The CEO Elite

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Why You Need to Be Willing to Be Different

Red door opening on school hallway

Our industrial educated brain will tell us what it thinks we need to hear to keep us safe. It does not want us to get hurt, whether physical, emotionally, or spiritually and it will stop us from taking the risks necessary to make change happen. Don’t be too hard on yourself for thinking this way, we, in the western world, are the result of an education system that was developed to create an army of compliant workers for an industrial and manufacturing workforce to service a society focused on consumption.

The Disease

I did not fully understand this concept until quite recently. The start of this understanding came when I saw a re-run of ‘leave it to Beaver’. In this short piece, I watched June Cleaver, the mother, make sandwiches for her son and his friends. She individually wrapped each sandwich in cellophane, put them on a plate and walked them out to the driveway where the boys were playing basketball, about 25 feet away. The idea that you could now buy something, use it, and throw it away with no concern for the impact this behaviour had on our society, the economy, or the environment, was the start of the trend to buy-buy-buy. If we are not buying, our economies are declining. Our education system has taught us to work hard – get a good education – follow the rules – put in your time AND you will be rewarded with pay to buy new things. This mentality is changing, but it is hard to change 100 years of social education with 14+ years of individual education.

The Cure

Entrepreneurism is one of the best cures for this fear of non-compliance. Becoming an entrepreneur gives a perspective that has less fear around fitting in. It rewards the risky behaviour of not following the education plan. More schools are offering entrepreneurship as a course or a full program. There is a huge challenge with this as it is known that to be fully entrepreneurial you need to be free to take action, make ‘It’ happen, envision, create, implement, and sell. If a student is in school and envisions an opportunity, how can they follow through without leaving school? Society still looks down on not finishing school. If they get a business idea but stay in school to finish, it is likely they will fail at entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur must learn to take action, but with all the work in school, it is hard to do both. A very difficult balance.

For schools hoping to create a larger pool of entrepreneurs, my feeling is that we must have shorter, more intensive programs lead and taught by entrepreneurs.

For students wanting to take entrepreneurship in school, look for programs that encourage early graduation when the creation of your business is achieved.

The Challenge

Understand that a school is technically a business. It has a requirement to keep their funding in place and that is based on this outdated mandate to fill their programs. They use these metrics to determine their success:

  1. The number of ‘funding units’ (you) in each program.
  2. The program’s successful track record for job placement.

This makes me ask:

  1. If a program, like entrepreneurship, cannot show success by job placement then what metrics will ensure capacity enrollment?
  2. If a program is not well attended because less money is put on marketing it, will it be cut even if it is a successful global trend?
  3. What can we use to measure successful graduation from a non-industrial focused program like entrepreneurship?

There is a fear within the education system that stops people from making a serious change. A change that is needed to support the transition of our students into fearless entrepreneurs.

If two things changed in these systems everything might change.

  1. The structure of education to maintain income cannot stop a new entrepreneur from creating and starting a business – it must support it.
  2. Entrepreneurism cannot be taught by teachers that have never been entrepreneurs.

A quick story to demonstrate this mismatched mentality.

I was having dinner at a friend’s one night. She had invited another couple and they were both very intelligent, well education and working in the education system at the post-secondary level. We were discussing entrance requirements and teacher education levels when I said something that did not sit well with her, a Ph.D. candidate. I asked, ‘why is there a requirement for a teacher at a college level in a non-degree program to have a masters’ degree?” She clearly became defensive and said, “If the student decides that they want to go on to get a general degree or a masters’ degree it will make the path easier.

I was so surprised that the focus of education was to continue to sell more education instead of quality, skills-matched training required by the students for their life.

We are educating our students to feel the need to purchase more education so they can feel worthy to participate in the workforce. But this should not be true for entrepreneurs. They will never feel good enough if there is always something they need to complete before they start their business. This will lead to perfection paralysis, the inability to start something because they are not 100% ready.

Let’s teach our students to think slowly, deliberately about their path, and plan with confidence so that they can do what they envision can be done.

They need to think slow about their implementation and be quick to use their abilities. They need to be free of the industrial fear of being different and free to change their direction without finishing what they started so they can be open to successful change and opportunity.

