Business Education

Entrepreneurs — Post-Pandemic, This One Single Word will Become Your most Powerful Tool

Just one word can serve as your most powerful ally in a coming post-pandemic business world. It’s actually one of the shortest words in the English language, but wields an incredible amount of influence. It’s a single syllable that can save you from a lot of trouble, and even one that can help you realize a profit. This magical word? It’s “no,” and it will be very difficult to utter in the coming months.

Why “No” will Become Absolutely Necessary

Risk is inherent in entrepreneurship, and that’s why it’s so difficult to turn things down. Business owners realize when they do not seize upon a seeming opportunity, they ostensibly lose out in one way or another. Call it FOMO or fear of missing out. Call it pride or even stubbornness. Whatever it is, there’s an impulse to accept things as they come.

It’s easy to say yes and hard to say no. Anyone who has children knows how effortless it is for kids to learn the word ‘no.’ They love to say it—all the time! So, it’s curious that as we get older, the word ‘no’ becomes a distant memory and ‘yes’ is the order of the day. This is especially true if you are a people pleaser. Let’s face it, deep down we all want to be liked. For an entrepreneur, learning to say no is crucial because it can mean the difference between success and failure. —Forbes

This isn’t to say it’s necessary or even smarter to avoid risk, but rather, to measure it on a case-by-case basis. And in a time when you’re in a position to help others out in their time of need, it will be extra tempting to accept rather than pass. This can easily become detrimental to your business in a very short period of time. So, it’s critical that you learn or relearn how to say “no.”

How to Say “No”

The real problem with saying “no” is that you’re not saying “yes.” If you think about it for a moment, that becomes fairly profound. In other words, “yes” carries a positive connotation, while its antonym is, understandably negative. But, that doesn’t mean that saying “no” can’t have a positive income. Here’s how to say “no,” when you impulsively want to say the opposite:

Suggest alternatives. Instead of just posing an objection and leaving it at that, suggest alternative scenarios. It will help you to feel a sense of usefulness and even a sense of accomplishment, perhaps pride. This way, you’re offering solutions rather than shutting the other person out.
Explain your reasoning. Although we’ve all heard the phrase “No is a complete sentence,” in many instances, it’s just not enough. So, take a moment to explain why you’re saying “No thanks,” and don’t belabor the point(s). After all, if you do prolong the situation, you’re opening yourself up to self-doubt.
Don’t rationalize your decision.This goes right along with the last point. If you begin to rationalize, you’ll send yourself out on a path to going the opposite way to “yes.” And, that defeats the entire purpose of saying “no” in the first place.

What other suggestions would you add? Please share your thoughts and experience by commenting!

Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.

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3 Sure-Fire Ways to Exhaust and Infuriate Good Employees

August 5, 2020 No Comments

No manager or business owner sets out to sabotage their employees. But, that’s sometimes the end result, brought on by a number of different behaviors. For instance, it’s well known that holding unnecessary meetings is a great way to agitate and irk team members. After all, they know superfluousness when they’re unwillingly subjected to it. So, it only serves to bother and anger people. But, that’s not the only way entrepreneurs and managers alike aggravate and annoy employees, there are others. Employees’ Needs are Important Your employees’ needs must be met in order for them to respect you. That doesn’t mean giving them everything they want. But, it does mean treating them the same way you’d want to be treated if you were in their shoes. For instance, unclear communication. Being unclear is just as bad as being unkind. Without clarity, you’re not providing ample direction and that is a real source of frustration for your employees. Toxic company culture often starts at the top in the active bad behavior of a senior leader or by those who have supervisory responsibilities. To get the root of the problem follow the toxicity wherever it leads because people don’t leave companies, they leave managers. —Entrepreneur.com Conversely, there’s also such a thing as providing too much detail. It’s the true-life version of drinking from a fire hose. You’re providing way too much information to process. This inevitably results in bewilderment and/or confusion. Unsurprisingly, employees don’t really understand the overall picture because you’re losing them in the minutia. 3 Sure-Fire Ways to Exhaust and Infuriate Good Employees Although the above examples are ways to run down employee morale, three other behaviors will outright cause them to sour. Here are the three ways that entrepreneurs and managers effectively ruin their teams: Micromanaging. This is probably the most hated and counterproductive managerial trait of them all. By not giving people their independence and autonomy, you are disrespecting them. Plus, this stifles them intellectually and creatively. Moreover, it results in feeling unappreciated and resentment builds. In short, there’s nothing good that comes from micromanaging. Making too many changes. While change can be a good thing, and sometimes it’s absolutely necessary, too many changes will only cause chaos. Employees will lose track of what is acceptable and what’s not and will eventually fail to recall the latest policies and procedures and even goals. Being indecisive and too emotional. When you lead with enthusiasm and vision, that’s a great way to get your team members excited. But, If you lead by raw emotion only and worse yet, can’t make a decision at critical moments, you’ve clearly demonstrated your not cut out for a role in leadership. Yes, there will be difficult decisions and times when emotions will run high or low, but you have to stay calm and avoid rash decisions. Or, failing to make any decisions whatsoever. What other managerial behaviors do you think irritate and/or undermine employees? Please share your thoughts and experiences by commenting! Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.

