Extraordinary Business: Taking the Long View

Charles Du Bois, Literary Critic said, “The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.”

Right now, your business might be struggling; bills are late, vendors are charging more for less product, customers are starting to spend, but not to the level you need them to.  You are getting more deals, but they aren’t as profitable as they once were.  The challenge this week: make payroll., or your employees are going to start to look for something else.

Then someone sends you an email that starts with, “Happy Thursday!”

Hmmmm…where could this mental catastrophe go?  Well, you could become completely immersed in the problems of the day and of the moment, keeping your head to the grindstone, firing employees, cutting back on marketing and slashing costs everywhere.  The problem is that you could liken this to readying a book, and basing the whole book on the chapter you are on.

What if, instead, you took the long view?  What if, instead of putting all of your energy into the problems (attitudes) of the moment, you started looking down the road toward the destination?  What if when you address the problems of right now, you addressed them with respect to where you want to go.

Here’s an example: if you were traveling down the highway toward a specific destination, and the highway ahead is blocked, do you sit there in traffic and wait it out, or do you try to find another way around?  If you blow a tire, or have engine trouble, do you stay stuck on the side of the road, or do you make arrangements to have the car repaired?  Did you have the foresight to have resources to rent another vehicle so that you could continue on your destination?

Panicking or operating from survival mode is not sustainable.  It is not a place where you can operate from for an extended period of time.  Sure – there will be major fires, there will be problems, but there are always solutions.  There are always other perspectives.  There will always be a way to get around the traffic or fix the car.  What you must do, is you must keep the long view in mind.

Extraordinary Leaders run Extraordinary Businesses.

Aepiphanni Business Consulting: The Business Strategy People is a Strategy Consulting Firm dedicated to serving the needs of small to medium sized business leaders and executives. We specialize in helping leaders create extraordinary businesses.  We welcome clients in the personal and professional services industries, including Creative and Design Services, Software & IT Services, Professional Services and Healthcare Services.  As always, we welcome your comments, thoughts, questions and suggestions.  If you are seeking a business assessment, or have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at info@aepiphanni.com.

posted by Rick Meekins, Principal Advisor @ 10:37 AM

Extraordinary Business: The People

Did you ever see a big tough guy moving something large, like a sofa or a washing machine by himself?  Remember watching him struggle with it, if only a little.  Then, when he was ready to set it down, he couldn’t quite set it down as quietly as he might have liked, or when negotiating a doorway, he wasn’t as smooth as it could have been had he been working with another person.

Businesses are like that, as well.  There are lots and lots of business leaders out there that believe day in and day out that they can handle it all by themselves.  They’ll tell you that they can make more money like that they need control of the organization, and that they are the only ones that can do what they do the way that they do.

Have you ever seen a big tough guy…yeah, he is usually strong enough to do it by himself, but does he truly do it better by himself, or would it be better to have someone open the door for him, or help him set it down, or tell him about obstacles in his path, or someone to simply help him carry the load so that they can go further, together.  It’s like multi-tasking.  You work with every intention of getting several things done at once, but how successful are you, really, at getting more done, versus focusing, completely, on one thing for a fixed period of time.

Leaders, you need to realize that you can go further with another than you could ever go by yourself.  I am not talking about joint ventures, although they are helpful.  I am not talking about having your teenager work with you, periodically.  I am talking about working with someone who shares your vision and your excitement.  I am talking about working as a team, with a team that is qualified, shares your core values, “gets” the business mission, vision and values, and is willing to do whatever it takes to live it every day.

Does it take time to find those people?  Donald Trump will tell you in a heartbeat – hire slowly and fire fast.  He is probably saying that the organization can be no stronger than its weakest link.  He is probably saying that one person can make breach the hull of your business and sink the whole ship.  He is also saying that each member of your team is brought onto the team in order to help it accomplish more than it could without that person being on board.  It actually doesn’t work any other way.

Your people are your most valuable asset.  Whether they are your leadership team, your administrative, production, or whomever, they are going to be the ones that make or break your organization.  In order to separate your organization from those the rest of the organization, ensure that you are putting the proper energies into hiring, managing and developing your talent.