Want to be truly successful? Use your advisory board to leverage your knowledge.

Get your Free seat in one of our Booster Meetings.

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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

SAMSUNG
The City of Barrie, Ontario

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.

 

 

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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.

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When Should You Give Up?

chess board

Owning a business is a challenge day to day. Sometimes there are great rewards, huge accomplishments, amazing opportunities, and it feels great. Sometimes there are great disappointments, huge losses, and a feeling that path was lost. And often it is simply routine. Doing what has to get done, over and over. No gain, no change, and no closer to your desired goals. It can feel like there are only two options: Win or Lose.

So when is it time to “throw in the towel” and give up the race? When the losses are greater than the rewards? When there is no future vision that can be found to get you out of your current situation? When it is not fun or enjoyable any longer? If your business is not making money, month after month or year after year?

I believe that every business owner has a moment (or a day or month) when they think:

  • What am I doing here?
  • Am I doing the right things in my life?
  • Can I be doing something else that will make me more money and be easier?
  • Is there something else that would make me happier?
  • Should I go back and get a job?

All valuable questions and worth evaluating for yourself. If you are like me, that last question (Should I go back and get a job?) makes me wince. Not because ‘job’ feels like a four letter word to entrepreneurs but because I cannot see any future for myself inside any other business. What would I do? What position could I hold? Who would I report to? I have no answers for these questions.

When faced with the feeling that your business may not be a viable way to live your life you need to ask yourself the questions above but you also need to evaluate your business and not on your own. Take these three steps to evaluate if your business is even a viable revenue generating idea and get to the answer of ‘Grow it’ or ‘Give it up’.

Research and Evaluation

Go back to your original research for the development and launch of your business. Were your estimations and evaluations correct about your marketing, your sales, your product, your customers’ needs, etc. If you did not do the research initially then this is an indication that you are not as serious about business as you may actually believe. Go and do the research and evaluate it with your known operations and sales. What are the real trends? What are the real costs? Who is your primary and secondary competitors and what are they doing?

Sounding Board

Take your challenges, issues, research, and current numbers to a trusted sounding board for brainstorming. These people should have an experienced understanding of business (not just your business). Invite them to spend a few hours just focused on your business. Let them know all the numbers so they can tell you directly if you are on the path of potential or if you should shift your focus. Take all ideas as plausible. Don’t discount or discard ideas because they feel small, redundant, or impossible, just listen and capture the options.

Strategic thinking comes from having a bigger understanding of the playing surface (your business) than what is currently visible to you right now. If you could see the way out you would have done it already. Find all options and play with them in your business plan. What have you tried and how can you try it again with a small twist on delivery? What haven’t you tried and how can you make something new in your business? What is the expected outcome of trying something different and is it worth the time, money, and effort? Are you willing and able to step up, because I guarantee that every possible option is going to require you to get a little more uncomfortable than you are right now.

Make the Decision

With understanding and options now available to you the next step is to decide what to do.

Keep the business and make changes OR move on?

To make the right decision you have to know what you want. Yes, what do you want in your life? What are you willing to sacrifice (time, more money, relationships) to make your goals reality? Are you willing to do what it takes? You have the answers so what are you going to do with them? The answer, which ever it is, will not feel comfortable. Again, if it was you would already be doing it. Making changes, giving up more, or closing something down does not feel good, but it should feel right.

If the outcome of your brainstorming was that you should invest a lot more money and you didn’t also define a plan to get that money or you are unwilling to get the money, then closing it down is likely the only option at this point.

If reducing the size and focusing on a niche or smaller market was the option, and you did not define a plan to reduce the size and exactly who and where the niche market is, then this is not a viable option either.

Whatever you decided as the most potential option for keeping your business you must also have created the plan to make it happen. Without that plan you do not have an option.

The key to implementing the plan is that it must be working towards something you desire. Without a desire on your part to make it happen, there is a lack of effort to do the hard things required. Honestly, if it were going to be easy everyone would do it.

The reality is, you are doing the hard work so you can focus on work that feels more like play. With both passion around the work and a desire to fulfill your goals you will have the drive to make it happen. It will not be time to give up.