question: I’m striving to achieve Six Sigma in my business but I’m getting a lot of internal resistance. What can I do to convince my team that this should be our ultimate goal?

Answer: Maybe it shouldn’t be the ultimate goal. Six Sigma is an admirable concept, but only in certain situations. It was developed by Motorola as a manufacturing process in 1985 with an end result of 99.99966% defect-free products. I can remember the business world was abuzz with this revolutionary idea – everyone was trying to apply it to their own company, regardless of what that company did. In essence, everyone was trying to achieve near-total perfection.

Should perfectionism truly be our goal? It depends. If you are a heart surgeon, Six Sigma is for you – in fact, your work should be 100% defect-free. If you’re a banker transferring money in or out of my bank account, 99.99966% correct ain’t good enough – you need to be absolutely perfect with the transfer! As entrepreneurs we’ve grown up with the belief that everything needs to be 100% perfect.

I have changed my mind on this as the years have passed. No longer do I believe without question that everything deserves total perfection. Why the change of heart? I know you’ve heard of something called “diminishing returns.” As entrepreneurs we must deliver top quality with our products and services. But in a great many situations something less than 100% perfection is just fine with our customers or clients. They may be ecstatic if we deliver 80% or 90% perfect. The cost to get to 100% may be extraordinarily high and eat into our profit margins when we set this as our goal. And if our competition is delivering 75%; we deliver 80% and our customers are thrilled, what’s the point in achieving total perfection?

You might say that I’ve relaxed my standards. But as entrepreneurs we need to find a healthy balance between what needs to be perfect and what doesn’t. Blindly striving to make everything 100% when 80% is good enough, may not be a good deployment of resources. There’s a parallel to this in our personal lives. Are we trying so hard to be perfect in so many areas that we’re wasting our lives on things that really don’t matter? Does the Christmas video really need to be defect-free? So what if there is a weed or two in the front lawn (especially if the only person who notices is you). Is the world going to come to an end if we miss the high note while singing in the church choir on Sunday morning?

A slight imperfection here or there makes life more real. This doesn’t give us license not to try and achieve a flawless outcome. But learning when it matters and when it doesn’t is a sign of wisdom.

Cucumber Cool

Posted on June 30, 2013 by anentrepreneurswords

Question: Some people never seem to get flustered when situations become chaotic. How do they do that?

Answer: We all would like to stay cool, calm and collected when the pressure rises. Sometimes it’s not easy to do. My dad was one such individual. He was trained as a scientist and was absolutely steady as a rock. When my mother would become excited about something, he was unflappable. I studied his quiet manner for many years and often wondered if what I saw on the outside was really happening the same way on the inside. As an adult I was finally able to answer this question the more mature I became.

Dad really was cool as a cucumber inside and out. His scientific background helped him analyze everything and find the facts rather than getting caught up in the emotion. Dad also never took himself too seriously. I can’t remember a single display of egotistical behavior in all of the years he was alive. These attributes are instructive for all of us.

When things start to spin out of control, we can look for the facts. Analytical thinking tends to be a calming process and may be a steadying influence. Imagine a circumstance where we are feeling “fight or flight.” Suppose a large customer has just indicated that it is no longer going to purchase from us. The revenue loss from this customer will mean employee layoffs and potential losses for the company. The staff is upset and panicked over the news. What is needed is someone who hasn’t lost his or her cool. This can happen if we focus on obtaining the facts about the situation. Our words and demeanor are soothing and our pursuit of a logical conclusion is comforting to those around us. Panic and discouragement give way to our team figuring out how to turn lemons into lemonade.

In addition to calmly tackling the situation in a clinical fashion we also avoid letting our egos get in the way. We show concern for others and help them manage through their feelings. We stay positive and upbeat. The people around us see that we’re unruffled and in a problem-solving mode and they respond in kind. Our approach to an unsettling situation helps to defuse the anxiety and channel it productively.

Staying cool, calm and collected is not an act but a mindset. Generally an emotional response to a negative situation does little to produce a resolution. When we shift into analyzing the facts and subordinate our egos to others, they are reassured and able to function in a fruitful manner.

No One Washes a Rental Car

Posted on June 23, 2013 by anentrepreneurswords

Question: I understand that to succeed in life and as an entrepreneur, I cannot play the victim. But it seems like there should be more to this premise. What is it?

Answer: You are right on with the philosophy that you cannot buy into a mindset of victimization. When we let ourselves think this way we are giving someone else the power over us. Avoiding a victimization mindset is an important step for us to take but as you sensed, there is more to it.

Why do you suppose it is that no one washes a rental car? Think about it. I will confess that in all my years of travel, I’ve never once even thought about driving a rental car through a car wash – no matter how filthy it might have been. There is a very good reason for this. We know that the rental car company automatically washes every rental car when it’s returned. And we know we don’t own the rental car. Our success and happiness is based upon the same concept. Others may help us in our quest for success and happiness but that’s all they do . . . help.

It’s up to each of us to take ownership of our own life. Earlier in my career I relied on a lot of people – and I still do today, but in a different way. There were times in the past when I might have thought, “I’ll do my part but someone else will ‘carry the ball across the goal line.’” As I think back I remember many disappointments along the way where having this mindset resulted in failure. Most likely this is because others were thinking the same way. Not a single one of us truly “owned” a particular project in such a way as to see that we did whatever it took to achieve a successful result. Taking ownership in a work environment doesn’t mean doing everything ourselves. But it does mean that someone (maybe it’s us) must be responsible for seeing that all of the plays are called and executed, and that the team eventually scores. Any time a goal or an objective is set, always remember to ask, “who is going to own this?”

