Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

I get asked a lot where I come up with some of my ideas. I typically answer that question by saying: “Everywhere.” I look for ways to improve my areas of responsibility from ideas that I see everywhere else. It doesn’t matter what type of business you’re in, there are common things that you do that others do in other industries. For example, if you package products and ship them via mail, how do other companies that ship products via the mail handle the same issue? Chances are you aren’t the first person to encounter a given issue. In fact, someone has probably already figured out how to automate it. But, unless you know where to look and what to look for, you might not know it’s out there.  Look around when you go into stores, factories, businesses, etc. Let your curiosity run free. Make note of the things that they do that are automated or utilize machinery. Evaluate how they do things that are similar to what you and your team do.  Is their way better than your way?  Is it more automated than yours?  Ask to speak to the store manager.

You might want to start with introducing yourself, explaining what you do and why you want to ask some questions. That way, he or she won’t think you are competition trying to steal ideas. Ask how they handled the same task before the automation. Why did they automate? How much has the automation saved them? Who came up with the idea to automate it?

The bottom line is, you don’t necessarily have to invent something yourself to become more efficient or to improve. More than likely, there are already different ways to accomplish the same result.

Consider joining a business group or club that consists of leaders of other companies and/or industries within your area. These groups typically meet once a month and have a speaker or a discussion topic.  This is a great way to not only see some fresh ideas from others, but to network with other leaders who may be looking for fresh and bright ideas within their own areas. Most industries have something similar to this. Engineers and automation technicians do this a lot. Automating something isn’t industry-or business-specific. Almost anything can be automated with time or money. The Engineers and automation technicians commonly share best ideas among each other. 

Another area that we tend to overlook for ideas on how to improve is our own front-line employees. They are the ones doing it day in and day out and trust me; they know what needs to be improved. This is the best place to start. They might give you a very good idea of what needs to be improved upon, and possibly the solution to your problem. If that is the case, make sure the employee gets as much credit as possible for the idea. That will provide incentive for others to start looking for other ways to improve.

 

 

Thank You Day

What am I going to do today? I'm not sure, but because of so many men and women who have served to protect the greatest country in the world, many who made the ultimate sacrifice with their life, I am free to choose whatever I want to do.  Most of them I had never met and they had no idea who I am.  It's not because of me I get to choose, it's because of them. 

To every veteran, I say Thank You!  Thank You for giving me and my family the opportunity to choose.  Thank You for giving us the peace of mind when we go to bed and the sense of security when we wake up each day.  Thank You for freedom to say what's on my mind and most of all Thank You for the privilege to protect my own family.  Thank You for allowing these freedoms to everyone in this country.

Although it's just one day a year that has been designated to remember all that have served, a day doesn't go by without me enjoying my freedom.  Therefore, everyday deserves to be "Thank You Day".

I hope you have a blessed Memorial Day and "Thank You Day", no matter who you are or where you are in this world.  Freedom is a wonderful thing, but unfortunately, it isn't free.  I say Thank You from the bottom of my heart. 

What's Significant to You?

I spent this last weekend in Galveston Texas on a family reunion. On my wife's side (the Russell family) they get together every two years to celebrate their Russell heritage. My father-in-law, Tom, has three brothers, Al, Bob and Bill. Each of the four brothers take turn hosting the family reunion, since each live in different cities. This year it was the eldest brother, Al's turn. Living in Houston, Al arranged for the reunion to be on Galveston Island, just about an hour south of Houston.

The accommodations were very nice. We rented two, 2 story houses to accommodate everyone, only about 3 blocks from the Gulf. Each house had a large covered porch for enjoying the gulf breezes. Our family stayed on the 2nd floor, which had a very nice view.

No matter which brother is the host for the event, there is always time set aside for reminiscing about growing up. The history of the Russell family goes back many years.

When their mother (Annabel Russell) passed away in 2005, the brothers divided up her possessions among the family. Some belonged to Annabel and some belonged to their father Wade's mother, Annie Lee Spain, who was born August 26, 1882. Everyone knew Annie Lee as “Granny”. Granny passed away on October 14, 1970.

