Aspire » 2009 » February

10 Great Ways to Sink your business!

Shawn Kinkade — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 03:01:49 +0000

photo by rs-foto

Not everyone wants to build a business that will grow. There are people that absolutely love to work really long hours, prefer doing things the hard way and have no plans to ever sell their business or leave it in any shape for anyone else.

There are business owners that enjoy hiring new people for the same positions over and over again – they hate to delegate and they will not tolerate any new ideas. Positive cash flow is for wimps and profitability isn’t at all important (which is good because they don’t have any).

If this even remotely describes you, then you will definitely want to check out the rest of this post – I’m sure you’ll pick up some tips that can further help you drive your business into the dirt!

1. Don’t waste your time on a target market!

If you’ve said it once, you’ve said it a thousand times – you sell your product or service to anyone with a pulse and a checkbook. Let all of your competitors cut back on their chances to sell by artificially creating a ‘target’ market. Why would you want to focus your efforts when the world is your oyster?

Of course your marketing doesn’t get a very good response, but when you’re selling to 1 billion people, you only need 1% of that marketplace to be rich beyond your wildest dreams. By definition, you don’t need to know where your buyers are, they’re everywhere and since they all have the common denominator of having a pulse and a checkbook all you have to do is develop benefits that people with pulses are looking for!

2. I don’t need Goals, it’s all in my head!

In my experience, the fastest way to insure success is to see where you are at the end of the year and then declare that as success. By not writing down your goals, you can maintain the flexibility you need to navigate the treacherous waters of the marketplace. By not knowing where you’re going, you are sure to get there!

Sure your employees might not all be rowing in the same direction and in fact they might often be working at total cross purposes to you and each other because they don’t know what you’re trying to do, but considering that goals and strategic planning can take HOURS to do out of the year, it’s clearly worth a lot of inefficiencies and confusion to avoid it.

3. Do not force your employees into an Org chart!

There’s some crazy theory out there that you should create organizational and accountability charts, but I haven’t seen a chart yet that could illustrate that everyone in the company is expected to do every job (all the time).

Sure it’s important to give people titles – (my cousin is the CFO even though he doesn’t know how to use a spreadsheet or understand any accounting, but it looks great on his card and it makes my aunt happy). But there’s no reason to tie responsibilities to those titles – if you make everyone responsible for getting everything done, your chances for success are going to go way up. When we have to get something done, it works best to have every one drop everything they’re doing and then it’s "All Hands on Deck!" – constant emergencies are the secret to getting things done!

4. Anyone can do any job!

I read this thing the other day about how important it is to make sure you’ve got the right people on the bus! Say what? I don’t know about you, but I’m running a business, not a travel agency and I am absolutely not going anywhere!

Do you know how hard it would be to get all of the ‘right people’ into the ‘right seats’? First I would have to define the jobs and skill sets and then I would have to evaluate my employees and make sure they’re using their strengths and doing stuff they’re good at. Sure it might improve my productivity by 80% or more, but who has the time to get all of that done? Besides, by just slapping anyone into any job, I get the chance to hire lots of new people – my turnover isn’t as high as Sprint’s, but I’m getting close!

5. Manage by the seat of your pants!

I’m a huge fan of intuition. When I’ve got a good feeling about my business, even the fact that I don’t have any money in the bank isn’t going to bother me! There’s this guy that I network with that has this ‘dashboard’ that he gets every week from his employees. I guess they’ve wasted a lot of time figuring out all of the metrics and numbers that drive his business so he can spend 1/2 hour per week and really know what’s going on with his business. (what a waste of time!).

Where’s the intuition in that? Where’s the creativity? I’ll have to ask him more about it when he gets back from his 4 weeks of vacation in Hawaii – I wonder how he was able to swing that?

6. All you need is a great Product (or Service)!

Things are going a little slowly in the sales department right now, but I know it’s just going to be a matter of time before my sales take off like a rocket! I’ve got this great product / service and I know it’s only a matter of time before my customers figure out how to buy from me.

My sales people are milling around trying to figure out how to make things happen, but that constant aimless activity – especially the cold calling – is going to be what blows the lid off this thing any day now. It’s a little odd that none of our current sales have come from those cold call efforts but I don’t need to know why or how people are buying because I have a great thing to sell. Those people that waste all of that time and money figuring out why their customers are buying (and then do more of that) just crack me up.

We’re going to stick with what we know and the customers are going to adjust to us!

