The following two articles are the first in a series of ten articles that we are pleased to provide based on the book, Your Business Or Your Life: 8 Steps For Getting All You Want Out Of BOTH, by David Shepherd. Mr. Shepherd will be presenting his "8 Steps" Seminar on November 2nd for WBCS and NAWBO members for a special price of $99. Call (817) 299-0566 for details.
ARTICLE #1
Introduction
Most entrepreneurs start their businesses with the expectation of building a better life for themselves and for their families. They want to be able to set their own goals and look only to themselves for their attainment. They will not accept ceilings, glass or otherwise.
And goals in the early stages of a business are often simple and clear. In the beginning, it may be just you and your kitchen table, and job number one is pretty clear: Sell something, anything! The second sale doubles the first and growth momentarily seems like the least of your problems. Enthusiasm and optimism reign. There is a sense of momentum generated by the growing demands placed on your time. Merely being busy can be interpreted as a measure of success.
But small businesses have a way of quickly becoming complex after this initial honeymoon period, and the complexities can overwhelm even the best of managers. With new sales come new customers and with new customers come new problems. To solve these problems, we often hire additional people, who bring untold additional paperwork, tax filings, management issues…and their own set of additional problems. To accommodate these new people, we need more space and equipment…and why is there never enough cash!
The focus we had initially—on sales—starts to blur. We are forced to spend more of our time on things we don’t fully understand like accounting, purchasing, operations, marketing, finance, and technology. Yet neither do we have the resources to hire experts in all of these areas, so by definition, we—the founder—end up spending more time on what we do poorly, and less time on what we do well. As our workload increases, our efficiency decreases, compounding the problem. This doesn’t sound like a prescription for success—does it?
Like the double helix of a DNA molecule, when life and work are working smoothly, both halves would be equal and intertwined. But for those who are running their own business, the separation between life and work has probably grown wider than you would like to admit. And since the work half tends to impose more deadlines, we often give it preference and think the life half can wait. But it can’t. Every minute we invest in work, is one less we have for life—unless we can find a way to link the two together, so that life supports work, and work supports life.
What are your goals in life? Do you remember? Have they changed with the years? And most importantly, is your life as an entrepreneur contributing to, or distracting from your chances of achieving those goals? Answer honestly.
One reason people sometimes become more modest in their goals as they get older, or perhaps lose touch with them completely, is that they feel they don’t have enough time…or they don’t have enough money. And therein lies the promise of the 8 Steps; they are designed to increase the cash flow of your business—almost immediately—and to provide a process by which you can link that improved cash flow to the attainment of your personal lifetime goals. And if you’re not sure what those are…the 8 Steps will help there as well.
Big goals can be powerful at any age. In the words of singer Tom Petty, “Don’t back down!” This is not a book about setting goals. This is not a book intentionally designed to motivate you. Books like that exist by the thousands. This is a book designed to provide specific tools to help you improve your business model (simple, efficient, and profitable), and to visualize and attain the greatest dreams in your life. All steps follow the philosophy of less is more. The 8 Steps do not complicate, but rather simplify your business—and your life.
In the next article we’ll get started by making some minor—and perhaps major—changes, because for “things” to change, you are going to have to be willing to change.
ARTICLE #2
Step 1: Preparing For Change
Allow me to offer my congratulations to you for having survived as a small business owner or manager. That’s the hard part! Once you have learned to survive, you can learn to thrive. That’s the easy part! But I would go further than that and say not only can you thrive (by following the 8 Steps), but that you must thrive! Without making constant changes to your business, you are either stuck, or going to get stuck.
But constant change is not easy. Human nature doesn’t like change. Abraham Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs reminds us that we will fight hard for the essentials of life, such as food and shelter. But, we will risk less and less for the things we really want, once we reach a point of comfort…a point of merely surviving. If you want to achieve your Big Dreams (the part of the hierarchy that Maslow describes as “Self Actualization” and “Transcendence,”) you will have to force yourself to change…today, tomorrow and forever.
The only two circumstances under which we will take the risks necessary to change are when our present situation becomes intolerable or our dreams of the future become irresistible. The interesting thing is that both of these variables—our present situation and our future goals—are completely subjective. You could, for example, define your goal as “the ability to pay my bills,” in which case a given income level would suffice. That level would be tolerable.
But, that same income level would be completely intolerable if you subjectively changed your goal to include “saving for my child’s college education and a second home for the family.” This should provide ample warning that the “comfort zone” will seek to have you lower your goals, not raise them. Like that little devil so many movies picture as sitting on our shoulders talking to us, it is saying “be comfortable…don’t seek fulfillment—that’s too uncomfortable!”
You must learn to welcome discomfort, to accept it as a sign that you’re breaking free of something that wasn’t working well for you. Peter Drucker, perhaps the most influential management author of the 20th century, goes so far as to say that the essential, “if not the only” role of the business leader, is to lead change. He makes it clear that the failure to do so, will lead to…failure! Period.
To keep your business moving and growing (you should concern yourself only with growth of the bottom line, not the top line), you do not have to introduce huge, radical changes. In fact, while big changes are sometimes necessary, small changes are actually preferable. Small changes accumulate to make huge differences.
Your challenge is to introduce a culture of constant change into your company. Small changes become “small wins,” which provides a sense of growth and confidence. Small changes prevent us from getting stuck.
LLG, a CPA firm in Northbrook, Illinois, took change a bit further than most, but did so in small increments. Bit by bit, they converted their drab professional offices into a wonderland of furniture on wheels! Where others had Oriental rugs, they had a miniature golf course. Instead of works of art in the lobby, they had an abacus. And oh yes, since the changes began, they have doubled client referrals and tripled net income.
Turn-around consultants are notorious for making small, but visible changes their first day on the job. They may paint out reserved parking spaces, or tear up some old carpet, or paint a wall. All of this is part of the psychology that things are getting ready to change! One business owner replaced a wall clock that hadn’t worked in years. By noon, his employees were speculating that he was getting ready to sell the company!
That’s okay. It’s good to add a little spice to your workforce. That’s what change is all about. Why don’t you become your own best turn-around consultant today and make some small changes. Challenge your employees to come up with their own ideas.
Henry David Thoreau said that “things don’t change; we change.” It’s true. Nothing is going to change for the positive in your business until you change. The remaining steps in this book can have a dramatic effect on your business—and your life—but only if you actually do something with them, and that will require some change.
In the next article, the first change will be one of the most powerful to quickly simplify your life, and improve the profitability of your business.
David Shepherd, (MBA, author and speaker), offers his 8 Steps workshops nationwide. You may order his book by calling 1-800-218-4056. To find out about upcoming events in your area, or learn about his annual Life Planning Retreat in Cancun, Mexico, please visit his Web site at www.8steps.net, or send an e-mail to info@8steps.net and request information.
Read the next issue of "Mind Your Business" (November 2001) for the next 2 steps on getting what you want out of your business and your life.
Copywrited - David Shepherd 2001. All Rights Reserved
Reprinted with the expressed permission of David Shepherd.
