When navigating through dangerous waters a wise captain keeps an eye on certain signs. The shape and size of certain waves, the color of the water at critical points, the presence of rocks or sandbars, things that can be difficult to spot for the untrained eye. The truly wise captain knows these signs because he or she has sailed through treacherous waters before and survived to sail again. And they constantly watch for the signs.
But what if you had never charted your way through rough stretches before? How do you know what you should be looking for? It’s been said that a smart man is one that learns from his mistakes--a wise man learns from other people’s mistakes. While there may be many warning signs that indicate a business is heading into dangerous seas, there are a certain few that every business owner must be diligently aware of.
I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel. Modern ship building has gone beyond that .
– Captain Edward J. Smith, HMS Titanic
On April 15, 1912 the HMS Titanic sank in the early morning darkness after having struck an iceberg two and half hours prior. Tragically, over 1,500 people perished. The Titanic was on its maiden voyage and considered nearly unsinkable by the owners and many of the officers and crew on board.
Unfortunately, very few lifeboats were filled to maximum capacity when they were lowered from the Titanic into the icy water. This caused the death toll to rise dramatically. When the order came from Captain Smith to commence loading the lifeboats, the Titanic's officers were probably unaware of the magnitude of the situation. Their apparent complacency did not instill a sense of urgency in the passengers and therefore caused many of them to balk at the opportunity to get into a lifeboat.
In retrospect it has been easy to see that many signs were ignored, dismissed, or simply regarded with a cursory acknowledgment. While your business certainly does not compare with an ocean liner, the same unfortunate results could occur from a combination of ill-preparedness, complacency and the inability to recognize and appreciate the danger signs.
The twin dangers evident in the Titanic disaster were ignorance, or lack of knowledge, and presumptuousness. Key players in charge of the ship were either woefully ill-equipped to see and recognize the danger signs, or were overly confident that nothing of that magnitude could happen to “their” ship. While we trust that most business owners are wise enough to know that their “ships” are not unsinkable, not every owner is necessarily aware or knowledgeable of what danger signs to watch for.
Despite economic and other conditions, the reality is that most any business can not only survive, but thrive and grow while avoiding taking on water or losing direction. How do you avoid these pitfalls?
As the business owner this is part of your primary accountability to yourself and to your employees, customers and vendors. It has been said that although the destination is important, it is the journey that makes the venture worthwhile in the end.
It started because my 16-year-old son had outgrown the length of his twin bed. He needed a longer, larger mattress and box spring set. We thought we needed a full mattress, but we did our research and discovered that while a full mattress is wider than a twin, it’s not longer. A queen on the other hand is wider and longer. We needed a queen-sized bed.
We checked local ads and found a place that made this promise: "We will deliver, set up, and take away your old mattress." Sounded good to me. So we made the trip and settled on a set that was not too hard and not too soft and, thankfully, on sale. In other words: just right for both of us.
We placed our order with the salesperson and were informed that they would be by between 5:00 and 5:30 pm on the following Friday to deliver the new bed.
We cleared a path to his upstairs room, removing mirrors and pictures on the stairway wall. My son managed to rake away enough of his teenage “stuff” to allow a bed-sized footprint for the delivery crew.
On Friday, the delivery truck arrived, on time, as promised. Good sign. We showed them the path up to his room. One guy carried up the box containing the metal frame. Then they brought in the mattress. It was a tight squeeze between the stairway railing and the first landing, but mattresses bend. They got it into his room and went back for the box spring. Box springs, by their nature, are designed not to bend. And in fact, no matter how the workmen tipped, repositioned or approached the problem, the box spring just could not be made to clear the gap between the ceiling, landing and railing.
After 10 minutes of trial and error, it became very clear that the box spring would not make it up the stairs unless the railing was removed. I said as much. They stared at me, a glance passed between them. They carefully set the box spring down on its edge, leaning against the living room couch. His hands now free, the driver handed me the receipt and the mattress warranty...and left! They left!! They left me with a queen-sized box spring leaning in my living room, a mattress leaning against the wall in my son’s bedroom, and a metal frame assembly sitting in its box … all waiting to be brought to critical mass by...ME!