7. Make up your processes as you go!

I really enjoy solving problems and when you have to get something done, it’s like solving a big problem. We need to create a proposal! We need to follow-up with the customer! We need to pay our suppliers and avoid the late fees this time!

Every one of those situations is like a new problem that we get to solve every month. What makes it really fun is that we generally end up solving it a different way almost every month. Of course the customers complain sometimes when we forget to do some things…and it does take us about a year to get new people up to speed (and then they seem to quit…), but that’s a low price to pay for the chance to solve all of those new puzzles! Every day is a long, long day of fun!

8. Make sure you touch everything personally!

I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself". Never has a truer statement been spoken. Sure you have to have employees once your business gets to a certain size, but that doesn’t mean you need to let them actually have responsibility for anything. Here’s the secret – don’t let anything go out the door without you spending a lot of time reviewing it. Hopefully you’ll find a lot of things that are done right, just not the way you’d do them and you can send them back and have them done over.

I had a boss once that had this great way of doing this. He’d tell me that he wanted a certain document and then when I gave him one of those, he’d send it back and say it was wrong – bring him a different one! He didn’t waste time telling me what was wrong! That was the beauty of it, I just got the opportunity to keep trying and hoping that I accidentally landed on what he was looking for. It was a lo
t of fun for everyone and it made everything we did take a lot longer!

9. Keep your head down and work IN your business!

The secret to getting a lot of stuff done is to work really long hours and make sure that every minute of that time is focused on the day to day emergencies and issues of the business.

Whatever you do, don’t waste your time looking at the big picture or figuring out what’s important to do or not to do. Even if you can save weeks worth of work with some simple planning and prioritizing, that couple of hours you ‘wasted’ doing that planning is totally gone – you can’t get it back. Besides that, as the owner it’s really important that you look heroic to the rest of your staff – make sure you let them know that you’re working 60 – 70 hours every week and proudly tell them that you don’t ever see that changing!

10. Never, ever get any help!

You probably don’t need this one – it’s way too obvious, but just in case, if you really want to sink your business, make sure you do it completely on your own. Whether you’ve got an MBA or just great experience from the school of hard knocks, it’s extremely unlikely that you could learn anything from anyone else. What possible use would it be to have a different perspective? Other people won’t be nearly as emotional as you are – how could they see anything you don’t already know.

Remember – it’s your business and you are the absolute expert. Whether it’s a business coach or some kind of Peer Group Advisory Board or even just some sort of ‘Mastermind’ group – all they can do is give you great advice, new ideas, support and encouragement and some accountability and focus. Who would need any of that?

What things are you doing to sink your business? I’d love to hear your comments here.

Shawn Kinkade Kansas City Business Coach

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Do you need a Professional Business Portrait?

Shawn Kinkade — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:50:37 +0000

I always used to hate picture day in grade school – you had to get dressed up (you had to stay clean) and I almost always ended up closing my eyes.

Even now, I really don’t like getting my picture taken, I’d much rather be behind the lens. I’m sure everyone feels this way about their pictures, but I always think every picture of me looks weird!

But in the age of Social Media and the internet, it’s really important that you’ve got some good pictures of yourself. There’s a reason that every Social Media profile asks for a picture and although creativity (i.e. using a picture of Elvis as your picture) can work in some situations, if you are promoting yourself and your business, you need a good professional picture of you. Read on and I’ll tell you how to get one that’s really reasonably priced!

What’s the big deal with a picture?

I’ve talked to quite a few business owners that really don’t see what the point is. In some cases, they’re concerned about privacy, in other cases they want their business to appear to be more than just a one person operation and for others, there’s just an element of not liking pictures of themselves! (That one resonates for me…).

However, in all of those cases they’re missing the point. The point is that people like to do business with people.

You may or may not have an online business, but people are going to find you online (or at least they should be finding you online – give me a call if they’re not and I can help you out). And when they find you online, they’ll be interested in your product or service, but they’ll also be interested in you.

Are you a real person? Can they relate to you in some way? Are you credible? Are you trustworthy? Do you look like you’re someone they want to do business with?

That’s a lot to ask of a picture (which is why it’s also important to share other stuff so they can get to know you…that’s also a key benefit of a blog!). However a great professional portrait can really help you generate the image you’re looking for. Use it on your web page, brochures, Social Media sites (like LinkedIn) – anywhere where you are telling people who you are and what you do.

Remember – people do business with people that they Know, Like and Trust – it’s tough to know, like and trust you if I can’t see what you look like.

So where can I get a Professional Photo at a good price?

