More Free Time Zone

I know you often focus on goals that you can easily see when they’re achieved. Things like: lose weight, stop smoking, plan a vacation.  These are marvelous things to enjoy. Yet, I wonder: Do you apply the same degree of planning to the ‘big picture’ concepts, the kind that don’t often come up in conversation?  Concepts like: What do you want for yourself, personally? How do you imagine your life’s ‘theme’?   How do you shift gears after a years of traveling a comfortable, well-known path?

If you’ve reached a fork in the road, perhaps resulting from the wisdom of age or the results of a challenging economy, answering those questions can help. They can direct a lifetime of small decisions, making sure you follow your own compass toward a destination of personal fulfillment, pride and success (however you choose to define that word).

Here’s an example.  About 20 years ago, I walked away from a truly great job to begin my first entrepreneurial venture.  In the months after that change, I noticed a tremendous Read more…

Why does everyone want you to ‘take your business to the next level’? What does that mean? It surely means something to the writer and probably means something to you but who knows if you’re on the same level in understanding?

I dislike that phrase, as I dislike all cliches used to encourage a sale without understanding the real benefit to the prospect. Does the marketer behind these messages know what level you’re at now? Does s/he know if you’ve just arrived at a challenging level and you’re exploring how to expand its effectiveness? Or maybe you just want to enjoy what you’ve achieved and coast for a while (by the way – that’s perfectly o.k.; sometimes you want to maintain the status quo to discover all its facets or just feel sure you can handle that new level before moving up again). And nirvana: What if you’ve reached the level of business ownership you consider heaven and hope it never changes?

The point is, this kind of marketing message is encouraging you to act before you think; Read more…

A leader uses time effectively when advancing big picture priorities and using resources – team, funds, relationships, or tools – to help with everything else. When a leader under-uses those assets and instead, handles the little tasks, s/he’s not serving business, s/he’s serving insecurity or fear that’s soothed by turning to the comfortable, known details. And the result? You – boss! – end up missing the one-time-only opportunities that might have permanently curbed those fears.

No doubt, trying a new direction or tool for your business can be unnerving. And if you don’t have a team of advisors, a mentor or coach to support you, you’ve got another power house asset that’ll take care of this. I’m talking about your attitude and how it guides your behavior every day.

Just think: how often do you get side-tracked from your own priorities because you start to second guess your plans or your ability to follow through? Do you take a little vacation into the maze of Facebook? What happens when a colleague’s story of defeat in an endeavor similar to your own creeps over your plans? Do you become paralyzed with inaction? Or you get wrapped up in other people’s emergencies and, let’s face it, their nonsense; there goes your positive attitude! And there goes your carefully scheduled day to move forward and just like that, tomorrow’s ‘to do’ list will have yesterday’s plans still on it.

Questioning your own priorities and letting them get hijacked will end in frustration. That emotion will reinforce your suspicion: “I can’t do this”. The more that happens, the more your dream of the ideal life from a great business will slip away. Try this small, low-tech experiment; it’ll give you a ‘reality check’ to see how well your attitude guides you each day: Read more…

Do you remember your first days in high school? You were moving into a new level of interacting with kids who were nearly adults (or thought they were). You were trying to adjust to a new level of behavior, different kinds of interactions. This happens in your business too as it shifts from new venture to established enterprise. Stay aware of dynamic changes in the role you play in the developing business; at first, it’s all about the product or service you’re bringing into the world. Then things change; you need to establish process, policies and document them all for the benefit of consistency with your team and your customers’ experience. Then things shift again: it’s all about the totality of the business – its reputation, alliances, people, relationships. Your only product is now the business itself.

This is the classic set of leaps described by Micheal Gerber in ‘The E-Myth Revisited.’ If you can’t make the shift from birthing a product to birthing a business, it may be time to consider engaging a CEO who can focus on the vision while you focus on the operations. A business can’t survive and thrive with only a product. The whole context – the business in which that product is developed and sold, the environment which creates the brand recognized by your marketplace, and the values that define you – becomes critical. If you’re all about ‘the great idea’ and not the home in which the great idea is nurtured and launched, it’s time to move on to the next one.

However, if you’re up for the challenge there’s one key ingredient you must have to make this work every time: your mindset. Read more…