Want Your Business to Grow? Complete One Material Action Per Day!

When you are running a small business, it is really easy to get distracted. Firstly, your own CEO job most likely has a lot of different tasks, from chief strategist to chief bottle washer. Secondly, your team makes many demands on your time, mostly to help point them in the right direction on their projects. And, thirdly, it’s just too easy to get sucked into the random inbound contacts that come into your email box or through social media.

All I can say to you entrepreneurs who are “floating in the wind” of poor time management is: unless you are doing at least one material thing each day to move your business forward towards new revenue or profit heights, you are never going to grow your business as quickly as you could. Allow me to explain.

What is a material action?

To me, a material action is something that has meaningful revenue or profit implications from its output. On the revenue side, it could be things like launching a new marketing campaign, or making a new sales call, or ideating a new product line, or expanding into a new target-customer or geographic market, or hiring a new salesperson, or negotiating business merger opportunities, etc. Anything that will drive new revenues.

On the profit side, it could be things like cutting your cost structure, or improving your business efficiency. Or, it could be improving your company morale and productivity, or similar tasks. Anything that will drive higher margins for your business.

What is not a material action?

On the flip side, there are a lot of demands on your time that you think may be important, but just are not a material action, as defined above. This could be things like producing your monthly financial statements, or posting to your social media accounts, or writing a new monthly email newsletter. Or, it could be managing your ad agency, or doing one-on-one meetings with your direct reports, or running payroll checks, or upgrading your systems, or relocating your home office, etc. Yes, these are important tasks that need to get done. But, none are going to propel your business to the next level.

Budget more time for more material action.

I bet if you did a critical assessment of how you are spending each of your working hours, most of you are spending the vast majority of your time, if not all of your time, on “less material” action. To me, if you are not spending at least 20 percent of each day on “material actions” you will not have a reasonable chance to grow your revenues and propel your business to the next level.

So, it is important that you actually carve out “material action” time into your daily schedules. For example, maybe you block out 8-to-10 am each day for you to think and act strategically and materially about your business. Note that I intentionally did not suggest 3-to-5 pm each day, when you are most likely tired and not doing your best thinking.

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A case study: Part one, the good.

We recently acquired a business in February 2018. At the time, they were doing around $2.5 million in annual revenues. Within four months of acquiring the business, our annualized revenue run rate had doubled to over $5 million. How did we do that? We focused on material actions to drive the business forward. We quadrupled our marketing budget and hired a new ad agency; we launched an SEO effort, opened new sales and marketing channels, expanded our sales team, grew our margins, etc. Our focus was on driving revenues as quickly as we could, and our time was firmly focused on making those material actions happen.

Case study: Part two, the bad.

To continue the story above, with the increase in revenues came an increase in time demanded for “less material” projects in months that followed. We learned our customer relationship management (CRM) platform could not handle the extra volume, and we needed to upgrade to a different CRM, a decision that needed to be researched. We learned our product information on the website was out of date and needed to be updated. Our product offering needed to be fine-tuned, to make the business more scalable.

Moreover, our ad agency suggested we make some technology changes, which resulted in some unexpected hiccups and fixing time required. To double our staff, we reviewed hundreds of resumes and held dozens of interviews. Sometimes those hires worked out, and other times they did not, spinning our wheels right back to where we started. Quickly, the time I had to focus on “material” projects, started to get consumed by “less material” projects. And, guess what happened: sales growth started to slow down!

Hand off less material work to others. 

I get it, small businesses are typically undercapitalized and don’t necessarily have the luxury of large teams of staff to help leverage your workload. But, even in small businesses, you need to figure out how to keep yourself moving the business forward with “material” projects.

Where you can, hand off the “less material” work. Let your bookkeeper produce monthly financial statements. Let your head of marketing manage your ad agency. Let your head of technology review various systems needed. Take yourself out of those processed, at least until the busy work is done, and then you can review the final output in each area. Don’t let the “less material” work get in the way of you having the time required to drive the business forward by completing material work.