Tom brought something to share with the family that he apparently discovered in his attic. He found a small, paper notebook titled “Hogarth” Drawing Tablet. It’s what appears to be an art class project of Granny’s dated November 2, 1895. It contained penciled drawings of small animals, a calendar, and other simple sketches. This is the first true “artifact” that I have seen from Granny herself. Until now, I had only heard about things through conversations at the reunions.

My 17 year old daughter, Mandy, found this piece simply amazing! Not because of its incredible art work or its amazing quality, but merely because it was 100 years older than her. She was born in 1995. The fact that she was holding something in her hand that was created by an ancestor of hers over a century ago is what astonished her.

This reminds me that you never really know how something you do or say can impact others, either intended to or not. And, you may never even know about the impact that it had. What might seem trivial and not important to you might be significant to others, even someone that you have never met. You never know the impact that you could have. This is not only true in your personal life but also true in your business.

Reflect back on the mentors in your life and consider the impacts that they had.  What did they do in particular that had an impact on you? What are some things that you have done that could have an affirmative impact on others?  What's significant to you?

Supreme Court give you FUD'S?

Man-o-man, did my twitter feeds, Facebook and email explode lately! Shortly after the Supreme Court issued its ruling on the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare), the flood gates were opened. According to the comments, the Supreme Court is either awesome or awful. Today they made either the best decision or the worst decision in the history of decision making. (Ok, I have large diverse group of friends and followers). There were no middle of the road comments; they were heavily weighted to one side or the other. Everyone will be saved or the world is coming to an end. I suspect that many of you probably experienced similar situations.

So how much time did you spend listening, watching and having conversations about the Supreme Court’s decision today? How much time do you think your employees spent discussing the same issue? Whether you agree or disagree with the decision, not much is going to change immediately. Matter of fact, it will probably be 2014 or later before you see any impact from it. A lot can change between now and then. This is what I refer to as FUD’S; or Fears, Uncertainties, Doubts and Suspicions. You get distracted and lose focus on your business and spend time worrying about what “could” happen in the future. Don't let your fears and emotions get the best of you. Stay focused and stay in touch with your customers. They may be experiencing their own set of FUD’s at this time as well. If they see you paying attention to them and their needs and not sweating the things that you can’t control at this point, they may be more relaxed and less stressed about it.

Spend the next 30 days focusing on what you do best! Spend time planning, setting new goals and focusing on what is important for you and your business. If you do just that, at the end of these 30 days, you will be so impressed with what you accomplished, your FUD’s will have an entirely different look about them.

Don't dwell on the Supreme Court decision; focus on your mental state. You can't control their decision, you can control your mindset!

Why Keep Doing What You Don’t Like Doing... and Don't Do Well

Business owner, as your virtual business coach, I formally give you permission to stop doing tasks you dislike doing... and probably stink at doing. Most people wouldn't think this was necessary but both of us know better. Entrepreneurs around the world are caught in a vicious, habitual cycle of doing tasks and roles they dislike and that annoy them, frustrate them, and drain them.

Instead of focusing on their strengths and unique talents (which they do well and which energizes them), most owners persistent in handling the stuff they stink at doing. Why? They don't know better options and because nobody in their world provides them with tough-love coaching and challenges them on the insanity of doing tasks they dislike and don't do well. We'll change that here and now!

So here comes some in-your-face coaching. As a business owner, what do you stink at doing? That's right, let's get a bit negative and real honest to make some progress in your focus, effectiveness and results. What roles or tasks do you truly stink at? What are the things you don't do well? That you dislike doing? What activities drain your energy? What tasks do you routinely tackle at your company that go against your natural talents and abilities? Make a quick list of what you stink at doing. Got it? Good.

If you are like most of my business clients when they first come to me, you probably have dozens of low-value tasks and clutter you painfully and/or incompetently handle each and every day. You just tough it out. Why? Again, because of your habits and limiting beliefs, you know of no other way. Many of these low-value tasks you did at the start of your company and you simply failed to pass them on to others or stop doing them as your company grew. Put simply, your business evolved but your tasks and roles did not.