Go the extra mile.  Be extraordinary.

Aepiphanni Business Solutions is a Strategy Consulting Firm dedicated to serving the needs of business leaders and executives. We specialize in helping people get into business, and stay there.  We welcome clients in the personal and professional services industries, including restaurants, catering and event planning.  As always, we welcome your comments, thoughts, questions and suggestions.  If you are seeking a business assessment, or have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at info@aepiphanni.com.

Labels: Business Decisions, Business Growth Strategies, Business Planning, Business Process, Employees, Extraordinary, Extraordinary Business, Extraordinary Leadership, Leadership Effectiveness, Management and Leadership, Strategic Planning

posted by Rick Meekins, Principal Advisor @ 10:17 AM

Extraordinary Business: Plan for Growth

When your business grows quickly, things don't "naturally fall into place" like you might hope or think.  Many businesses actually go out of business as a result of growing too fast and not having the infrastructure to support it.  The way to avoid some (and I do mean some) of the surprises that go along with growth is to have modeling and a process that will help you see and address some of the obstacles.

When we do strategic planning with businesses, the first thing that we do  is to help them determine what they would like to do over any given timeframe.  That could be to earn a certain amount of money, get to a certain plateau in their business or even sell the business and get a certain amount of profit as a result.  No matter what it looks like, we have to begin with the end in mind in order to begin to map out what steps will be required to get there.

Often, the goals that our clients have is to grow, exponentially, over a certain time period, which, inevitably, requires changes in the infrastructure.  For example, if you are a "solo-preneur" or a one-person shop, suddenly, accounting, marketing, research and other tasks become overwhelming as people begin to ask for more of your time.  You suddenly faced with the need to get some help, possibly without the spare brainpower to determine what the best course of action to take would be.  Do you hire a bookkeeping firm, a bookkeeper or an intern?  What are the things that only you can do, and what could you possibly hire a Virtual Assistant to do?  Do you have a sales strategy that will allow you to constantly add new clients, wherein you can even make these decisions?

Getting from point "a" to point "b" will require a bit of a road map, however, you must also consider the capacity of your vehicle.  Running full steam at an extended period of time will cause you to crash.  There is no "maybe," "might," or "possibly."  It will happen.  Therefore, you must know your capacities.  How much work can you get done over the course of a day?  At current strength, multiplying this out through the course of a year, will you reach your goals?  What do you need to add to it in order to reach those goals?

The other piece of the puzzle is capability.  When you begin your journey, you are pumped and ready to go.  You are able to keep the organization aligned, your customers appreciate the business.  You have the capability to do a great job.  How do you maintain that?  How do you ensure that the last customer will have the same great experience as the first?  How do you ensure that as the company grows, you are able to maintain that experience, the same product quality, the same delivery experience, as you offered in the beginning?  These questions, too, must be answered, and in a way that is consistent with your brand.

None of these things naturally fall into place.  Don’t wait until you are in the growth phase to begin planning.  Run the business as if you expect it to grow. 

Growth takes work and planning.  Knowing the needs your business will have at any phase of its growth is imperative to the long-term success of the business, and your personal fulfillment with what you do for a living.

Separate from the pack; Lead an Extraordinary Business.

Aepiphanni Business Consulting: The Business Strategy People is a Strategy Consulting Firm dedicated to serving the needs of small to medium sized business leaders and executives. We specialize in helping leaders create extraordinary businesses.  We welcome clients in the personal and professional services industries, including Creative and Design Services, Software & IT Services, Professional Services and Healthcare Services.  As always, we welcome your comments, thoughts, questions and suggestions.  If you are seeking a business assessment, or have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at info@aepiphanni.com.

Labels: Business Decisions, Business Growth Strategies, Business Planning, Business Strategy, Extraordinary, Extraordinary Business, Extraordinary Leadership, Goals, Management and Leadership, Small Business Consulting, Strategic Planning, Vision

posted by Rick Meekins, Principal Advisor @ 11:56 AM

Extraordinary Business: Keep Moving Forward

Sometimes, we have those days when you can’t help but look around you and say to yourself, “This is ridicules!!” The funny thing is, in fact, that it probably is.  So many things happen that are outside the realm of our control that we cannot possibly plan for every scenario!