Executives in small businesses are typically very busy people, wearing many different hats at the same time. The real challenge you will have is making sure that 100 percent of your time is not consumed by “less material” projects. You need the discipline of: (i) knowing what projects have the highest odds of moving your revenue or profit growth to the next level (which is an art of its own); and (ii) making sure that time slotted to work on “material” projects is actually getting used to get it done. Remember the scene in the Pixar movie “Up”, where the dog kept getting distracted by squirrels running by? The “less material” work that you find yourself doing are your “squirrels," distracting you from where your focus needs to be.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com
Image Credit: Busakorn Pongparnit | Getty Images

ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Stay Connected with WNFP!

6 Ways to Hold Yourself Accountable and Crush Your Goals This Year

I've been on a networking mission as of late. In an effort to create a free online community for entrepreneurs and business owners, I have been speaking to as many people as possible through in-person meetups, social media and other various online communication.

Entrepreneurs have to motivate and support their team, while holding them accountable, in order to be successful. But, what about when it comes to holding ourselves accountable? This is one topic that came up often -- and one that I discussed in detail with a handful of entrepreneurs. Those discussions led to this list of six ways to hold yourself accountable, which can help you crush your goals.

1. Write everything down

This is one thing that I take to the extreme simply because I am a very visual person. Writing down everything, from to-do lists to short and long-term goals, just works for me. I like to see them constantly, which allows me to focus on each one.

I write my daily to-do lists on multiple sticky notes and place them all over my monitor, and as I complete them, I take them off and toss them in the trash. Those bright colored sticky notes stare me in the face, and my goal is to rid my monitor of them as quickly as possible every day.

Derek Jansen, who founded Grad Coach, writes down both short-term and long-term goals in a journal. He says, "I like to create a plan to reach every goal, which are all part of my big picture plan. Having them in writing and constantly looking at them results in me obsessing over them and working hard to make sure each one is accomplished."

Like Jansen, my goals are written down -- they are on a large whiteboard that hangs above my standing desk. It's literally impossible for me not to constantly look at them -- they stare me in the face while I work.

2. Identify your personal mission statement

I have a very simple mission statement: Live life to the fullest, work relentlessly to create amazing companies and brands and give selflessly.

"Your personal mission statement doesn't have to be a long-winded statement. It simply needs to define you as a person and define what it is that you are working toward each and every day," says Xie Zhuopeng, CEO of IoT Chain.

Zhuopeng's definition of what a mission statement needs to be is spot-on. Using mine as an example, it explains who I am and what I get out of bed every morning for. Recite it in your head every morning or print it out and hang it in your office. When your mission statement fuels your fire, you know that you have found the right passions and path.

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3. Reward your accomplishments and milestones

I used to never take vacations -- I would work nonstop with very little breaks. It was so unhealthy and had a negative impact on my heath and overall happiness. Once I came to terms with the fact that it was not only fine to take vacations, but actually beneficial, I started to use accomplishments and milestones as indications of when I would take off and unplug to recharge.

Frank Grimes, President of The Associates Home Loan of Florida feels that this approach almost forces you to get away for a much-needed recharge. "It's very easy to make an excuse and say that you will take a longer vacation next year, but it's important to step away occasionally to regroup and just relax. Rewarding myself with a vacation to my favorite destination every year helps me reach personal goals, while also feeling like the time off is well-deserved," he says.

I too have a favorite destination, and that's Hawaii. For me, it's the perfect setting -- the beach, the vibe and the activities -- and I always return fully recharged and full of new ideas.

4. Create micro-goals

Micro-goals are responsible for several successful brand launches that I have been a part of. When you identify several smaller goals, and commit to hitting each one, it keeps you accountable in terms of the overall success of the end goal.

When we launched an ecommerce brand in a week, it was a result of a well thought out plan that had several micro-goals we needed to knock out of the park -- manufacturer, branding, website, logistics, financial goals, marketing plan and the launch. Without the smaller goals identified we would never have gone to launch in a week's time.

