September 20, 2017 by BarbStuhlemmer Leave a Comment

The Decision Matrix – Making Decisions Easier

Doors_decision

In my book the Entrepreneur Awakening – Making a Move from Employee to Business Owner I describe several rules and tools of decision-making. One tool I use all the time for helping people make any type of decision is the Decision Matrix.

The decision matrix is basically a way to evaluate your choices and their potential effect on your values. You get a score for each decision that will more clearly reflect how you feel about the option and how it may affect your life.

To use this tool, you need to know all of your options and all of the possible outcomes. I recommend you brainstorm ideas with a friend, colleague, or your accountability partners to ensure you get the full picture of what’s available.

The important point to recognize is that the numbers only apply to you and no one else. It is your decision and your outcome.

Start by drawing a table with five or more columns and rows. Down the left side of the matrix are the items that are important you and that will affect your decision. For example:

Avoid working on weekends.
Must be available to pick up kids when the husband is on shifts.
Cannot afford to buy a second car.
Pays well

Or other items about your business and your life that will be affected by the decision.

Across the top of the matrix is a list of all your options. When using this type of matrix, you must have more than two options. Look for all of the outcomes that could apply to you so you get a broad understanding of your expectations and your needs. For example:

Work from home office for self
Work from home office for someone else
Commute to city for job

Now we look at how each of your options affects each item that is important to you and rate it out of 10. For example:

“Commute to the city for a job” vs “be available to pick up kids” is likely less valuable to your desired outcome so you would rate it lower.

“Commute to the city for a job” vs “Pays well” is likely more in line with your desired outcome.

Use a higher number for combinations that are more desirable and a lower number for combinations that are less desirable.

	Work from home office for self	Work from home office for someone else	Commute to city for job
Don’t work on weekends	2	4	10
Pick up Kids	10	8	2
Must pay for a second car	10	8	2
Pays well initially	2	7	9
Unlimited potential income	10	1	1
Totals	34	28	24

When you have completed the evaluation you simply need to add up the totals for your options. After doing the tally some options become front-runners and some are easily removed from the list.

This does not make your decision for you, it shows you what you see as valuable and how you rate your options against what is valuable to you in your life. If you still want to take the option that rates the lowest, then you need to justify that choice. When you do, you will likely have another “item that is important to you” to put in your matrix.

Check out my book for another decision tool and the other rules of decision-making.

Entrepreneur Awakening

Making the Move From Employee to Business Owner.

Now on Amazon (also in Kindle format)

July 11, 2017 by BarbStuhlemmer Leave a Comment

Hot Summer Days

Why Aren’t You On Vacation?

Watermelon with seeds

There are few things in life that instantly say “SUMMER” better than watermelon. Besides swimming and vacation time, watermelon will always be my top trigger for sunny, childhood memories of a less stressful time. I remember sitting on webbed lawn chairs, in my bathing suit, with a thick, dripping slice of watermelon in my hand, participating in seed spitting contests for distance that would turn into a team exercise in military precision. I can’t help but smile while I recall these memories.

As we grow older we seem to always be working towards someday having the time to relive this type of stress-free lifestyle. We finish our extensive educations to get an entry level job where we spend the next 30 years continually learning and applying for promotions, just to find ourselves outsourced or obsolete – or worse, stuck in a job we cannot leave for fear of not having a job. For those of us that own our own business, we work all hours of the day, all days of the week in hopes to create enough income so we can take a vacation. As our business grows, so does our commitment and then, we find ourselves burned out.

What happened to our summers? What happened to our dreams of creating a business, or leading a life, that served us, and not the other way around. Why can’t we just sit and enjoy watermelon?

The answer is simple, but not easy. WE CAN. The challenge is something one of my clients had to learn. My client could not make time to ensure he was growing his business well. He had a lot of challenges with employees and deadlines, and he was constantly putting out fires. One day, when I suggested we spend time together to look over all his goals and next steps, he replied, “I need to do this but I cannot leave. All I do is put out fires.” That is when I put this thought to him – “If all you do is put out fires, all you will ever do is put out fires. If you want to do something different you will have to start by doing something you think you can’t do and let someone else put out the fires.” Of course, his next word said it all. “HOW?” When we worked to free up half a day of his time, we were able to use that time to create his next goal focus, which was to “stop having fires”.

If you want to enjoy watermelon or go on vacation, spend a day at the beach or go on an overnight date with your spouse, you have to first figure out how to put out the fires that keep you stuck doing all the work in your business. Start by asking “How?”