I suppose you could say that the store kept its promise: "We will deliver, set up, and take away your old mattress." They did take away the old mattress. They did deliver the parts. And, they left me feeling...set up! Three hours later, with a collection of all the wrong tools, and my son's help, we had the railing off. A neighbor helped me wrestle the bed upstairs. My son assembled the frame. He and his cat slept soundly on the new bed that night.
Will I go back to this store when my younger son is ready for his longer bed? Not a chance! Did I call to complain? Nope. I didn't need any more aggravation. I figured: the delivery guys were a reflection of the culture of the store. The owner might have made some excuse, or pointed out some fine print in the agreement--but what kind of satisfaction would I have obtained?
Besides, I didn't want to give them the edge to decide that, as we teach in our Mastery coaching programs, every complaint is an opportunity for improvement. I didn't care if they improved. They'd had their one and only chance to make me a customer instead of just a sale, and they blew it.
It would have been a hassle for these delivery guys to remove my railing--but they probably had better tools than I did and they'd probably done it before, and they probably could have done it in under 15 minutes and left a totally satisfied source of referrals in their wake; a customer for life. But they didn't. What they did was to leave an unfulfilled, one-time-only customer. They got my money—but they didn't keep me.
How often do you think that your business disappoints a customer and they never bother to let you know? They just don't come back.
If you’ve done your marketing homework, you know how to attract the right people to your business and everything you do tells them: "Here is where you need to come to get the satisfaction you deserve. We understand your needs and are ready to respond to them in ways you have only imagined!" They show up. They buy something. And now you have to deliver. You have to make sure that you can deliver the promise they think you've made.
You better be ready to dazzle them! Think about the very best purchasing experience you've ever had. What was it like to really experience everything and more than you'd been promised? Wouldn't you like to provide your customer with that experience each and every time you have the opportunity?
Four Areas of Focus in Client Fulfillment
There are really four areas to consider in bringing maximum value to your customer.
The only way to assure that your clients are getting exactly what it is they need every time—once you discover what that really is—is to create a system to deliver it. No promise is more important to keep than the one you make to your customers about your products or services. If you don't deliver on this promise, no marketing strategy or sales technique will keep your customers coming back. You have to prove that you're paying attention to their needs and that they can expect you to give them what they want.
Delivering on your promises is your mission.
I wish the mattress store had thought of that. I wish that it was part of their system to complete the promise they’d made to me. But they didn’t. And I won’t be back.
I do not possess a "natural" selling ability. Actually, I'm quite sales averse, having had many bad encounters with many bad salespeople. I'm jaded. I'm always distrustfully on the lookout for "the pitch."
Unfortunately, this is the resistance that many businesses encounter when they try to sell to somebody. They must contend with the cumulative negative sales experiences of their potential customers.
That's because most salespeople don't sell smart. Smart selling is different than what most people consider selling to be—the unfortunate transactional, get-the-dollars model that pervades many businesses. If you view sales this way, as merely the occurrence of a transaction, there are only a finite number of transactions out there. You're cutting your business's potential at the knees with this perspective!
That's why, at E-Myth, we abhor the word "sales." According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, a sale is "the transfer of ownership of property from one person to another in return for money." Eek! That doesn't sound very inspired, does it?
We like to refer to "sales" as Lead Conversion: the essential business process to acquire long-term, quality clients through the implementation of lead conversion systems so that prospects perceive the commodity and the company as emotionally satisfying. This, you can see, involves much more than "a sale" or just getting your customers' money!
With the right lead conversion system, my lack of natural selling ability is suddenly no longer a barrier to my success at converting qualified leads into quality clients. Why? Because, like everything else in your business, where there exists the possibility of creating an expert system, there lies the potential to empower ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results!
With an expert lead conversion system, you (and all of your salespeople) will be able to sell smarter and acquire long-term, quality clients. Here is the basic five-step formula to help you get started:
This universal five-step lead conversion process offers a great guideline for determining what elements are required for your lead conversion system. These concepts will help you to build a mutually supportive relationship with your customers; a relationship that is bigger than a mere transaction.
Shoot, I probably wouldn't be so sales averse if I had more frequently encountered a selling process like this. A process that addresses my concerns and needs, rather than the sales person's concern with getting a commission check!
Do you have a lead conversion process? Does your sales team have a standard list of questions to determine what your customers' real needs are? Post a comment and tell us about it.