Odds are, like most owners, you seldom question the importance of the tasks you routinely do and seldom evaluate how wisely you spend your valuable time. Most likely, you just instinctively dive in and start doing. Therefore, you rarely reflect on, prioritize and make adjustments to the countless tasks you handle each and every day...most of them by the way are a true waste of your time, talents and energy. Sadly, you continue to do the wrong type of work. Stop the insanity!

Look carefully at the answers your wrote down on your "Tasks I Stink at Doing" list. If you aren't good at doing these tasks and don't like doing these tasks, why on earth do them? Seriously, are you nuts? Aren't you the owner? Why put up with this approach?

If you have no employees, why not finally hire someone to delegate to or at least outsource some of these tasks to third parties. If you have employees already, aren't there others in the company who could do these tasks better than you, who would enjoy them more than you, and who can do them at cheaper hourly rates than you? Most likely yes! Then give those tasks up. Let go. Dare to change your ways and challenge your habits and assumptions.

Do me a favor. For each task you wrote down on your list, write next to it YOUR COMMITMENT going forward to either drastically DIMINISH, DELETE, DELEGATE or DELAY that task. I know "delay" is a cop out, but if you delay long enough, odds are you will realize that certain tasks are not even necessary or important.

A key part of business coaching is to get owners to do what they do best and shed the rest. To focus on those tasks and roles (unique strengths and abilities) that energize you, excite you, and that you do extremely well, almost effortlessly. Unless you stop focusing on your weaknesses, you can't leverage your strengths.

As the owner, it's time to stop doing the wrong type of work and start doing the right kind of work. Instead of being so eager to do lots of things, be just as eager to drastically DIMINISH, DELETE, DELEGATE, or DELAY those tasks and roles you stink at doing. That will be a great start for better productivity, focus, results, and sanity.

Personal Accountability

Accepting accountability for your actions is a must for moving up the career ladder or growing your business. I realize that we all get busy and we let things distract us or get us off track for our goals. These can consist of simple things such as e-mails, phone calls, voice mails, memos, someone dropping by to ask a question, an assignment that doesn’t go as planned, or even newly added “to do” items on your list. These are all external factors that we have a lot of control over. I call them “walk-by’s.” We allow them to become distractions to our goals and our plans. How we handle the distractions and how we get back on track is what is important. Don’t think that these “walk-by’s” will go away, because they won’t.

Actually, they will probably get more frequent the higher you move up the corporate ladder or as your business grows. How to manage them is what you need to learn. It all comes down to evaluating your to-do’s and your distractions each day and comparing them to your goals. You should be constantly reviewing your goals each day and evaluating whether your distractions are pushing you off course. You can’t afford to review them weekly or monthly. What you will find out is that you have veered so far off course that it will take some extra effort to get back on track. You should also evaluate the distractions and determine if you should be the one handling them. Can someone else handle these issues and get the same results? If so, delegate them or refer the “walk-by” to someone else instead of taking it on personally.

Have you ever been backpacking? If so, have you ever used a compass and a trail map or perhaps a GPS? You have to stop several times during the day and check your compass direction and compare it to your trail map to verify that you are still on course. If you only checked it once or twice a day and you were veering off course, each hour that you traveled would make it more difficult to get back on course once you determined that you were off course. It’s easier to make small adjustments more frequently than one large modification late in the process. Frequent validations are so important in staying on course. It’s the same way in marine navigation as well. Personal goals and business goals aren’t any different. Develop a constant validation process to make sure you stay on track. Another aspect of personal accountability is that of responsibility. Personal responsibility is accepting all of your actions, regardless of whether they resulted in a success or an opportunity. We all step up to the plate to take credit for successes, but we have a tendency to come up with excuses or rationalizing why something didn’t go too well. It is very disappointing to see so many people not take responsibility for their decisions when something doesn’t go as planned. You commonly hear “My manager approved it,” or “It wasn’t my decision to do it.” Or better yet, no one even steps up to the plate to say anything, hoping that someone else will take responsibility for it. Excuses seem to become the distraction all of a sudden, instead of root-cause analysis and then a problem-solving plan of action. It’s easy to want to blame someone else for those actions but in reality, just acknowledge and accept what was a result of your actions, be willing to work on the solution, and move forward. Those of influence are looking for you to accept it, correct it, and advance. In most instances, they aren’t looking to fire someone over the event (although that has been known to happen when excuses start to fly). You have to take and accept responsibility for your actions if you want to be successful. You learn from your mistakes, and accepting accountability for them communicates to others that you take responsibility for your actions. As a result, you will actually make better decisions in the future. You have to start by admitting your mistakes and then follow-up by taking responsibility for them. Those who admit their mistakes and take responsibility for them are strongly viewed as keeping the best interest of the company in mind. This is a great attribute of a strong leader.

