Business Successes

The Toronto Star recently ran a couple of Toronto business stories that caught my eye. One of them because it is all about second hand golf balls. The other because a nifty invention was quickly taken up by Wal-Mart. They also caught my eye because they reminded me that business success doesn't happen overnight. Success requires complete faith in one's idea, staying very focused on that idea and not deviating down unrelated paths.

The golf ball article explains how Knetgolf.com's "elaborate Markham factory holds five million cleaned, sorted and bagged golf balls ready to be exported. About 30,000 recovered golf balls are processed daily in Markham and along with another 50,000 at the firm's Arizona facility. The balls are cleaned, sorted by brand and grade and repackaged." The thought of this many golf balls is mind boggling! To read the article go to: Small Markham company is on the ball

The nifty invention story is all about glowsticks and Halloween. To quote from the article: "So when Sydney asked him to make her a glowstick Halloween costume two years ago, he was happy to sit down at his desk and fiddle his way to a colourful answer. Those first simple costumes attracted attention from friends and neighbours, so Shields ran with the idea to sell them online last year. He finally dove full time this year into a new business that has snagged a fast deal to market them across Canada with department store giant Wal-Mart." To read the article go to: Wal-Mart loves dad's bright idea

CATS comes to the Books n Brew

At our recent Books n Brew we all met at the Hot House Cafe, had a few brews, and discussed Stephen Lundin's book CATS - The Nine Lives of Innovation. The overall consensus ~ the book's content is good and helpful but the use of cats is irritating! 


As Cheron Long-Landes (www.bodyfood.ca) wrote: Yes, I did find some good tips and information and have made notes of some of the ideas .... BUT it really bugged me that there really was no senses in the meaning of the word CATS. I honestly feel, had he parallelled how cats live or even made up an acronym, I would have accepted the frequent use of CATS. Having said that I'm glad I read the book!


Mette Keating, owner of InDeVision (www.InDeVision.com) and creator of "The Office Alive" Program, kindly "volunteered" to write this blog about the book. Thank you Mette!

CATS is definitely one of the better books that I have read lately.  Read it and use it to spark the curiosity and creativity within every employee and inspire innovation approaches to ordinary everyday situations.

Challenge yourself with these CAT Nips below:

Nip 1.

Think of a time when you were devastated by the comments of a thoughtless critic.

*What was your idea?

*What did the voice of judgment say?

*How did that feel?

*What did you think but not say out loud?

*What did you say?  What did you do then?

*Did you fight back or give up?

*What are the long-term effects of this drama if it is played over and over again?

*How can you stop the drama from playing in your life?

Now find someone to talk about this with, and see what his experience has been with critics.

Nip 2.

Try something that has the potential to instantly create spaciousness in your life.  When you find yourself evaluating or judging, redirect your attention to curiosity and wonder.  Try to see the same thing with the open interest of an infant.  The world looks different when you simply see it and don't judge it.

Nip 3.

Can you think of some personal examples of workplaces that seem, by the very nature, to breed fun and innovation?

*Ask yourself this question: "When do I have the most fun at work?"

*Now ask yourself: "When am I most innovative at work?"

Nip 4.

What are the names of the primary content files you have accumulated?  For example, you might have files for management, motivation, research design, metallurgy, leadership, astronomy, physics, math, change ... name yours.

*Do you have a Mind Map for each of these?  Make one, and keep it updated for the rest of your life.

*Prepare a place to keep neat ideas?

*Review your Mind Maps each week?  Do it.

Nip 5.

Consider putting yourself in situations that will stretch your boundaries:

*Travel, but without a tour group.  Have a personal experience.

*Read biographies of people in a variety of fields.

*Hang out with those who are not at all like you.

*Observe life!

*Try things just for the sake of experiencing them (legal things).

*Look for ways to walk in someone else's shoes.

Nip 6.

Here are some things you can tell yourself when you are stuck:

*How fascinating!

*It's not the end of the world, for goodness sake!

*I will live another day to tell the story.

*Let's backtrack and see what went wrong.

*It could have been a lot worse!

*Hmm, what can I learn from this episode?

*Adversity builds character.

*Five years from now, how important will this seem? 
  
