Podcast

The Peer Advantage: A New Domain & A New Podcast Series (and more Bula! news) #TPA001

The Peer Advantage: A New Domain & A New Podcast Series - BULA NETWORK #TPA001

Big news. Well, it’s not breaking news if you’ve been paying attention, but I’m hopeful that some of you are brand new around here. Welcome! BULA!*

You’ve likely already noticed that this episode has a special designation, TPA001. This is episode 1 of The Peer Advantage series. I’ll explain.

What Brought Me Here Will Get Me There

You may have read the Marshall Goldsmith book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. Yeah, me, too.

Well, that’s not what this is. This is about what brought me to the truth of peer advantage will get me where I want to go. More importantly, it will help get my customers – my clients – where they want to go. And it’ll give me the best vehicle to help them.

All you need to know about me for now is that I’ve operated in business all my life since I was 16 and first walked into a job selling hi-fi gear. Within the first decade of my career I was running a subsidiary of a larger company, a small chain of luxury retail stores focused on consumer electronics (big screen TV’s, stereo equipment, etc.). For over 25 years I was at the helm of companies, leading the charge to always be viciously competitive, nimble, quick and highly maneuverable. Growth and improvement were my passion. I was always in search of what’s possible…dissatisfied with the current state of things, including every measurable performance indicator. Extraordinary and remarkable were words I’d use to focus organizations.

Nine years ago I stepped away to help other small business owners in what I’ve called “roll-up-your-sleeves-get-your-hands-dirty” consulting work. I had already been doing some of that on the side as a passion project. Mostly because other business owners – mostly those in my sector of consumer electronics or retailing – would often call and seek my perspective. That’s how Bula Network, LLC was born.

I had been podcasting for a few years already and instantly people thought “network” was because of the podcast. Not so, even though that made sense. I was thinking “network” because the work was all over the place. It wasn’t focused on marketing or management or any other area of operating a business. It was anything and everything. I might be working with one owner on inventory management, another on HR issues, and another on succession planning. I thought “network” because of the areas of focus and the network of different things I’d help with.

Do you believe in serendipity? I do. Here we are years later and I think Bula Network was never intended to be what I launched. I’m a big believer in plan B. Plan A is what we start…and what we think will bring us the greatest success. Plan B is often what occurs after we figure a few things out and realize there’s a different/better path. This episode is all about plan B and I’m excited to finally arrive here.

Bula Network is now a full-fledged peer advantage company with a sole focus – for the first time ever! To serve small business owners through peer advantage.

Good marketing advice always includes urging people to narrow their focus. I’ve given that advice. Unfortunately, I’ve not taken my own medicine until now. That alone makes this feel very different from anything I’ve ever done. Learn that lesson…preferably sooner than I did. Get focused on who you’re going to serve, who you’re going to be and what you’re going to do. For almost a decade I’ve neglected that.

About 4 years ago I learned, for the first time, about professional peer advisory groups for business owners and leaders. Call me naive. Call me ignorant. Call me busy! I just hadn’t been exposed to them. Nobody had ever talked with me about such a group. Nobody had ever invited me to join such a group. Yes, I had been involved in countless industry or associations where we had group meetings, sometimes small groups. But these were people exactly like me with the same point of view, the same gripes and more often than not these morphed into whining sessions where people complained about the things that were wrong with the industry. And I wasn’t interested. It just wasn’t profitable and it’s not how I rolled. The market is the market. Vendors do what vendors do. Politicians do what politicians do. Customers do what customers do. You either deal with the present reality and act accordingly, or you do what these people did – complain. I much preferred to deal with it.

When I was a freshman in college, or maybe when I was still in high school (who can remember?) I read Napoleon Hill’s Think And Grow Rich. That book introduced the world to the “mastermind” group. The titans of industry during the industrial revolution in America fought like dogs against each other. They’d sometimes realize that they could benefit from joining forces. And some lesser successful, but still VERY successful people found it highly profitable to connect and collaborate with others so they could all help each other grow their businesses and their lives.