In our personal lives it should be easier. When we ask the question, “who is going to own this,” the answer is pretty obvious. And we need to create some sort of accountability for ourselves to make sure that we follow through and truly “own” it. This accountability might be in the form of a journal, a checklist, working with a buddy or mentor – whatever is necessary for us to take our ownership seriously. If we want to exercise more; lose weight; be more aware of current events; become deeper spiritually; find a significant other; be a better parent, or be more prosperous, the road to success begins with our taking ownership of our situation and committing to see it through to a successful end.

Taking ownership is a liberating experience. In so doing, we cease to worry about whether or not we will succeed. Instead, we live in the knowledge that through our ownership we will achieve whatever it is that we have set forth to do.

Soaring

Posted on June 16, 2013 by anentrepreneurswords

Question: I’d like to become more imaginative and creative. What suggestions do you have?

Answer: I’ve heard theories that imagination and creativity are innate – you either have it or you don’t. I’ve also heard some people state, “I’m just not a creative person.” In my opinion, everyone is born with imagination and creativity. With some people it’s “closer to the surface” than with others, but it’s still present within every one of us. The key is what we do to bring it into reality.

As entrepreneurs, we tend to spend a lot of time in a left brain mode. We’re analyzing, planning, verbalizing, logical and detail-oriented. But imagination and creativity emanate from the right brain. And if we don’t spend much (if any) time in a right brain mode, how then can we develop our ability to imagine and create the good that we seek? There certainly are things we can do that are outside our comfort zone. What might they be?

I used to read business books and magazines all the time. Nothing else was in my library. Growing up I loved to read, but as I began my career it was all about learning everything I could about business methods, theories and case studies. I participated in education sessions and seminars to obtain a professional designation – all related to my industry. I wrote articles for trade publications. Again, they were all focused on the business of my business. After a few years it became clear to me that my one-dimensional approach to reading, learning and writing wasn’t doing anything to make me more creative or innovative. There is no doubt that I was becoming an expert in my field, but so what? Who wants to be a boring expert? And I noticed that solving problems wasn’t as easy or as fun as it was when I first started my journey.

A course correction was in order for me. I began reading a wide variety of publications. I actually began reading fiction books! Rather than allowing my whole life to revolve around business and more particularly, my business, I decided it was time to be much more curious about a whole lot of things. As a kid, I remember rainy Saturday mornings spent with World Book encyclopedias. I would pore through them in fascination. Somehow I had moved away from exercising my right brain. Living a more varied life was a gradual thing. But I found that the more I got out of my comfort zone and did things unrelated to my business, the more creative and imaginative I became. Today I believe that my levels of creativity and imagination are at an all-time high because I touch everything that I can – music, literature, spirituality, philanthropy, social studies, psychology, sports and the list goes on.

In order for our imaginations to soar we must step out of the forest and into the sunlight. Then we can look around and see beyond our limits. When we become curious about and interested in an infinite number of things, our creativity and intuition will become stronger and new ideas will flow effortlessly.

Why Do They Quit?

Posted on June 9, 2013 by anentrepreneurswords

Question: In this day and age of heightened customer service awareness, why are there still businesses that deliver such a lousy customer experience?

Answer: You are so right about this observation. For a number of years we’ve seen a barrage of books and articles about how companies are more focused on delivering top quality customer service. But for some reason, on a regular basis there’s still a disconnect between the theory and the practice.

For more than 20 years my wife and I went to the same dentist – every six months like we’re supposed to do. During my final encounter with this dentist I asked him to do some minor cosmetic work on my front teeth and inquired as to the cost. He quoted an amount; we scheduled an appointment, and the work was performed. When I received the bill I was in for a shock. It was double what he had told me. Because he is so hard to reach in person during the day, I sent him an e-mail explaining the situation. His response was, “What I quoted was for one tooth.” Now I don’t know about you, but I liken this to having the brake pads replaced on your car and the mechanic gives you a quote for one brake pad. I told the dentist how disappointed I was that he had not made his pricing clearer. He responded that in the future, each patient would receive such a quote in writing to eliminate any confusion. What he failed to do however, was apologize to me and knock some amount (any amount would have been fine) off my bill. As a result, he lost two patients forever. How simple it would have been to show a bit more consideration by simply acknowledging the mistake and making a minor financial adjustment.

Here’s another 20+ year story. A certain pool company has received thousands of dollars from me over that timeframe through opening and closing our swimming pool as well as replacing the liner two or three times and servicing our hot tub. This year the pool was opened on schedule. Normally the cover is removed, chemicals dumped in the water, the pump and filter are started and the crew comes back a few days later to vacuum and finish the clean-up. We’ve had a wet spring and as a result the company fell behind on its schedule and never came back to finish the job. Of course they weren’t hesitant to send me a bill which I quickly paid. I placed several phone calls during which I was told they’d “take care of it.” An e-mail went unanswered. Finally a month later I hired someone else to finish the job and sent a letter to the owner of the pool company terminating their services. Ironically, the same day the opening was finally finished, the pool crew showed up only to realize their job had been completed by another party. To this day I haven’t heard a peep out of the owner of the pool company. And of course he wasn’t honorable enough to refund a portion of what I had paid.

It is important to remember that when serving others the key to keeping a customer happy is honesty and communications. We humans will tolerate an awful lot as long as we feel that we are being treated fairly and have expectations communicated to us in a clear and timely manner. Lack of these elements shows disrespect and is the main reason we quit companies that serve us. Yes, we want performance and quality products. But the way we are treated is equally important if not more so.

There’s a very simple yet powerful adage to remember that will ensure that we will keep our customers happy. It goes like this. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

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