Visit Mette's web site to see the fantastic work she does to make workplaces come alive! www.InDeVision.com

To Tweet Or Not To Tweet

To Tweet or not to Tweet. That is the question put to us on a regular basis by our business owner clients. Should Twitter be a part of their marketing strategy, they ask. Like everything in life there isn't a yes or no answer! The place to start is your target market. Where and who is your ideal client? According to a recent Toronto Star article the Solutions Research Group has identified the Canadian Twitter demographics to be:

• 42% are aged 18 to 34
• 28% are 35 to 49
• 17% are 50 and older
• 13% are 12 to 17

So if your target market is consumers in the 12 to 17 age group then you may think twice. Not to say some businesses are not using Twitter well by announcing upcoming events or the introduction of new products. The Toronto Star article (September 26th Business Section) cites evidence that Twitter does have a growing following of businesses. And it quotes Keith Macarthur, Roger's head of social media, who can see Twitter becoming a great tool for their customer relations.

The problem as I see it is that the business Tweets are crowded out by the hundreds of innocuous messages like "I have just eaten the best ham sandwich ever" or "On the way to work I saw the coolest shoes". Furthermore we have to wait for the qualified "followers" to find us and want to follow us. I always prefer more proactive marketing strategies myself. As Adrian Davis, President of Whetstone, wrote in a recent blog "these (social media) are focused on quantity of connections rather than quality".

We have a model we use when working with our clients: "While you are doing one thing, you can't be doing another thing." This is particularly true for small business owners who do not have armies of people to delegate work to. So if you are focused on getting Twitter up and running as an effective marketing tool you are not doing some other maybe proven marketing activity. Not to say you shouldn't try but keep in mind that Twitter is yet to prove itself as an effective marketing tool.

Social media is here to stay. And it's fun. But is Twitter the right marketing tool for business? Is Twitter worth the investment of our scarce resources - time and money? Will Twitter enhance the very core of quality marketing - relationship building? I don't think so. But it is time for some serious debate on the benefits of the social media for businesses. To start the debate I bring your attention to two excellent articles on the subject.

This one was written by David Baker, founder of ReCourses - David's article
And this comes from Adrian Davis, President of Whetstone Inc - Adrian's article

So think about it. Will Twitter and all the other social media become the future marketing miracles for us business owners or will they fade into the sunset. No, they are not going to fade away! I'm just not sure what form they will take. And I'm not sure if they will become an integral part of our marketing tool box.

Join the debate. Leave a comment or email me at nick@yourplanningpartners.com.

The Perfect Business

We at Your Planning Partners believe every Canadian business owner should have the opportunity to build the Perfect Business. But what is a Perfect Business?

The Perfect Business supports the life style you and your family want. This covers everything from personal income through to life balance. It means the business is not consuming every minute of your life. It means your family and/or friends are not complaining about your constant absences or starting to exclude you from family events. It means you are receiving an income commensurate with your role and responsibilities.

The Perfect Business is one you enjoy passionately. You love the nurturing, the leading, the guiding that successful businesses need. You get great delight in seeing your people grow professionally. You get excited every time a new customer comes on board. You are proud of your business.

The Perfect Business has value so one day, when you are ready, it can be sold. Yes it might be far away over the horizon but the reality is there. One day you will not be around to run the business and you cannot take it with you. Or, more likely, one day you will be wanting to do something else; retire or start another business or take up stamp collecting. Whatever it may be you will still need an income. Your business is your retirement income.

So in short the Perfect Business:

1. Supports the lifestyle you and your family want
2. You enjoy passionately
3. Has value so can be sold

What are your thoughts about the Perfect Business? Leave a comment to this post or email me at nick@yourplanningpartners.com. Have a good week building your Perfect Business!

Books n Brew

Rob MacGregor, owner of Koyana Inc ("We Save Software Projects In Crisis!" www.koyanainc.com) selected the Books n Brew book and led the lively discussion that took place about what we as small business owners can learn from it. The overwhelming consensus about the book ~ What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith; it is a must read for all small business owners.

Here is a surprised Rob winning one of the door prizes from Anne Sowden. The prize ~ the book Executive Image Power of which Anne is one of the contributing authors (www.hereslookingatyou.ca).