There’s an Aepiphanni for you.  LOL!

At this point, the easiest thing to do, especially as a young (new) entrepreneur, is to throw in the towel and go find a job.  There, you’ll probably get a nice paycheck, maybe even benefits, a set work schedule, predictable work to do and at least a lower level of responsibility.  You have to ask yourself, though, what are you missing?

Businesses, as a whole, go through the same ebbs and flows you go through, as a business leader.  The health of the business is always at risk.  Maybe it’s financial, maybe it’s your product or service, maybe it is customer or employee retention, maybe it is something else altogether.  It is the nature of business.

In either case, realize that these things happen.  That’s reality.  That is what gives your business life.  That’s what makes it grow strong and leave a mark in the industry.  It isn’t how the business handles things when things are going well that makes a different.  It is how the business continues to move forward when things get rough.

As the business leader, it is your responsibility to buckle down and keep things moving forward.  Recognize that you cannot control the situation.  Gather information, gather your people (advisors) around you.  Seek out the root cause of whatever the situation is, and make a plan to move forward.  Even if it is a temporary plan, do something, realizing that most situations don’t resolve themselves.

Be extraordinary.  Run an extraordinary business.

Aepiphanni Business Consulting: The Business Strategy People is a Strategy Consulting Firm dedicated to serving the needs of small to medium sized business leaders and executives. We specialize in helping leaders create extraordinary businesses.  We welcome clients in the personal and professional services industries, including Creative and Design Services, Software & IT Services, Professional Services and Healthcare Services.  As always, we welcome your comments, thoughts, questions and suggestions.  If you are seeking a business assessment, or have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at info@aepiphanni.com.

Labels: Attitude, Business Decisions, Business Growth Strategies, Business Planning, Business Strategy, Chaos, Extraordinary, Extraordinary Business, Extraordinary Leadership, Leadership Effectiveness, Management and Leadership, Recession Buster

posted by Rick Meekins, Principal Advisor @ 12:00 PM

Extraordinary Business: Do the Right Thing

As I was sitting at a traffic light, this morning, someone got out of their car, ran up to mine and secured the gas cap and door on my truck.  Later, I saw someone pull off the road and into the grass to help someone change a tire.  Acts of kindness do not go unnoticed.  As a matter of fact, while people might tell a lot of people about the thing you messed up, they are likely to remember the kind act for a very long time.

As a business leader, your business probably has a lot of opportunities to do the right thing.  That could look like serving the community, developing a mentoring or leadership program, connecting with other local businesses for networking and mastermind groups, etc.  Doing the right thing means that you aren’t doing these things for your benefit, but rather, doing them because they are the right thing to do.

Isn’t it easy to act the way everyone else does, operate your business the way everyone else does and to slip a few things through, so to speak, the way every other business does?  I guarantee you that whatever gains you make as a result will be only temporary.  Keep in mind: money is only a tool.  We work to live, we should be focused on living to work.  Extraordinary leaders have balance in their lives.  They don’t just sit in the parking lot of their lives, watching it happen from afar.  They take the leadership role and make things happen.  Extraordinary leaders run extraordinary businesses.

Be an Extraordinary Leader.  Do the Right Thing.

Aepiphanni Business Consulting: The Business Strategy People is a Strategy Consulting Firm dedicated to serving the needs of small to medium sized business leaders and executives. We specialize in helping leaders create extraordinary businesses.  We welcome clients in the personal and professional services industries, including Creative and Design Services, Software & IT Services, Professional Services and Healthcare Services.  As always, we welcome your comments, thoughts, questions and suggestions.  If you are seeking a business assessment, or have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at info@aepiphanni.com.

Labels: Attitude, Business Decisions, Business Path, Business Planning, Business Strategy, Ethics, Extraordinary, Extraordinary Business, Extraordinary Leadership, Sales, Sales Strategies

posted by Rick Meekins, Principal Advisor @ 10:27 AM