The Entrepreneurs Guide to Vacationing

May 5, 2017 No Comments

If there’s one thing that successful entrepreneurs possess, it’s drive. The drive to start a business on a small scale and grow it to larger and larger proportions. The drive to make improvements and to learn from mistakes. The drive to encourage employees, professional associates, and friends to do their best and deliver on their promises. The drive to drive at practically everything, especially toward new goals. It’s hitting the brakes which often doesn’t come naturally. Though the idea of relaxing on a beach, hitting the ski slopes, or visiting a new destination might be intriguing and tempting, all can easily fall short because you won’t actually enjoy your vacation. Instead, you’ll be checking your smartphone and/or tablet, and might even phone-in now and again just to see what’s going on, and of course, to provide your sage advice. How to Take a Vacation from Your Business and Make It Work Why you ought to be concerned about your business while you’re away, you have to establish and respect some boundaries. It’s very difficult to put aside your business passion, but such a thing is absolutely necessary; and, it’s also quite healthy in more ways than one. While the human species is built, in-part, for work, it is also limited as to what it can handle. These are the reasons we feel tired after a day at work and why entertainment has risen to such a popular level for escape. Giving yourself permission to walk away from your company can be difficult. But if you can’t do it for yourself, do it for your staff: When you take vacation time, you’re setting a good example. —Entrepreneur.com Of course, such an escape can not only come from sports, books, television, and the like, but also from vacation. Some business owners actually go on vacation and never really leave their businesses, which is the definition of waste. When you consider the fact that someone would make plans, pay for travel and lodging, along with other expenses and not truly enjoy their time off, it makes the whole affair more costly and more unhealthy. I had a partner, in a previous business, who one time proclaimed with some sense of pride and peppered with a bit hint of martyr … “I HAVEN’T TAKEN A DAY OFF IN 5 YEARS”. Needless-to-say, he was and is a very hard worker, but reports from his remaining staff say the environment is like a “Salt Mine”! Everyone needs a break from work and that certainly includes business owners. When you start and build a company, it’s only natural to want to stay the course and keep your hands on the wheel. After all, the business wouldn’t exist without you and it wouldn’t be able to grow if you weren’t there. Though it might be difficult to take time off, it’s necessary and there are things you can do to take a vacation from your business and make the most of it: Have an action plan in-place. This isn’t a plan for you, but those who stay behind to run the business. It seems that Murphy’s Law takes effect the moment you aren’t present, so, have at least one contingency plan but don’t make it complicated. It should be easy to follow and simple. Know that you’ve invested in the right people. Your employees were likely hand-picked by you and this is a great time to see how well you chose your team members. Of course, there’s probably one who is a natural leader and who knows the business well to leave in-charge while you’re away. Disconnect from the day-to-day. You might check-in very briefly on a weekly basis, and that’s acceptable; but don’t give into the temptation of running your business from a distance. In our time, technology allows us to connect at any time and share information in moments. Those moments are just too precious and you need to disconnect. Put your family first. Okay, so your conscience is telling you that you work too much, too long, and don’t spend enough time with your family but you don’t change. This is the time when you can spend quality time and create wonderful memories. I have a client who hired my company in 2011 to help his retail business during the rough economic recession. He said that he was at his limit, and was ready to “throw in the towel”. Besides helping this client to recover, improve sales, cash flow, moral and pay down past debt and taxes, our Client wanted more time off with his family and vacations. The time off and vacations appeared to be a distant goal given the carnage left from simply trying to survive the recession, but we developed a strategy and took action weekly to clear up the past taxes and debt while helping him pursue his goal of time off and vacations. In 2013 he took time off and this motivated him to do it again. In 2014, our Client planned a family vacation for the summer. So, we helped our Client plan out and detail the specific and critical business metrics that needed to be managed by each of his team while he was gone. My Client reviewed this plan and his expectations on the metrics and operations protocol (i.e. Leads, Sales, Cash Receipts per Day, Deliveries, Installations, Service, and how to handle emergencies) with his Team. When he returned from his vacation, I asked; “how was your vacation and how did your team handle your being away for 10 days?” His response, “this was one of the best family vacations I’ve had in a long, long time, and there were very few issues while I was gone … I am looking forward to doing it again”. My Client took another week in Montana in the fall of that year, and 2014 ended up a record year in sales all while he built a team that will continue to allow him more vacations and time off