One of my clients, a chiropractor, recently decided it was time to hire an Administrative Assistant for his growing business. When it came time to announce the job, I asked him to send me the ad first so we could review what he’d come up with. Here’s what the ad said:
Responsibilities include answering phones, scheduling appointments, typing medical reports,
data entry and filing.
Experience in a busy medical office is a plus.
$14 hourly.
So, will this ad work? Well, he’ll certainly get responses. In fact, in this day and age, he might get 100 responses.
But the question is: will it get the right responses?
He'll probably end up with applicants who are indeed capable of typing medical reports and so on, but there's nothing about this ad that speaks to the personality of his company or of his ideal candidate. Therefore, he’s going to have to spend far too much time and resources reading resumes and interviewing people to find the right employee. And time and resources mean spending money which means a hit to his bottom line.
Now, anyone who’s ever written a job description for the purpose of hiring a new employee knows that it’s no piece of cake. Even if you think you have the job function outlined pretty well, it can be challenging to get it right (especially if it’s your first hire and many of the responsibilities of the role are now owned by you.)
If at all possible, once you’ve made the decision to hire, take your time. Finding the right people to staff your expanding organization is very important. In fact, there’s no more important expenditure you can make than the time and money it takes to recruit the right people.
At E-Myth we encourage our client’s to approach recruiting as a form of marketing and lead generation. Because finding the right employees for your company is like finding the right customers, the same principles apply to the recruiting process. You’ve got a product you want to sell (employment in your company) and you need to generate “leads” (applicants) that you can eventually convert into “customers” (new employees).
Before you post your job announcement, here are some things to consider:
One of the ways to differentiate your recruitment ad is to have the ad carry the promise of emotional gratification. By giving your ads some emotional appeal, you will attract better candidates because not only will they be technically qualified (as you will ascertain in the process) but they will likely be nice people that desire to work with nice people!
What would happen if my client replaced his ad with something like this?
We are seeking a top-notch Administrative Associate. Are you professional, warm, tactful and just all around great with people? Are you organized and able to concentrate on details that are important to customers and staff? If so, and you’re ready to join our growing business, email your resume and salary requirements to 555/555.1212. We'd love to hear from you!
State Street Chiropractic
Body work for life!
You’ll notice that this ad is written more like a traditional marketing message. The emphasis is on the quality of the work, not just the skills and it’s more about personality and company culture than just the tasks associated with the position. It’s really about making an emotional connection with the right person.
In many companies, hiring is one of the most volatile and least effective processes in the business. Job descriptions are vague, managers have preconceived ideas about what kinds of people they need to hire (and don’t understand the interplay between skills and personal qualities), and the whole process of attracting and processing candidates is haphazard and inefficient. But like your lead generation process, your recruiting process can be broken out into component systems that fit together to create reliable results. Take the time to construct, quantify, and test them so you can fine-tune your recruiting efforts to your hiring needs whenever they arise. Remember, your people are a long-term investment, and you don’t want to make long-term commitments with short-term methods.
A few years back I watched a movie called The Stepfather. Until the final five minutes of gore, it’s a wonderfully constructed psychological thriller. The title character is a man who is forever searching to fulfill his vision of the perfect family; the house in the suburbs, the dutiful child and loving spouse. He wanders from town to town, insinuating himself into households as the "ideal" second husband and father. He creates in his mind the picture of the perfect nuclear family, then goes into violent meltdown when his "families" don't match the movie in his head.
There is a stunning pivotal scene in which one of his current wives catches him in a lie. They're in the kitchen, and he's called her by another wife's name.
"What did you say, John?" she asks.
The camera shows John's face in the foreground, his "wife" in the background. We see the deconstruction in his face, the eyes darting right, then left. He says, more to himself than to her: "Wait a minute. Who am I here?"
After that, things get pretty ugly.
I don't believe I'm stretching the point to suggest that for many business owners, this feeling of "disconnect" is much the same--which is why, unless you own a restaurant, you shouldn't leave sharp objects laying around.
Most business owners wear several hats. They are not interchangeable, and you can't wear them all at the same time. You must continually be asking: "Who am I here?"
Ultimately, for your business to grow and thrive, you have to settle on the one with the best fit, and pass the others off.
The E-Myth makes strong distinctions between being an Entrepreneur, a Manager, and a Technician. In condensed form, we could say:
Each character requires a different hat.