Other door prizes:

• 30 minutes of remote IT support from DigitalFire (www.digitalfireinc.com) won by Martha Dove (www.marthadove.com)
  
• Copy of the next Books n Brew book Cats The Nine Lives of Innovation presented by Your Planning Partners and won by Jonathan Roberts (www.zzeem.com)
  

Do You Like Your Customers?

Do you like your customers? Yes you heard me. Do you like your customers? Of course you say. After all they are the people paying me. They are my customers for goodness sake!

Indeed they are but over the years we have met business owners who spend a great deal of energy complaining about their customers. We hear statements like:

• They are high maintenance
• They expect me to drop everything for them
• They have no idea what they are doing
• They are always complaining about us
• They are stupid

And more often than not this is being said in front of other people! And the culture of the business is one in which complaining about the customers is a cool thing.

A second observation. Business owners whose attitude is 'our customers are a nuisance' are constantly battling up hill. They never achieve the success they want. In many cases they never get off the ground. How could they; after all they don't like the very essence of their business, their customers. And their customers can feel the negative vibes.

So if you know a business owner who falls into this category do him a huge favour. Sit him down, pour him a drink and tell it to him straight; close down your business and save yourself lots of stress and money.

Or try the better way. Sit her down, pour her a drink and explain to her that if she does not change her attitude about her customers she will not succeed. Tell her to take the first step to a successful business by instilling this non negotiable rule into her company ~ there will be no complaining, no whining, no negative comments about any of our customers. That's all. Just start there and in time she will see results.

Fragmented Focus Treadmill

Are you stuck on the Fragmented Focus Treadmill? You know the feeling; running and running ever faster and getting absolutely nowhere. No real purpose other than keeping up with the relentless movement of the treadmill's belt. No focus beyond staying upright on the treadmill.

The Fragmented Focus Treadmill is harmful to your health and to the health of your business. It causes great stress without any reward and it stops business growth in its tracks.If you have one or more of the following symptoms you are stuck on the treadmill:

• Tired, overwhelmed and concerned about the future
• Reacting to situations rather than being proactive
• Working on urgent things to the detriment of important things
• Working harder and harder but achieving nothing of importance
• No personal life outside of the business
• No clear vision of the future
• And to make it even worse you have lost your passion for the business

The first step to get off the treadmill is to develop a plan to map out the future of your business. This is not the back of the envelope that has scribbles on it about the revenue you want to generate. It is a carefully thought out strategic plan with a clear picture of the future (3 Year Objectives), the 1 Year Goals to take you toward your three year destination and the strategies and actions necessary to achieve the goals. The criteria for an effective plan are:

• It's measurable and realistic
• It's documented
• Your entire team knows it
• It is used on a daily basis; not locked away in a bottom draw
• It is flexible because we expect the unexpected

The Fragmented Focus Treadmill is one of the barriers to business success. Once your plan is done and you have tentatively stepped off the treadmill you must now stay off. Next time we will cover some tools you can use to stay focused and therefore stay off the Fragmented Focus Treadmill.

Delegate

The owner is often the barrier to achieving success with the business. One of the main causes is that she does not have enough time to do everything that needs to be done. The last post dealt with some tips on how to find more time. Now we are going to deal with the biggy ~ delegation.

If there is one thing business owners are really bad at it is delegation. They either refuse to delegate on the erroneous belief that they are the only ones who can do everything to the quality they want. Or they delegate badly and so it doesn't work, which reinforces the belief that noone else can do it as well as them. So today we will cover Delegation 101.

The first step in successful delegation is to identify what should be delegated. For this we have the Strategic Focus Delegation Worksheet. It is a simple tool that works! Picture 4 columns. The first (and widest) is called Activity; next is one headed Me!, followed by a column headed Delegate? and finally one called To Whom. List the activities you do over a number of days so there is a good chance of capturing 90% of the things you do. When you think you have captured everything work through the list putting a tick mark in the Me! column next to the activities that only you can do. Then work back through the list and place a tick mark in the Delegate? column.