I recently had the opportunity to work with Jim Mathis (who I met through the Leawood Chamber). Not only is Jim a great guy, but he’s a very good photographer that’s really willing to work with whatever you need.

He does all sorts of commercial photography (along with more fun stuff like art prints, photos of bands, architecture, etc.)

But one of the main things he does are straightforward business portraits that are very reasonably priced! For only $50, you can get a set of pictures taken at his studio (or at a nearby convenient location) and you’ll get the digital files within a day or two.

Here’s one of my shots from last week – I still don’t like pictures of me, but Jim did a great job!

You can reach him via his website (see link above) or you can call him at 913 269-6709. Let him know that I sent you! What picture are you using? Is it time to upgrade to a new professional shot?

Shawn Kinkade Kansas City Business Coach

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Do you need to refuel for your business?

Shawn Kinkade — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:59:17 +0000

photo by JamesDale10

There are a lot of ups and downs to being a business owner. There are times when you really appreciate the freedom and the opportunity that your business can bring you. When you truly serve your customers the way you imagined you could before the whole thing got started – it doesn’t get much better than that.

However, there are also a lot of trying times. The grind and the pressure associated with being ‘the owner’, sometimes making it up as you go and knowing that success or failure rides on your efforts and what you’re doing.

It’s during those difficult times that you need to refuel and since the plane isn’t stopping, sometimes you need to refuel during the flight.

What is refueling for you?

Refueling can be a lot of different things. At it’s simplest, it can be a brief period of time where you can vent to someone that will listen, let your hair down and just take a couple of deep breaths. Doing that once won’t help all that much, but being able to do that on a regular basis and knowing you’ve got something to look forward to can be very powerful.

Refueling can also be getting some new ideas and inspiration. Have you ever had a situation where you are just flat out stuck on an answer? Your mind gets trapped into a repeating pattern and keeps coming back to a single answer (and it’s not an answer you like). Refueling can be that fresh perspective and a different angle on the problem you’ve been chasing around the last few days.

Refueling might be getting some inspiration and support when you need it the most. Someone that reminds you that it can be done or that they’re hoping you succeed and they’re pulling for you. When you’re worn down, even when things are going well, it can be incredibly important to hear from a support group that you’re doing a great job!

Where do you refuel?

Vacations are great for refueling, but sadly most of us aren’t taking monthly (or even quarterly) vacations.

Certainly family and friends can sometimes help out (did you know that 70% of business owners use family as their primary source of advice for their business?). But it can be really difficult for family and friends to be candid (and sometimes it’s hard for them to be supportive).

I’m taking off this weekend to go to an annual Coaches meeting with the Professional Business Coaches Alliance (www.pbca.biz ). As an alliance, a big part of our charter is to collaborate and work with the other coaches around the country, so I’m looking forward to learning (and sharing) ideas on how to help clients, what’s working from a marketing perspective and just hearing stories from a lot of interesting people.

A humble suggestion…

A peer group advisory board or a Mastermind group can also be a great way to refuel. You meet regularly with other business owners (and a coach) and you have the opportunity to unload whatever you’ve been dragging around for the last week or two. You get the chance to load up on candid feedback, support from people that just genuinely want you to win and a different perspective.

If you can find the right group (or create it) it can give you the extra edge you need to get you over the hump and cruising to the next level!

What do you do to refuel? I’d love to hear other thoughts and ideas. Share them below.

Shawn Kinkade Kansas City Business Coach

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Are you leaving your business plans out in the cold?

Shawn Kinkade — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:34:11 +0000

Your business can make you feel pretty cold when you don’t where it’s going.

If you’re like most business owners, you probably have an annual sales goal for the year (maybe it’s even been written down and translated to something measurable). You may even have a longer term vision of where you’re taking your business (possibly not written down and likely not tangible or well communicated).

However where a lot of people get into trouble is the translation of those visions and goals into an actionable plan and a way to track progress. You’re likely headed in roughly the right direction, but without a more detailed foundation to work from, it becomes a guessing game to determine how well you’re doing and if you’re going to make your targets…and if those targets mean the difference between success and failure, well that can lead to a lot of chilly stress!

Goals for the year

The first step is to have a really clear, written set of goals that you want to achieve for the year. There will definitely be a financial component to the goals (revenues, profits, etc.) but there will also be other key outcomes that you’re shooting for.