Participants in our E-Myth Mastery Program are challenged to examine the hats they wear in their business and the relative value of each. All business owners have qualities of each, but where they most often lack confidence or expertise is in that of The Manager. Makes sense though, right? The E-Myth states that most businesses are started by technicians suffering from an entrepreneurial seizure. Being a manager doesn’t even come up in that scenario.
Invariably, after serious self-examination, a business owner will conclude: "What I really need to do is to hire a Manager."
Certainly, an effective manager has the potential to take on some of the accountabilities that command so much of your time. But how is this by itself really going to move your vision any closer to reality--and without bloodshed?
Back to the hats: In the development stage of your business, they're all yours to wear. You must be able to look at your business from each of the three distinctive points of view. As The Entrepreneur, you have the sole authority and responsibility to determine the direction of the business. How will the business be positioned in the world; in the eyes of its customers, employees, lenders, vendors and the larger community? The Entrepreneur must determine and constantly reinforce the company's intention.
The Entrepreneur's vision is The Manager's marching orders; the vision is the gold standard. The Manager's duty is to enforce and manifest the vision.
Ultimately, managerial work bridges the space between the entrepreneur's vision for the company and the daily technical efforts moving the business toward that vision. Effective managers, those who can motivate employees to reach their full potential while working on beneficial tasks, are instrumental in building turnkey, systems-dependent businesses.
A Manager must have several critical characteristics. One is "know-how." Some managers arrive with some "know-how" intact--knowing what to do and how to do it—getting work done through other people (Technicians). At a minimum, effective managers will have the ability to find out how to do that. Knowing how or knowing how to find out how is one of the minimum required skills of a successful Manager.
The other essential characteristic of a successful Manager is the ability to transform that know-how into processes and systems that will enable people to get the desired results.
The only effective processes and systems are those that will achieve the Entrepreneur's vision. Those processes and systems are the tools the Technicians use to get the results that fulfill the vision. The Manager does not manage people. The Manager manages systems. People are unmanageable. Systems are not.
People respond to orchestrated patterns. Within those patterns (systems and processes), people can manage themselves! Let me say again: People are unmanageable. Systems are not.
An effective business must begin with the vision. The effective Entrepreneur creates a compelling vision and infuses it throughout the entire organization. The effective Entrepreneur lives the vision. The effective Manager translates that vision into systems, and delegates the tasks to the Technician. The effective Technician operates within the system to create the results that move the vision forward.
A successful business owner does not wear all the hats at once. The owner of a successful business must practice the art of discrimination. The owner of an E-Myth business must know what hat is appropriate at any given moment, what characteristics are essential when wearing that hat, and when it is time to pass it off.
Have you successfully handed the managerial hat to somebody else? What was that transition like for you? Post a comment and tell us about it.
The People Problem
The Many Hats of the Business Owner
On Management
The 5 Skills Essential to Success
The purpose of a business is to create a customer. —Peter Drucker
While this statement may be quite true at the most basic level, it also serves to underscore the reality that one of the ongoing purposes of a business should be to keep a customer. No business owner would argue this point, but creating and maintaining quality customer relationships is often one of the biggest challenges facing small businesses.
One of the dangers that befall many businesses is the tendency to become accustomed to having customers, to slip into a default mode of expectations: that the customers are happy, that they’ll keep coming back, that they’ll tell others about you. The problem is that customers are people—and people thrive on relationships. And if we are not careful our customer relationships can become superficial and even counter-productive.
No one wants to feel that they are being taken for granted and customers are no different. Again, customers are people and people must be related to, not processed! Simply “going through the motions” for your customers with the mindless expectation that they will always be there is a sure path to customer attrition. And an increasing factor in customer fickleness is the sheer volume of choices that available in almost every industry and every product or service. In many ways the business owner is not simply working to gain a customer’s patronage, but is actually engaged in a contest to win the hearts of those individuals!
There are certain clichés in business that are dubious in their truth, such as “the customer is always right.” But one that is undoubtedly true is that it is cheaper to keep an old customer than to find a new one. With this in mind let’s look at some of the most detrimental errors small businesses make in this arena:
One of my clients recently began conducting educational seminars for her clients with the stated goal of providing valuable information as a “bonus” to her normal services. However, in the Q&A portion of the presentation she turns the tables on her audience by asking them key questions with intent of ferreting out the issues and concerns of her clients that she might not ever hear otherwise.