Business Coaching & The Change Process

Losing weight should be easy...right? After all, one simply needs to eat less calories and exercise more. What is complicated about that basic information? Nothing! Then it should be fairly easy and straightforward to get lean and stay that way. Wrong! Nearly all of us, out of first-hand experience, know that it's not that easy to lose weight and then maintain our ideal weight. After all, estimates show that over 70% of Americans are overweight. Why?

Weight challenges can't be due mainly to a lack of information...most everyone knows and accepts they should eat less calories and exercise more. The problem is not that we don't know what to do, the problem is that we don't do what we know we should. Knowing something and doing something are worlds apart. Very often, we interfere with our own wishes. There are usually internal issues (sabotaging beliefs, self image, stress, habits, routines, boredom, personal problems, emotional wounds, etc.) that cause us to overeat or abuse food. Until we deal with these internal issues (causes), it is extremely difficult to get our weight under control (effects).

The same thing can be said for most business owners. We know what we should be doing to have more successful businesses, we just don't get around to doing it. Our ineffective mindsets, habits, fears, time wasters, and sabotaging behaviors get in our way. Our internal world sabotages our external desires. We interfere with our own success. Like folks wanting to lose weight, most business owners lack a structured, disciplined and on-going process for positive and sustained change. We have the desire for change, but not a proven change process. We remain stuck and in a rut. That's where The Growth Coach can help.

Like weight loss, running a business doesn't have to be overly complicated...we owners just seem to enjoy making it so. To have a successful business, we simply need to serve customers well and produce greater revenue than our expenses. While that sounds easy, we know it's not. Like weight loss, running a successful business is less about knowledge and more about applied knowledge...doing what we know we should do. The difference between an intention and real action is the difference between failure and success. Thinking about changing something in your business or life is useless without actually doing something about it. You need a proven change process to help you get the results you want. The Growth Coach provides that proven and guaranteed process.

Millions of individuals get help with their weight loss each year...they need an on-going coaching and accountability system to make internal changes (causes) necessary to achieve their desired external changes (effects). They leverage a proven change process. Furthermore, the on-going accountability helps keep them honest and on track to achieve the positive change they seek. There is no shame in getting help with weight loss.

The same thing is true about getting business coaching help for your business. There should be no shame. Very few owners have the required self-honesty, discipline and structure to go about improving themselves, their businesses, and their lives. They lack a proven change process. The Growth Coach provides that! As such, every business owner needs and deserves a business coach to help make change happen. A proven coaching process to help them face reality, develop clarity of direction, create a focused action plan, and receive on-going accountability to make sure things get implemented. Again, there should be no shame in getting help. In fact, asking for help is a sign of strength and self confidence. After all, without a structured and on-going process for positive and sustained change, very little will ever change. Why settle for so much less?

You say you can make the internal changes (mindsets, habits, beliefs, etc.) on your own. Maybe...but doubtful. If you could have made positive changes on your own, odds are you would have done so already. Stop deceiving yourself. Most owners are too close to their own situation to see the truth. They have blind spots. They are trapped by old strategies and practices. They play denial. They bank on a strategy of hope. Please understand, you need professional coaching to help you close the gap between where you are now and where you want to be. A business coach is an objective catalyst to help you face reality and determine what is and what is not working in your business and life. Then a business coach helps hold your feet to the fire with an accountability process to ensure you make the changes you want.

Do you want positive changes in your life and business? Then let go of your ego. Instead of insisting that you have all the answers (no business owner ever does), be open to the possibility that you may have some ineffective mindsets, beliefs, habits, knowledge, and assumptions holding back your success.

There is no shame in getting a business coach...the most successful entrepreneurs do. As well, most successful athletes have a coach. Why wouldn't you?