How can I leave the kids for a night?
How can I shut down my business for a week?
How can I be away from the office for a day at the beach?

Summer cocktail in a mason jar Then start brainstorming the answers to your question. If you cannot do this for yourself, get others to help you. Remember the rules of brainstorming and do not judge their suggestions. Accept them all and then go through them to find what works.

The cool thing is, once you figure out how to do this once, you will be able to do it over and over, changing how you manage your business and growing your management skills so you can handle bigger challenges, more easily and find more success.

P.S. My client stopped having to put out fires because he stopped the fires. Now he could focus on growing the business. With his new time, he also found time to get married.

February 26, 2017 by BarbStuhlemmer 3 Comments

What a Poor Relationship With Your Clients is Costing You

Welcome Please Come In We're Closed — Welcome Please Come In We’re Closed

Have you ever said any of this about a client? “I’ve got this one client that is driving me crazy. They ask for more time, complain about more things, have me jumping through hoops, and I feel so angry and frustrated.” There is likely some part of this statement or something similar that you may have felt about a particular client. If you have ever felt this way then this may be an indicator that you don’t have a healthy relationship with your clients and if this is true, be thankful it is only one client so far.

If this was a relationship with a spouse, friend, or family member, you would likely do something about it. But when it is our clients, we feel we must give them what they want or they will leave us. Giving in to someone else all the time for fear of losing that person is not healthy. It is a form of coercion and makes one person feel inferior and helpless, and that person is you. If you have even one client that has put you in this position, whether intentionally or not, your entire business can be affected. You may be:

Answering extra calls to alleviate their worries or answer additional questions.
Putting time and resources (like paying admin assistants) to finding solutions for their problems.
Repeating work already completed that they asked you to revisit.
Print documents, mailing letters, or making calls on behalf of your client.
Arguing over the cost of your services after the agreement to do the work has been signed.
Petty complaints about transactions that should be straight forward.
Feeling frustrated and overwhelmed by the work you have done, and still must do, and you feel used.

Some of these items may be part of your service. But when it is going above and beyond your service and you are still unable to appease their needs, it is time to take a look at the cause. When you have an unhealthy relationship with your clients you leave your boundaries open to interpretation. Your time, which you don’t charge for, has no value, and your clients will feel you are trying to take advantage of them, making them even more defensive.

A healthy relationship has mutual benefits, not just for your client, but also for you. Look in these five areas for the clues and solutions to these types of issues.

Setting Time Boundaries

When you use words like “unlimited” create something that is valueless. Allowing your clients to check in at any time says you have nothing more important in your life than sitting by the phone, waiting to help them. Never saying no does not tell your clients what you are unwilling to do. In fact, all these examples specifically devalue your worth. It is hard to add value if everything in addition to your service is free and available all the time. By setting your time boundaries in your contracts, your sales invoice, or your verbal agreements you ensure your clients don’t have an expectation of contacting you 24/7. They will know when you are available and you will feel good about picking up the phone, answering an email or saying ‘no’ to a request.

Defining Your Relationship Up Front

When we are dealing with a simple transaction, like purchasing a product from a retail store, the relationship is fairly straightforward. Your client picks what they want, pays for it, and it is theirs. If it does not perform the way you promised it would, they bring it back within a certain amount of time, with a receipt and they get their money back.

With service-based businesses, your clients cannot return their items because once learned or shared it has been consumed. They will always possess it. There are a number of thoughts on guarantees, which I won’t go into here, but I do want to go into how to define the client’s expectation of what they will receive.

If you are entering into a relationship with your client that will continue over time, then be sure you start with a contract. I know so many people think that because they know someone well or are not charging much for the service that it is not necessary. I find that contracts help solve arguments over expectations. They will hopefully not have to be used in court, but if your disagreement cannot be settled by revisiting the details of your relationship you laid out in your contract, then the contract can be used for litigation.

Do some brainstorming around what the relationship will look like and what could go wrong. Look for things that have not worked exactly right in the past. I had to revise my writing contract a few times before I got it right. What often went wrong with my writing contracts was that the client would miss deadlines. Usually, this does not affect me and I’m able to accommodate the changes. Sometimes, however, I have other commitments and my time is limited. Because of this, I cannot as easily accommodate the changes. Because my contract now clearly lays out the steps we can take to solve this issue, it has never really been an issue. Sometimes it takes me longer, sometimes I get paid more, and sometimes I can simply move on. The great piece about this is that the client is happy and we continue to have a long, ongoing relationship.