5. Review your performance

As an entrepreneur, it's important that you are brutally honest with yourself. In the end, it's you that is responsible for your success or failure. I'm constantly reviewing my own performance, and I'm not afraid to tell myself when my performance is not up to par.

If you really want to be held accountable, constantly keep yourself in check. "As a business owner, if you start to slack, and your sales slow and business is down, there isn't anyone to blame but yourself. A business owner that blames others is destined to fail, because he or she would rather point fingers rather than review their own performance," says Ozer Taysun, of Westchase Roofing Services, a business he founded ten years ago.

Taysun is correct -- blaming someone else is an excuse that unsuccessful entrepreneurs makes. If your personal performance is suffering, own up to it and commit to making a change. If you don't review your performance, who will?

6. Seek feedback from your team

I just talked about reviewing your own performance above, and it's very effective -- as long as you are honest with yourself. If you want completely unbiased feedback, ask your team.

You might be thinking, "Employees won't be completely honest with their feedback because they don't want to get fired," but that won't apply to most businesses, provided you have nurtured a strong company culture within their business.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com
Image Credit: Caiaimage/Tom Merton | Getty Images

ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Stay Connected with WNFP!

The 7-Step Formula for Goal Setting

Goal orientation is a way of thinking practiced by optimists and all successful people. In future orientation, you first develop a clear, ideal picture of what you want to accomplish sometime in the future. With goal orientation, you crystallize that image into specific, measurable, detailed goals and objectives you’ll need to accomplish to achieve that ideal future vision.

Successful people develop the habits of personal strategic planning. They sit down and make a list of exactly what they want to accomplish in the short, medium, and long term. They then use a powerful, seven-part goal-setting methodology to create blueprints and plans of action that they follow every day.

Once you develop the habit of setting goals and making plans to accomplish them, it will become as natural for you as breathing. By following a proven goal-setting process, you’ll increase the likelihood of achieving your goals by as much as ten times, by 1,000 percent or more. This isn’t just a theory; it has been proved and demonstrated repeatedly by almost every person who practices it.

In February 2003, USA Today reported on a study of people who had set New Year’s resolutions the year before. They found that only 4 percent of the people who had made New Year’s resolutions, but had not put them in writing, had followed through on them. But 46 percent of those people who had written down their New Year’s resolutions carried them out. This is a difference in success rates of more than 1,100 percent!

The seven-step formula

Many formulas and recipes exist for goal setting. As a rule, “any plan is better than no plan at all.” Here is one of the best and most effective goal-setting plans or formulas you will ever learn.

Step one: Decide exactly what you want in a certain area, and write it down clear­ly, in detail. Make the goal measurable and specific.

Step two: Set a deadline for achieving the goal. If it’s a large goal, break it down into smaller parts and set subdeadlines.

Step three: Make a list of everything you’ll have to do to achieve this goal. As you think of new items, add them to your list until it’s complete.

Step four: Organize your list of action steps into a plan. A plan is a list of activities organized on the basis of two elements, priority and sequence.

In organizing by priorities, you determine the most important things you can possibly do on your list to achieve your goal. The 80/20 rule applies: 20 percent of the things you do will account for 80 percent of your results. If you don’t set clear priorities, you’ll “major in minors” and spend much of your time on small and irrelevant tasks that don’t help you achieve your goal.

In organizing by sequence, you determine what must be done before something else can be done. You create a checklist. There are always activities that are dependent upon other activities being completed in advance. What are they, and what is the logical order or sequence of completion?

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Step five: Identify the obstacles or limitations that might hold you back from achieving your goal, both in the situation and within yourself. Ask yourself, “Why have I not achieved this goal already?”

Identify the most important constraint or limitation that’s holding you back, and then focus on removing that limiting factor. It could be a certain amount of money or a key resource. It could be an additional skill or habit you need. It could be additional information you require. It could be the help or assistance of one or more people. Whatever it is, identify it clearly and go to work to eliminate it.

Step six: Once you’ve determined your goal, developed your plan, and identi­fied your major obstacle, immediately take action of some kind toward achieving your goal. Step out in faith. Do the first thing that comes to mind. But do something to start moving toward your most important goal.