So it’s not like I had no notion of such groups. It’s just that I hadn’t been part of any. Not really. And that includes the over half a dozen online mastermind groups I’d been invited to join. None of them were valuable. All of them were a waste of time for a few basic reasons. One, the person forming the group didn’t know what they were doing. They didn’t know how to operate a group effectively. There is a skillset required to lead a group of business owners. Not everybody has it. Two, the person forming the group assembled people who occupied some place in their life at the time. There wasn’t a strategic purpose behind our organization. It was mostly random. Three, the group didn’t have a stated purpose. The focus wasn’t there. Four, the group members weren’t committed. We had no skin in the game. We were merely being polite to the person who invited us. So we attended once or twice. Five, there was no accountability. When you’re missing the other things, accountability is the last thing you worry about. It was all a recipe for a total waste of time.

Then I discovered there were actual groups with a focus that interested me – business growth. I started paying attention. That was about 4 years ago. I wasn’t in any position to take advantage, but I remember thinking how I wish I’d been part of a group while operating a multi-million dollar retailing company. But here I was a solopreneur grinding out the work, connecting with prospective clients and very focused on helping people one-on-one. My station in life was now different and it was by my own design. I had operated companies with employees, equipment and inventory. Now I wanted none of those things. Instead, I wanted to serve business owners and executives because I knew I had a lifetime of experiences and it was about two things for me: significance and legacy.

I dove into learning more about this whole peer advisory thing. I came to see it as a movement. A very positive movement. It wasn’t new, but I sensed it was an opportunity because I knew the need was enormous if people could clearly see it for what it is – a vehicle to help them grow as people and to help them grow their business. I was already all in on the mental fitness and emotional health of business people. I knew the stress of their lives and how addicting it can be. But I also knew the dark side of too much alcohol, too many busted marriages and too many suicides. All the things nobody wants to talk about. The grind chews people up. The think we love can often hurt us. Chaos, stress, the hustle – they thrill us and fuel us. They can also turn on us and kill us if we’re not careful. I knew this well.

I kept learning. I kept checking things out. I kept reading and talking with people. I even made a run at being part of an organization that focused on serving CEOs. It didn’t work out because I wasn’t a good fit for their culture, but I saw the value of their work (and still think highly of them). I read a book that was published a year ago, The Power Of Peers. I got more fascinated with peer groups, especially for small business owners.

About this same time I began to return to my roots – small business. I had gone from consulting to coaching back to consulting. I had helped CEOs, executives, leaders and small business owners. I realized the small business owner was the closest to my heart. It’s where my passion was hottest. I knew it like the back of my hand. I related to these people. These were my people.

One of the co-authors of the book, The Power Of Peers, was Leo Bottary. I had heard Leo on a couple of podcasts and wondered why he didn’t have his own podcast. So I reached out to Leo and offered to help him just so I could learn more about the space of peer advisory. I wanted to play in this space. I wanted to be a player in it and it’s what I wanted to do with the rest of my career. That was around October 2016 but it was a decision “in process.” That means, it wasn’t a decision made in a singular moment. It happened over time. Reaching out to Leo wasn’t merely a decision to serve a person already operating in the space of community, connection and collaboration – he was symbolic of my desire to learn more and enter the space myself to make my own contribution.

I was discovering a new professional passion – the first element of a good story. It had been over 7 years since I had read Donald Miller’s book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life. That book was about creating the story of your life. I had long ago learned the 5 elements of a great story: passion, hero, antagonist, awareness and transformation. Well, I had been struggling to find my professional passion since leaving the C-suite. I was uncovering it and it had been right under my nose the entire time. It wasn’t new. In fact, it was something I had done all my life. Two words leaped to the forefront of my mind: connection and collaboration. Now it was time to make my bet. Well, it wasn’t time, but it felt like it was. I had to endure a few more months of work and a bit more pondering.

We’re ready when we’re ready. Yes, people can help us get there more quickly, but in the end – we decide for ourselves. I felt I was ready to make the pivot, but something kept me from going all in. It’s the same thing that slows us all down. Just a tad of doubt. Isn’t it amazing how pounds of passion can be dampened by just a teaspoon full of doubt?