When this is complete you will have a few activities with no tick marks; they are probable ones that can be discarded. To those activities that you have decided to delegate assign a name of a person or a job title in the To Whom? column. You are now ready to delegate! For purposes of this blog, which is all about delegating successfully, we will bypassing the topic of recruitment and assume you have in place the person who will be the delegatee. This is what you:

1. Clearly identify and agree on your "expectations"
2. Show the person how to do the job
3. Watch the person do the job correcting where necessary
   
4. Let him do the job and you check the results
5. When you are satisfied that the job is being done to your expectations you have delegated!
6. From time to time check the results

Follow these simple steps and you will soon be delegating like an expert ~ and finding time to do the things you love to do ~ and achieving the success you want with your business.

Never Enough Time

In the previous post I wrote about the seven barriers to business success and how one of them is us the Owner! Which is not surprising when you consider there is no schooling to train for this position and so we are left to train on the job. However the bigger hindrance is that there is never enough time to do everything that needs doing. So here are some solutions.

1. The 45 Minute Solution
Add 45 minutes to your work day; this adds half a day to your work week! Add the time to the start of the day or the end of the day or a combination of both. Come in on a Saturday morning. BUT, and this is a big but, don't fill that time up with more of the "urgent" activities. Use it to do the "important" things that will bring success to your company. Remember the model: Important Versus Urgent.

2. The Procrastination Solution
Yes you heard it here first; procrastination is a good thing (as long as it is done right)! So you have your to do list and you know darn well that there is no way you will complete everything on the list. So procrastinate .... on some. Mark each item on the list either a Must do or a Should do or a Nice to do. Immediately cross out anything you consider Nice to do; you are never going to get to them anyway so get rid of them. The Should do's are the candidates for procrastination. Leave them for another day until they become Must's or Nice's. Remember the model: Must Should Nice.

3. The No Interrupt Solution
Our days are made up of a long series of interruptions. Studies have shown that the smallest interrupt, like 30 seconds, takes us 10 minutes away from what we are doing. Suffer just 12 small interruptions in a day and you have been diverted from your work for 2 hours! If you have an office close the door for 1 hour a day; your staff won't die and it is unlikely the building will burn down. If you don't have an office go to a coffee shop or sit by the lake and think. Wouldn't that be incredible? One hour of thinking about your business without any interruptions! Turn off your emails; turn off your cell. This must be focused think time. Remember the model (with thanks to IBM): Think!

4. The Meetings Management Solution
If you are plagued by meetings after meetings take control. Manage the meetings. This can be simply done by following these rules:

• Have an agenda
• Start on time (regular late comers will soon learn to arrive on time)
• Have an end time for the meeting and keep to it
• Deal with the decision items first followed by information items
• Only invite those who really MUST be there
• If you are invited decide if it is really necessary to be there
• Control the conversation ~ keep to the topic

Remember the model: Manage Meetings.

It doesn't matter which way you look at it there are only seven days in a week. Take charge of your time if you want to build a successful business that one day you can sell. Don't let you become the barrier to your business's success. Take charge of your time.

Seven Barriers to Business Success

Through the work we have done with hundreds of business owners and the experienced gained from building our own businesses we have learnt that there are seven key barriers preventing business success. In this blog I will summarize the seven; in future blogs I will deal with each in more detail.

1. The Owner
Yes that's us! We are our own worst enemy. Think about it; we didn't learn how to be a business owner at school. We weren't able to apprentice for the job before taking over. When we first became a business owner we had neither the knowledge nor experience. We would never have hired ourselves for the position:-) And on top of all that we don't have the time to do everything that must be done.

2. People
A business is not a business until it has more than one person. A key barrier to success is not being able or willing to find the right people to do those things that need doing but shouldn't be done by you! These do not have to be full time employees with generous benefit packages. Today we have many options. Part time assistants; virtual assistants; web sites like odesk.com; out sourced work and so on.

3. Money
Business growth devours money. Money for the people we must bring on to overcome Barrier #2. Money to build a web site. Money to move into an office. BUT not only do we need money we must also manage our money. A lack of good financial management has killed many a large organization; it is also fatal for small businesses.

4. Customers
I am afraid the truth hurts ~ despite the wonderful products we have to offer, despite the superb quality of the service we provide people are not going to flock to our door. They have to be enticed. Not only must there be effective marketing strategies to get their attention there must also be sales campaigns to help them buy. Yes, as I said the truth hurts. We need customers and to get customers we must sell! Actually we like to say "bring them into our community".

