As leaders in our businesses, it is critical that we earn trust with our customers, employees and with those in our business network. And trust is made up of two components, character and competency. Character is all about who we are. Competency is all about what we do. To have good character means we talk […]
Let’s talk about Entrepreneurs
I recently recorded a commercial for an internet radio channel that hosts a podcast that I’ll be a guest on in a few weeks. The experience gave me the opportunity to reflect on both myself and the clients I work with. We call them Entrepreneurs. If I had to describe Entrepreneurs in just a few […]
This could make or break your business
I gave a presentation in front of a business group the other day. Being able to present your business in front of people is a skill we need as business owners. But presenting in person is different than just writing about it on social media, or recording a video. There is no “backspace” key, nor […]
The Entrepreneur and the Flywheel
In 2001, Jim Collins published the book Good to Great and turned the flywheel into a well-known business term. He used the flywheel to illustrate one of his team’s observations about companies that made the jump from good to great. While Good to Great studied large companies because they had publicly available information, the flywheel […]
Finishing the Race
I ran a 5K this past weekend to see just how much fitness I’ve lost in the offseason. Much to my surprise, I ended up finishing in third place. But finishing the race didn’t come easy. My plan was to keep the first mile at a steady 7:07/min pace. And then push the rest of […]
Don’t have regrets
As part of my work with business owners, I always coach our clients to focus on taking time for themselves. I recently met with a business owner who admitted that he works pretty much 24/7. And he was okay with it because by being there for his customers, it allowed him to make a lot […]
Your Business Network
The other day, I met with a young business owner who had just started out in a new business. He felt like he knew it all because he had seen such great success being a banker in his previous job. He didn’t see any value or want to spend any time building a business network. […]
Night versus day
I get told by many people that I meet with that I’m “such” a morning person. I’ve been referred to as an early bird, and told that I am peppy, energetic and even annoying by some. It might be true in some sense. I get up early, drink coffee, exercise and then head off on […]
It suddenly got cold!
We are all in sales business in one way or another because we have a product or service to sell to others in order to solve a “big problem”. And we spend a lot of time prospecting new business through building our contact database. Through networking .. or by using LinkedIn … or by some […]
Getting it back
There is a lot of content on LinkedIn that teaches individuals how to earn more money. But with all the content focused on earning, we rarely spend time talking about being generous. As individuals, and as business owners, we should consider finding ways to give back to others who need it more than us. We […]