Another E-Myth client regularly meets with his entire staff to discuss customer questions, tips and best practices, and to elicit ideas for innovations and improvements to their services and products. The synergy of bringing together the “frontline” employees with the management team with a focus on their customers works to create an atmosphere and company culture that is customer-centric and service oriented.
While the customer may not always be right, there is one cliché that cannot be discounted or ignored: The customer rules. And this means that the needs, wants and desires of your customers must come first in developing the processes and procedures of your client fulfillment realm. This means that for many businesses changes will need to occur as they can no longer afford to have “business as usual.”
For some this means making regular and ongoing efforts to “listen” to their customers: What do they like about your business? Your products? Your service? And, perhaps more importantly, what is that they don’t particularly like? Communication is vital and this implies intentionality and strategy on the part of the business owner. For others it will mean taking pains to create a customer-centric business model: one that takes into account the primacy of the customer and recognizes that the product or the brand is not the focus.
The good news is that today’s business world is awash with technology and new forums for conversation that allow you to not only engage your customers and prospects, but to keep your finger on the “pulse” of your customer base. And despite the vast number of choices and competition facing not only you, but your customers, the opportunities are equally vast to win the hearts—and loyalty—of your customers.
What do you do to retain clients? What works for you, what doesn't? Post a comment and tell us about it.
How Can You Put More "Service" in Customer Service?
From Your Customers' Perspective
The Art of Marketing
If I had a dime for every time I heard that from a client… Well, I’d probably have $20 by now. But seriously, the issue of sales (or lack thereof) comes up all the time; most often from clients who are just beginning the E-Myth Mastery Program®.
Really, what business couldn’t benefit from more revenues, more cash, and more stability? Business owners can very easily find themselves distracted by the lure of “more sales.”
Sometimes that is just what the business needs. And sometimes, it just isn’t.
The reality is that more sales does not always equate to more money. Unfortunately, it’s just not as simple as that. As an E-Myth Coach, I admit that I have the advantage of perspective, having worked with dozens of clients on this very issue. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t and it’s my job to try to get the client to find the path that works. We start by digging a little deeper into what the client really needs, because oftentimes, the frustration they presume to be dealing with isn’t really the frustration that’s causing all the problems.
Let me give you an example.
One of my clients told me that she desperately needed more sales. She and her partner had been working really hard in the Mastery Program; they were developing systems, implementing innovations and cranking through the development of their business. But it wasn’t working—at least, it wasn’t turning into greater profit. In fact, they were working longer hours, spending more time worrying about cash flow and they were starting to lose control over the business as a whole.
They were confident that the problem was the result of not enough sales. They wanted to discuss how they could ramp up their leads right away.
But when we explored their frustrations in greater detail, it became clear that it really wasn’t a sales issue they were facing. The reason they were spiraling out of control wasn’t because of a lack of intention…it was a lack of attention to the right aspect of their business.
Instead of focusing on sales (or more specifically, their lead generation and lead conversion systems) we turned our attention to their financial management systems. They’d already started the financial quantification process, and were beginning to track the flow of information that arises in the normal course of business—invoices, purchase orders, cash register tapes, bank deposits, and lease payments—all of the things that captured the movement of money into and out of their business. But they’d yet to organize or analyze that information in any meaningful way. And when we did that, we found our answer.
They were working themselves into the ground not because they didn’t have enough sales, but because they simply weren’t profitable. And no matter how you slice it, more sales will not suddenly make you profitable.
More sales would only have increased their cash flow for a few days, and might have made it seem like they were doing better, but the long-term impact would have been devastating to their business. In fact, when we looked at the numbers, any significant increase in sales would have ruined them by the end of that quarter.
The bottom line is that the root of your business frustration is not always what and where you think it is. It’s important that you pull yourself out of a tactical reaction when confronting a challenge, and instead approach it strategically. Because every area of your business is connected, what you’re experiencing might merely be a symptom in one area (Lead Conversion for example) of your business, when the real cause of the problem is in a different area (Money).