Step seven: Do at least one thing every day that moves you toward your most important goal. Make a habit of getting up each morning, planning your day and then doing something, anything, that moves you at least one step closer to what’s most important to you.

The habit of doing something every single day that moves you toward an important goal develops within you the power of momentum. Daily action deepens your belief that the goal is achievable and activates the law of attraction. As a result, you begin moving faster and faster toward your goal, and your goal begins moving faster and faster toward you.

I’ve spoken to people all over the world, for many years, who’ve told me that the habit of acting every day on one or more of their major goals has been life-transforming. They’ve told me that this single habit has been more responsible for their success than any other idea they ever learned. Try it for yourself and see.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com
Image Credit: julief514 | Getty Images

ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Stay Connected with WNFP!

Do You Need a Goal for Your Startup?

When you start your company, it helps to have a goal in mind.

It seems obvious. Isn’t the goal to make money?

However, you need something a little more if you want your company to succeed — especially if you want to succeed in the way you hope.

Before you move forward, it’s a good idea to consider your expectations for your company.

What’s the End Game for Your Company?

As you start your company, look forward to the end game.

What are your plans for the end game? Some potential endgames include:

• Setting up the business to run on systems so it can support you
• Being acquired by a bigger player
• Passing the company on to your posterity
• Growing into a self-sustaining behemoth
• These are just some of the endgames for you to consider. However, it’s important to understand the goal.

If you’re most interested in being a solopreneur with a lifestyle business that provides you with freedom and flexibility, your approach to your company will be different from someone who wants to create the next major corporate player.

Figuring out your startup goals is an important part of moving forward so that you end up with the success you want.

Create a Plan for Your New Business

As you start your company, lay out a business plan that reflects your startup goals. If you know you want to be acquired, the steps you take to build your marketing plan, grow your business, and move forward will be very specific.

You’ll want to research growing areas and identify companies that are potentially interested in expanding into those areas. Be the best in your niche, growing your business in a way that means that a larger company who wants to get into that area finds it easier to just acquire you rather than compete with you.

On the other hand, if you want to preserve your company for your posterity, and you hope that it will become a legacy company, you’ll take different steps to grow your company, put systems into place, and groom your children and grandchildren to take things over.

There are different approaches based on the purpose of your company and what you see as your exit strategy.

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Know Your Purpose Now

Understanding your purpose now, as you start your company, can help you get ready for what’s next. It can also help you better make decisions about the best course of action for your company.

Even though there are some things any business owner needs to do in order to succeed, the reality is that you might want to make specific tweaks, based on your desired end game. Research the trajectory of companies that have successfully done what you want to do — and adapt your own startup plan to match what they’ve done.

Understanding your startup goals is a big part of your long-term success. Carefully think about what you hope to accomplish with your business, how (and if) you plan to exit your business, and what steps you need to take to make your dream a reality.

Source: https://smallbiztrends.com

Image Credit: Due.com

ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Stay Connected with WNFP!

How Many Goals Do You Need?

It's generally accepted that Jim Collins coined the phrase "Big Hairy Audacious Goal" or, as it's touted in meetings all around the world today, the "BHAG." 

Entrepreneurs love these because the goal is usually easy to state and, most of the time, is short on direction.

"Do $5 million in sales" might be the BHAG in question, but, once stated, a lot of small business owners won't take the time to flesh out the roadmap to that goal.  It sits there, on a piece of paper, quietly making its way to the bottom of the pile. 

For most owners, the BHAG and any related strategies and goals might start off cohesive and, as the ditch gets deeper, ideas and reality tend to separate.  Everybody likes glittering generalities, but most owners lack the patience for fine detail.