5. Focus
You are a business owner and so you love building successful things. You get easily distracted by new exciting shiny objects. You are never short of great ideas and so it is all too easy to lose focus and chase the new idea. Losing focus on the destination, losing focus on the core business, losing focus on the important activities will prevent business success. Luckily there are many tools to help stay focused; we will cover them in a future blog on focus.

6. Processes
The reality is that a business is just a bunch of processes that allow us to profitably produce and distribute our products/services in exchange for money. The key word is "profitable". If the processes don't work the business won't work. By nature business owners are not great business analysts but time and effort must be expended to ensure that processes are in place and are working.

7. Plans
Philip Orsini (author and sucessful business person) wrote "Companies don't fail because they grow. They fail because they don't plan their growth". Without plans there is no destination, there is therefore no road map to follow, there is no focus (there's that word again) and so there is no means for getting to nowhere. Your success is left to luck or even worse miracles. As Peter Drucker ~ the greatest of all business gurus ~ said; "Miracles are great but they are so unpredictable"!

So these are the Seven Barriers to Business Success. Over the next few weeks I will deal with each in more detail and provide solutions to overcome the barriers.

I recently read the Economist's special report on entrepreneurship. It contains an interesting snapshot of the psychological traits of entrepreneurs.

• They are unusually, excessively confident. They know they will turn their dream into reality. This confidence raises the probability of success but also creates forecast expectations that are rarely met.
• Entrepreneurs are hugely attached to their companies. Which is great because they will do almost anything for "their baby". However, it also creates difficulties when it is time to hand over the reigns to others.
• They are very tolerant of risks which is a very good thing because there are loads of risks!
• Now this one is fascinating. In a study done by Cass Business School in London they discovered that a disproportionate number of entrepreneurs are dyslexic. Included in this group are Richard Branson, Ted Turner and Henry Ford. For those who like facts ~ 20% of British and 35% of American entrepreneurs are dyslexic.

By the way the Economist is a superior weekly news magazine that covers world events and issues (www.economist.com).

The next Books n Brew is July 28th; the book of choice is What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith. In the meantime see the report on the last Books n Brew below.

Books n Brew

Books n Brew is an opportunity for Your Planning Partners' community to get together and discuss business books .... and drink beer. The rules are lenient; you don't have to drink beer; you can drink wine, martinis or even strawberry milkshakes.

There was lively discussion at the Books n Brew on April 21st. The book in question was Pour Your Heart Into It ~ the Starbucks Story by Howard Schultz. Even those people who had not read the book had strong views about the coffee giant. What follows are some of the key points discussed ..... along with pictures.

Howard writes - when you start a business it is critically important to recognize that things are going to take longer and cost more money that you think.

You don't just give your customers what they ask for. You offer them something they are not accustomed to; something superior.

In business the front stage is what people see but the back stage is where you win. The efficiency of the back stage is what makes for financial success.

To quote Howard Schultz ~ If you are building an organization you can't do it alone. You'll build a much stronger company if you find a colleague you trust absolutely; someone who brings different strengths to the mix but who still shares your values.

Nobody has a greater need to reinvent themselves than successful business owners. As the business grows it needs different management skills. Many business owners find it tough to adjust to this transition.

A strategic plan is worthless if the people in your company don't buy into it.

And the last words go to Kelly Burnett of Calyx Consulting Group (www.calyz-consulting.com). From this book she learnt:

• Be passionate and committed to what you do
• Have a vision that is bigger than you
• Never listen to naysayers - trust you own judgment
• Involve your employees in your dream
• Hire the best people for the job - even if they are better than you
• Never compromise under crises - always retain quality
• Under promise and over deliver
• Put people first and profits last
• Be open to new creative ideas, even if they don't fit your preconceived plan
• Believe unswervingly in what you are doing - others will too

PROLOGUE
Care more than others think wise
Risk more than others think safe
Dream more than others think practical
Expect more than others think possible

The next Books n Brew is on July 28th 2009. The featured book is What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith. The book was selected by Rob MacGregor, owner of Koyana Inc. For more information call 416 429-2415.