Maybe you’re planning on expanding your organization and will have 3 new employees by the end of the year. Maybe you are launching 2 new products this year (and all of the effort that goes into that process). Maybe you are opening up new space or pursuing a new marketing strategy. Whatever it is, it should be clearly documented and your list of top priorities should be narrowed down to 3 to 7 major things you’re trying to do this year (less is more).

Remember the way to get things done is to keep a laser like focus – when you try to do everything, it’s likely that you will get nothing done.

Break it down to Quarterly Goals

I’ve been reading a lot things lately that support an idea that intuitively matches my experiences. People can’t focus for more than about 3 months at a time. Therefore you must break down your goals and your plans into 90 day increments to keep people focused.

So as you look at your annual goals, how would you break that into a calendar? If you have a seasonal business, it’s likely that some parts of the year are busier than others. If you’ve got several major initiatives that take time and money, are they appropriately spread out so that you have enough resources (cash, time, people, etc.) to actually achieve them. In this context, when is just as important as what. You can’t create a plan without including a sense of timing.

So what are you doing in the next 90 days that moves you towards your annual goals? Remember to keep your focus and only work on 3 to 5 priorities per person for the quarter.

Develop the plan

So you’ve got a clear idea of what needs to get done by the end of the quarter, the next step is to develop a clear plan on how you’re going to get there.

Let’s say you need to sell $100,000 worth of revenue in the first quarter and your average sale is $5,000. Do you know what activities you need to take to land those 20 sales? If you’re sales conversion rate is 25%, then you need to be actively working a list of 80 prospects. What activities are you using to identify those prospects? Are you working with a highly targeted list that matches with your best customers (i.e. have you defined your target market down to a really detailed level)?

If you’re hiring 2 new employees this quarter, do you have a clear plan on the activities and time frames involved in that activity (identifying the position, documenting the responsibilities, documenting the core values that you’re looking for, developing a strategy for how you’re going to find the resources, your interviewing strategy, etc.).

Whatever your top priorities are, you’ve got to have a set of clear actions that you (or your staff) are going to be taking to reach those goals.

Measure and document results

Finally, it’s critical that you are measuring and documenting the activities your doing as well as the results that are coming out of those activities. If you previously assumed that your close rate was 25%, but you’re only getting 20% in the first month of activities, then you are going to either need to increase your close rate to get to an average of your target for the quarter, or increase the number of prospects so that you can still reach your targeted outcome.

If you are relying on others to deliver critical priorities (hiring, moving, strategies, etc.) then you’ve got to have a way to measure their success – ideally as they’re going. If you’re waiting for the end of the quarter to find out if they succeeded or failed, you’re setting yourself up for some difficult obstacles to overcome.

Things that get measured get achieved. People will respond much differently if they know that their progress is being tracked. The other benefit is that your measurements will help you fine tune the plans for next quarter. You may not be able to hit your goals at first, but as you get better at the overall process, you’re planning process will get much better as well.

Set and document annual goals, plan them out quarter by quarter, develop actionable steps for each quarter and document your progress. It sounds simple (and in a lot of ways it is), but it can have profound effects on getting things done!

How do you plan and execute for the year? I’d love to hear other examples and thoughts on this process.

Shawn Kinkade Kansas City Business Coach

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Kansas City Startup Inspirations!

Shawn Kinkade — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 05:13:41 +0000

photo by psoup216

Wouldn’t it be great if Kansas City could get an extra $20 Million or so in Federal or State funding right now when times are really tough?

It turns out we can! There was a recent and successful effort to challenge the US Census numbers for Kansas City and there are ~ 25,000 more residents in KC MO than the previous census indicated – and at $2,200 per household that equates to $20,000,000 in additional funding!

While I think that’s a pretty cool story in and of itself, what makes it even better (for me at least) is that a big driver for the success of that census challenge was due to the hard work and expertise of one of my clients. There’s a great write-up in the Kansas City Star this week (Tech Startup assists in KC Census Revision) that will give you more of the background, but this is the outcome of not only a lot of hard work by Dan and many other people, but the use of technology and a new way of looking at things to find a better solution.

I wish I could take some of the credit, but the reality is that Dan Melton (my client) from NptLabs is a pretty amazing guy and this effort with the city is only one of the really cool things he’s got going on.

If you’re looking for some inspiration on how and why we collectively are going to get out of this rough economy, take some time to meet and talk to Dan or some of the other amazing entrepreneurs that are out there. A good place to catch a lot of them (and maybe join in yourself) would be at the Kansas City Startup weekend in April.

Do you have some stories about inspirational stuff going on in Kansas City – share them here!

Shawn Kinkade Kansas City Business Coach

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