You will also want to have internal policies in place to manage the possible internal challenges that can occur when dealing with unhappy clients. Do you have a process for firing a client if they are unreasonable or abusive? Do you have a refund policy? Do you have a process for taking calls from them, the time you will allow, the hours assigned to your employees, etc.? When, and under what conditions, will you work to resolve an issue and when is it beyond the scope of your relationship? Are there any legal repercussions you must address to manage a relationship like this?

Work with your advisory board or mentors to help you identify the issues you may need to address, how to put together your contract and what policies you will want to have in place.

Taking on Their Responsibility

Taking on someone else’s responsibility as if it is your urgent issue is the fastest way to feel used and taken advantage of. It will leave you overwhelmed and stressed. You will likely be having angry thoughts about that person. It may even feel like you are being bullied. The challenge with these feelings is they don’t go away. You will be working with these feelings, eating with them, and maybe even sleeping with them. It will increase your stress levels and make you irritable and tired, which in turn makes it hard for you to be at your best for your other clients and your business. Have clear boundaries around what is your work and what is theirs.

Being Afraid to Lose Them

The old proverb, “If you love someone set them free; if they come back then they are yours…” is true in this case. Don’t spend time fostering an unhealthy relationship. If you have made your boundaries clear, defined your relationship, and stopped doing the urgent work that is not yours and your client still continues to abuse their relationship with you then say goodbye. Fire them! Let them go. If they want to work with you then they now know the rules. If you are afraid that letting one client go will affect the rest of your business, you are right. You will have more space to help your other clients. You will be healthier, with a more positive outlook. You can show up ready to give your clients exceptional value and they will appreciate it.

September 19, 2016 by BarbStuhlemmer 1 Comment

When Growth Kills The Company

Trees in a Forest block the light

There is a lot of talk about growing your business. I’m probably the person that talks the most about it. As a scientist I know that there are laws that govern our universe, one being the law of entropy. Basically this law shows how everything is moving towards chaos. Without external input, everything decays; from the flower to the planets, to every object in the universe. You must add energy (like sunlight to plants) and effort (like water for plants) to ensure something is not simply existing but growing. Once an object stops growing it starts decaying.

So if growth is important, and it is, then how does growth kill the business?

The City That Grew and Decayed

The city I live in had a population of 50,000 when I moved here in 1991. Although our current signs are not up-to-date we are around 150,000 people. At some point, over 6 years ago, we were Canada’s fastest growing city and we were always in the top 3. It was a point of pride that many of our past mayors would evidence when touting the value of our city to those looking for a place to relocate. We have great natural resources available to us and everything else could be built.

The challenge was that the rate of growth was coming from the settling of new residents and not from the building of new business. The tax base for residential properties was not large enough to support the increase in users. The infrastructure of the city was being overburdened with the increased use while the funds to manage and maintain that infrastructure was decreasing. The bus system was insufficient to support the movement of workers to-and-from businesses. The new neighbourhoods had great roads, but there was no funds available to do more that patch old roads. Communications also made it to the newer, south-end of town, but other locations, heavy with industrial lands, were lacking. Schools were bursting at the seams with portables. My own kids went to an elementary school that had 11 portables and over 1000 students. When my son started junior kindergarten there were 10 JK classes.

This was a critical point for Barrie. If we were to continue down this path, we would be less likely to attract the new business we needed. Our clients were businesses bringing new jobs and taxes to our city, but we were not doing anything to attract them. We were simply focused on getting bigger. Without new business eventually people would be less likely to live locally and there would be a decline. It was a day of true clarity when it was decided that we would focus on reducing the amount of growth we would allow and increase our focus on attracting new clients (businesses) to relocate to or launch in our city.

Growth itself is an object that requires energy and effort. When we are trying to make something grow, we must also focus our efforts on the process of growth. If we are not constantly watching what is growing, supporting and managing it, we are losing track of the growth and allowing it to overtake everything else. Growth for the sake of growth is unwise.

If you don’t want your company’s growth to kill your business watch for these key indicators.

1. Your focus (or mission) is growth

If this is the case, you are likely not watching the metrics that define true success in a business. Simply having a 50% increase in business does not mean you can handle the extra work.

2. You only have time for “the new”

If, like my city, only the new things in your business get your attention and money, you are likely headed down the path of overgrowth without control.

3. You make more money but have less

Growth should support itself. If you have not determined the numbers to ensure your growth will create the income and profits that will support itself then your growth track is broken.

Your business must grow, but the growth must be under your control. You must have time to manage the growth and a plan to handle all the new aspects of the business. Don’t let your growth be the end of your business.