Now, because I’m a Business Coach, I want you to get in a little business exercise. I want you to practice this systemic thinking. (When I say “systemic thinking,” I mean that I want you to think—from a strategic perspective—about how things are interconnected in your business.)
Here are three steps to follow when confronted with a problem in your business:
And here’s a bonus exercise, for those of you who really want to stretch your legs, so to speak.
When you feel frustrated in your business, write it down in a notebook. Example entries may read, “Bob in Sales was late again today, missed an important customer telephone call," or “Shipping dept. didn't send package on time, customer didn't receive package as promised,” or “electrician mistake resulted in one-hour power outage.”
After noting problems for a few weeks, go back and look at your notes and deal with them strategically. Common themes of frustration should emerge, such as multiple occurrences in one department, trouble on a given team, more problems on Tuesdays, more issues at 1pm, delivery problems when its raining, sales trouble at the beginning of each month, issues with particular clients, etc. etc. If you can identify and analyze common elements, it will be easier to pinpoint what has to change. From there, you can develop some standard procedures to deal with those issues.
Once you have cultivated this skill within yourself, you can then teach this skill to everyone in your organization. Get them to track their frustrations. Get them to see what isn’t working. Meet with them regularly to get them thinking about a system that could fix the underlying problem, and then hold them accountable for developing that system. Just imagine what your business could achieve if everyone, at every level of the business, could solve one frustration every month. Just one a month!
Without this shift in thinking, you can expect your frustrations to keep popping up again and again. Remember: every frustration you have in your business is due to the lack of an effective system. With this perspective, you might discover that sometimes you need more sales. And sometimes, you’ll discover that what you really need is a solution to a much larger issue.
One of the critical instruments in any transaction, whether between a vendor and a customer, an employer and employee or even two private parties, is the basic contract agreement. For some business owners however, the basic contract agreement isn’t so basic.
Some feel that using a contract is an unnecessary inconvenience. Some feel it could actually cause them to lose an account or agreement. Others fear committing themselves to a poorly written contract or one that is not legally accurate.
When you get down to the heart of it, a contract is simply “an agreement or understanding between two or more entities to perform services.” It provides, above all else, communication and clarity of accountabilities for the parties involved. It establishes a basis for trusting that each will carry out the terms of the agreement.
Until fairly recently it has been the domain of attorneys and legal departments to draft and write up contracts. However, with the advent of authoring software and legal forms websites, this task has been made simpler, less expensive and more readily available to the small business owner. Here are some pointers to help you write a clear, carefully-worded contract if you choose to create your own.
One of the fundamental keys to a solid contract agreement is to be certain of what you want to achieve and what each party is obligated to do. The danger with boilerplate contract templates and authoring software, however, is that a business owner may be tempted to make do with anything that “looks right.” Unless you can have that template or standard contract form reviewed by an attorney it is usually not a safe bet. Which leads us to another question: Do you always have to have an attorney involved?
The reason you create a contract agreement is to produce something that will clarify and communicate terms and accountabilites in a given transaction. You will often get better results with some degree of legal review than you can obtain without it. What are those results? Review of the use of certain terms, potential liabilities, and the elimination of clauses that might violate standing law. Does this mean that you have to employ your attorney to draft every contract agreement from scratch? No. And you probably can’t afford the time and expense associated with that anyway. However, having an attorney look over the contents of any contract is always a wise move. And it may be that your attorney already has a template for the type of contract you need.
In addition to basic legal templates available with many word processing programs, and legal authoring software, many online contract services are available. These services typically use what is known as rule-based document assembly systems. This simply means the service utilizes a database of alternative clauses that are assembled based on the input from the user and the built-in logic function of the program. Other online alternatives include a wide variety of legal document services that vary in cost and quality. The key here is to be discerning and cautious. Reading reviews of these sites and services, as well as seeking advice from trusted colleagues, is always a good idea before committing yourself to using a generic contract agreement form.
Depending on the complexity and extent of your contract agreement needs, it is certainly possible to draft your own. Although there are many types of contract agreements, there are essential steps that can be summed in these five components:
The ultimate goal of a contract agreement is to communicate with clarity the intent and accountabilites for all parties involved. Having a well-written contract does not negate the importance and power of a verbal agreement and a handshake. On the contrary, a written contract serves to permanently and clearly articulate that spoken promise. A proper and effective contract agreement is key to sealing a deal successfully.