Why Too Much Business is Bad for Business

May 24, 2017 No Comments

We all know that a business without much business, that is sales, usually sails slowly into the abyss. In some scenarios, a lack of sales starts a fantastic slide into oblivion quickly, causing the organization to grind to an abrupt halt. Regardless if it’s a slow bleed to death or a rapid demise, the end results are the same. This is what most first-time entrepreneurs know and fear, which is why they put all their resources into an astonishing effort in a race to success. While this scenario is certainly common and there are countless examples of companies wanting to dissolution, there’s another situation which can manifest and cause the same outcome — too much business. Why Too Much Business is Bad for Business Sure, it’s paradoxical, but nonetheless true: too much business, too many sales, is bad for business. It’s a strange phenomenon, but, it can’t be allowed to become a reality. When a business grows too fast, it runs the risk of outpacing its own abilities and that can cause customers to be shortchanged and to outpace the businesses capital resources. That’s nothing short of a disaster waiting to unleash itself, sabotaging a company from the inside. Incremental change rather than big splashy launches? Caution rather than risk? That may not sound like the profile we’ve come to associate with entrepreneurs, but it’s exactly this somewhat paradoxical mix of creativity and innovation combined with restraint, regulation and caution that is driving the next phase of [the country’s] business growth. The culture of prudence that has sometimes led [the country] to be seen as an economic lightweight has, in these tough economic times, proven to be our greatest asset. –Ivey Buiness Journal A company can’t overreach or it will be overwhelmed. We’ve all seen the real world effects when Fortune 500 companies rush a product to market. The Sony Betamax, New Coke, the Apple Newton PDA, and Facebook Home are some of the most high profile product failures. These demonstrate that not every new product will work, and, show that even large companies can make huge marketing mistakes. These major brands, though, can push through such bad experiences because they have the capital, brand recognition, and diversification. For a small to medium-sized business, this usually isn’t the case and there are real dangers in growing a company’s sales too large, too quickly because: Your team members can’t keep-up with the demand. While it’s great to see a steep increase in sales, that means having to meet the demand. If your team isn’t large enough, you’ll probably opt to squeeze more out from each employee. Quality will suffer as a result and when you sacrifice quantity for quality, you’re doing your customers and company a disservice. You rush through the hiring process. Another option you might exercise is to bring on new team members. The problem with this is, in an environment where there’s not enough hands-on-deck, you’ll have to expedite your hiring process. This can easily lead to bringing people on-board without the proper skill-set, attitude, or work ethic. So, you’ll have to suffer the pain of replacing employees and incur the expense of additional training. You need additional tools to sustain output. The tools of the trade are hugely important to providing quality work. When there’s a hurry to get things done, you might not have enough at your disposal. The remedy will probably be impulse purchases and that means heavily risking buyer’s remorse. You can’t effectively manage the company. Every successful business owner knows that it takes time to find and mentor good organizational leaders. This will become unavoidably apparent when there’s too much going on for your personal attention to all the moving parts. Your steep growth strains your cash flow and drains your capital reserves. Most successful business owners recognize the need for capital to start a business, but sometimes fail to realize that more sales requires more capital. Sometimes a business owner believes that more sales brings more revenue and that revenue will capitalize the business growth. Although a business owner can strategically manage the business cash flow and growth with sales to capitalize it, this must be balanced carefully and strategically. Think of the strategy like flying a plane. When a pilot takes off, the plane is on a steep but controlled ascend and then the pilot steadies the climb. If a pilot were to pull back for a steep climb and try to push the throttles and the jet to climb faster than the aircraft was capable, the pilot would burn too much fuel, create too much force and the potential risk of having the plane stall. This is similar with a business owner who pushes too many sales too fast, business runs out of cash and it stalls leaving the business to nose dive. Yet another unpleasant consequence of increasing sales beyond capacity is that you’ll have trouble responding to customer needs. If anyone is going to recognize this shortfall immediately, it will be your customers. This is why incremental growth is a sound policy. It allows you to identify gaps, learn from your small mistakes, and, to adapt at a realistic rate. Want to find out about what a business coach can do for you? [shareaholic app=”follow_buttons” id=”26833294″]