You will be happy to know that Barrie dropped out of the race for fastest growing city a few years back and with that change came true growth. The growth that is sustainable and manageable. The growth that supports its clients and all those involved. New roads in old neighbourhoods, new schools, more jobs and an increase in value. It was a smart business strategist that saw this frivolous egotistical position of “Fastest Growing City in the Country” for exactly what it was… The Fastest Decaying City – and he and his advisory board stopped it.

July 4, 2016 by BarbStuhlemmer Leave a Comment

What Else Do You Need To Learn?

Curved Library Wall full of books — Your Learning Curve

Does it ever feel like you have spent so much time learning, reading, attending classes, conferences, or online programs, working with experts or coaches, and filling up your knowledge bank that you could be full? What is there left to learn when you have learned so much?

Learning isn’t an On/Off switch. You don’t learn something new and suddenly you are an expert. This is the challenge with learning because so much of it feels like we have already done it. Sometimes we can even be thinking to ourselves, “I’ve already learned this, why can’t I make ‘it’ work the way it is supposed to?”

Learning is also not just about the ‘What’. It is about the how, when, where, how much, who, and why. Learning requires knowing the answers to everything around any one topic that you wish to be an expert in. Maybe ‘it’ hasn’t work for you because there is something about yourself you do not know or understand yet.

I have found that when I feel completely confident in my expertise at something I have accomplished several areas of learning. What I also know is that even with 20 years’ experience at something, there is always room for new knowledge on my topic of expertise. Let me elaborate using my expertise as a technical writer and secondly as a small business strategist.

Mastering My First Competency

My background in technology and my education gave me the foundation for my career as a technical writer.

I started in a high-tech company learning how to operate the equipment we were manufacturing. I had to know all aspects of the equipment to to help others be able to use it but I did not have any experience creating manuals. Email was new to business and most of my instructions were done via fax.
I was asked to help with some internal documentation and another person with experience using MS Word showed me some of the steps for using the software.
I was asked to use my knowledge about the equipment and MS Word to create the instructions for a service manual.
After the manual was published I was asked to write all the internal work instructions, build procedures and quality procedures. I created templates based on standards. I now had the title of technical writer, but I didn’t feel like a tech writer. I didn’t know the industry or what experts in this industry needed to know to be experts.
I attended conferences, continued to write, asked questions of experts on list-serv communities, and joined an association for technical writers so I could be connected to the industry and the masters.

After many successes, I got to a point where I could answer all the questions my clients had around what was needed, how much it would cost, how long it would take, who was doing the work, when could we start, etc. I saw myself as an expert.

Small Business Strategist

With my background and connections in small business and my own experience owning a small business that did technical writing I found I had a great deal of knowledge and interest in the support of small business owners.

I was volunteering to help small business owners because there was a need and people asked for my help.
I got certifications, read, worked with other experts, attended conferences and hired coaches to work on myself and the tools I could use to work with my clients.
I surrounded myself with experts, mentors, and other business owners so I would have continuous access to the ideas, insights, and mentality of the people I wanted to be expert at helping.
I invested in industry information and researched the small business industry.
I worked with small business owners as often as I could, as clients, in networking, or through volunteering.

It wasn’t until I say with certainty what I was able to do for my clients and know it was possible that I felt like the expert.

My Learning Curve

What steps do the learning of my two expertise have in common?

Start with the fundamentals I leaned in school, growing up, and other experiences.
Outside people needed me for my current skills
I got more skills
I spent time with others that were masters
I researched the industry and became more knowledgeable
I practiced the craft at every level, continuously.

I’m sure your learning takes a similar path each time you mastered something new.

Your Learning Curve

If you want to figure out why you cannot master something take a look at two things that you are very good at. Two things you can do better than other people. Then think back to when you were not good at them and look at how you learned it, what you felt, when did you start becoming competent and what you had to do to get to the place where you could do the work without having to actually think about how it would work for you. You will likely discover a pattern in the way you learn. You can use that patter to determine what you have not done to get you to where you need to be on your learning curve.

Finally – it is important to understand that 100 years ago a person would get an education and not much would change over their lifespan. Their knowledge level did not need to change much to be successful at what they did in life. Now we learn something and 5 years later someone else has come up with a disruptive invention to replace the program or technology we learned and our knowledge becomes obsolete. If you are not learning you are falling behind and you will not be able to sustain the level of excellence and thus the lifestyle you were originally schooled to live.

What else do you need to learn? Why everything of course. Don’t stop. Remember, school only provides you with the fundamentals of your calling – it is experience and the investment in further knowledge that gives you the mastery.