As with any business leadership skill, developing contract agreements is learned in the doing. Knowing the fundamentals before committing to any contract form is essential for achieving your objectives while preserving relationships with customers or clients, vendors or employees.
Owning and operating a business isn’t something that one undertakes lightly. It requires a huge leap of faith. It’s both exciting to live your entrepreneurial dream, and at the same time scary because there's no guarantee you'll succeed.
As the leader of your business, you’re the one with the ultimate accountability for the business’ success. That is a heavy responsibility to bear.
When you get into business, you make two significant and serious leadership commitments:
For many of us, it's easier to focus on the commitments we make to others than to those we make to ourselves. We can't stress enough however, how important it is to honor the commitment you've made to yourself.
If you’re feeling as though you’ve lost touch with your own motivation and commitment; consider what James Kouzes and Barry Posner said in their book, The Leadership Challenge:
Leadership is an art, a performing art. And in the art of leadership, the artist’s instrument is the self. The mastery of the art of leadership comes with the mastery of the self. Ultimately, leadership development is a process of self-development. The quest for leadership is first an inner quest to discover who you are. Through self-development comes the confidence needed to lead. Self-confidence is really awareness of and faith in your own powers. These powers become clear and strong only as you work to identify and develop them.
Knowing yourself well—really and truly well—is central to your ability to lead and to realize the commitment you made to making your business dream a reality. Self-knowledge will give you the insight, the strength and the confidence you need to lead because to lead others, you must first lead yourself. And to lead yourself, you must know yourself.
It may come across with a bit of a "new age" or "self help" spin, but the truth is that the role of the leader is the role of the self. Think about it. The word “leader” carries no connotation of the work or tasks involved, like the words “plumber” or “programmer,” “teacher” or “engineer,” or even “manager” do. Rather, “leader” evokes personal qualities like vision, strength, integrity, honesty, confidence—or whatever your particular definition is.
So if leadership is about the person, and not about the work, to become a powerful leader you must work on yourself as a person. You need to know yourself, and continually develop yourself to be more and more of the person you want to be.
Often, under the pressure to do right by others, you end up ignoring that first and vitally important commitment: the one you made to yourself. Many small business owners cite “not letting others down” as the main reason for persevering in a barely surviving business long after it’s stopped giving them the personal satisfaction or the financial rewards they wanted for themselves. Don’t let it get to that point for you.
Remember to honor the commitment you made to yourself when you started your business. The commitment to create an extraordinary business. The commitment to lead your company to success with clarity, purpose and enthusiasm. If you feel lost, take a look in the mirror and re-acquaint yourself with the entrepreneur, the business owner, and the leader who got you where you are today. They may need some nurturing, some support, some guidance, but they're there.
Leadership the E-Myth Way
Emotions and the Business Leader
Delegate, Rejuvenate & Create
Sometimes, working on yourself is the hardest thing to commit to. Leadership skills aren't necessarily something you're born with, but they can most certainly be learned. We invite you to join us September 16 & 17 in the beautiful Sonoma wine country at our Leadership Intensive Seminar where you'll rejuvenate your entrepreneurial spirit and learn techniques to strengthen your leadership skills with the guidance of an expert E-Myth facilitator.
Did you know that your chances of obtaining business financing can increase by more than 250% if you have good business credit? The problem for many business owners is that they think that just because they're in business, they're automatically building the good business history required to get credit. Not necessarily so.
This week we invited E-Myth business partner Trent Lee to join us for a discussion about financing your business. Lee's company, Corporate Credit Concepts, specializes in helping business owners and entrepreneurs smartly obtain lines of cash credit to launch, operate and grow their businesses.
Unlike personal credit that typically builds as we go about our normal lives—paying our credit card and other bills on time—business credit doesn't happen on its own. You may be in business, but that's no guarantee that you have a business credit history. Bottom line: you have to take an active role in establishing your business credit. The benefits are numerous: having a solid business credit history helps you obtain short and long-term financing and can help you turn your business into a valuable (and transferable) asset.
Podcast: Financing Your Business
If you need help incorporating or building good business credit, click here for a complimentary business credit consultation and to obtain our free e-Book, "Unlimited Business Financing—Without a Personal Guarantee”—a step-by-step process for building a business credit asset.
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