You guessed it - forty years of working with small businesses has shown me how creating a series of cohesive goals can be two things - a powerful way to focus your business' energy or a complete waste of time.  For starters, building any business has to start with four key parts - the Dream, Vision, Purpose, and Mission and within those lie every goal your company will ever need to meet - the big ones, the small ones, and every one in between.  Design your business from the ground up with the goals you want to achieve!  Some, of course, may be understated, others, like a video game your kids play, have to have certain stages attained before they can be accomplished, but the seeds for your company's goals all lie in the structure that you build long before the doors ever opened. 

At the same times, a company's ability to achieve a goal is based on the habits you embrace - can you meet deadlines?  Are the ethical standards of the company top-tier?  Is customer service the best in the industry?

All these reap rewards and allow you, as the entrepreneur, to leverage those habits into the goals you've set from day one.  While you absolutely need goals in your business - they were why you opened the doors in the first place - there are other, smaller pieces of the puzzle that you need to always seek to do and, as you gain experience, establish as a part of the overall system of the job and the business.

Understand what needs to be done.  Every day, there is something that requires your attention - not to run the business, but to refine the business.  Perhaps it is a specific marketing initiative that will take time to launch, perhaps it's simply hiring the bookkeeper.  Either way, working on the business is at least as important as working in the business (As I've said for many years).  Make it a habit to do it everyday AND to always know what the end goals are.

Know there are only three answers to any question.  Yes, No and Maybe are all the answers you can get out of most questions and questions are really just another way of stating the challenges that your company will face.  If you find yourself worrying about the course your company is taking, understand what each scenario means and craft a strategy to handle them.  Even better?  Having a plan can give you the confidence to keep moving forward and focus on "real" challenges - growing the enterprise.

Don't be afraid to reach out.  No matter how successful you are, you still need to have mentorship.  Professional athletes still have coaches, why is it odd or strange to think that you don't need a mentor or a coach to help guide you through tough decisions and challenges?  You're reading this article for a reason - to learn new ideas and ways to grow your company.  Acknowledge that there are people who can help to guide you through the pitfalls of building your business and seek their advice.

These could all be seen as goals, but the smarter way to look at any goal is to make sure that the basis for creating a goal is designed into the business itself.  If you want to change the world of painless dentistry, so be it - but open your practice with that goal in mind:  how you will do it, one office at a time and how you will use your first office as the prototype for all the offices to come. 

Yes, it IS a BHAG, but the seeds to the success of that goal lie in the every process and action you take from day one.

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Source: https://www.inc.com
Image Credit: Getty Images


ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Stay Connected with WNFP!

WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN THE SMALL BUSINESS EXCHANGE PROGRAM

As a sole-entrepreneur, I am convinced that every entrepreneur should join a group of their peers to help them grow their business.

If you are an entrepreneur seeking to surround yourself with individual who understand the challenges, strengths and weakness of running a business. The Westchester Networking for Professionals Small Business Exchange Program is for you.

Are you familiar with the term “MasterMind Group”?

The Small Business Exchange Program is an online interactive meeting for solo-entrepreneurs, the same format as a mastermind group.  If you’re not familiar with the term, it’s a small group of individuals aiming for a similar target, who come together to mentor, solve problems, give input and advise to help each other reach that target.

The target of the Small Business Exchange Program members is to help each other succeed in business.

Member of the group meets twice a month virtually for an hour and a half for six weeks. If you’re serious about reaching your goals for a successful business you would secure your spot for six weeks.  But you do have the option to secure your seat for one meeting.

The group will focus on 5 essentials of a successful business:

1. New client acquisitions
2. Improving business strategies
3. Marketing and promoting your business
4. Connecting you with needed resources
5. Providing help and guidance to your business.

If you analyze your business situation now, can you use help and guidance in any of these areas?

There are many benefits for you and your business when joining the Small Business Exchange Program 1) it’s an opportunity for you to let go of the feeling of working alone to reach your goals, 2) gain the advice you need to meet objectives, 3) work with you very own support team who will motivate, inspire and uplift you while running your business.

HOW DO YOU SIGN UP?

The Small Business Exchange Program is limited to 12 people. To sign up, visit Westchester Networking for Professionals events page for April 17, 2018 scheduled meeting.

ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Stay Connected with WNFP!