By the time May 2017 rolled around I was placing my bet by going all in – pot committed – to a complete pivot. Bula Network, LLC would no longer be what it was at the start. It would become what I now most wanted it to be – what I most wanted to be – a peer advantage company serving small business owners. All in. No looking back.

Leo and I met at a Chili’s Restaurant in The Woodlands (Houston). We talked about the podcast, YEAR OF THE PEER and our work together. And I told him of my idea to launch an online peer advisory group of small business owners. From that conversation and his feedback I decided to launch two groups of 7, one AM group and one PM group. It spawned from a renewed optimism that I decided to embrace. Optimism that together we can do great things. Optimism that together small business owners can achieve more than they ever could apart…and do it much, much faster!

This is the first in a series of new episodes I’m calling THE PEER ADVANTAGE. It may become THE podcast here, but right now that’s not the plan. You can see how my plan B is overtaking what was once plan A though…so you never know. I don’t know how many episodes it will be I do know it’s going to bring you value. Here’s why — I’m going to document this entire journey. Warts and all. Good times. Bad times. Victories. Defeats. It’s going to all be chronicled right here until I have successfully launched two groups of 7 each or until I’ve failed and quit (that’s not going to happen, but every story needs tension…so there’s mine).

How is this going to work? By surrounding myself with people who I know will help me. People who will ask me the tough questions. People who will avoid judging me, but who will happily (and quickly) hold me accountable to the decisions I commit to. I’ll have more to say about these people later. I’ll introduce you to each of them. Leo Bottary is going to be one of them. I’ll have two others so I can keep my little peer advantage group tight. It’s my version of working live without a net because I know there’s courage and power in vulnerability. I’m willing to share my own vulnerability with YOU. I think it will serve you by showing you how valuable it is, and I also think it may inspire you to embrace your own.

There’s another benefit to this. It’s going to be easier to show you peer advantage rather than to tell you about it. You already know the value of it, but maybe not in the context of being a business owner. I want to show you how powerful it will be for you in that context.

And yes, there’s an enormous benefit to me in doing this. I’m going to be the recipient of surrounding myself with these 3 people. Yes, I know they’ll each get benefits, too. I hope they’ll each feel like it’s a valuable experience for them even though our purpose of coming together is to help me with my current pivot. It’s what happens when peer advantage occurs. Other people help you with your issues. My issue is this desired pivot.

I’m not pursuing a good feeling as much as I’m pursuing growth and improvement. I want to accomplish this goal of building two new groups of 7 small business owners from around the nation. My purpose is to bring together these 3 people who I trust. Just being together is excuse enough, but I know we live in a more practical world that requires us to have a point to being together. I’m rather certain that merely being together serves us well. Just because.

I’m happy you and I were together today. Now it’s your turn to speak. I’d enjoy hearing from you. Take a moment and share your thoughts at the Bula Network Facebook page.

Thank you.

*Bula is a Fiji term analogous to aloha in Hawaiian. It means both “hello” and “goodbye.” It also means life and carries with it the connotation that “life is good.” I’m not from Fiji and have never even been there, but over 35 years ago I came across the term and fell in love with it. That’s why I named my company after that word, Bula Network, LLC.

Subscribe to the podcast

bula network podcast on itunesTo subscribe, please use the links below:

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking Review on iTunes. It’ll help the show rank better in iTunes.

Thank you!

The Peer Advantage: A New Domain & A New Podcast Series (and more Bula! news) #TPA001 Read More »

Tuesday Happens (A Quick Hit) -GROW GREAT

Tuesday Happens (A Quick Hit)

Tuesday Happens (A Quick Hit) -GROW GREAT

Over the weekend you made a decision. Maybe it was a solution to a problem. Something you think will work. Or something you’re dead solid certain will work.

Or maybe you spotted an opportunity you plan to exploit. You can see it working. In your head it’s a game changer.

You’ve managed to elevate your optimism in the past 48 hours. And it feels great. You think, “About time!”

On Monday morning you hit the ground running. You deploy your optimism and it’s contagious. You’re feeling pumped.

Then Tuesday happens.

A new problem erupts. A “gotta handle it now” situation happens. Maybe nothing major…just business as usual. A distraction. A fire that requires your fire fighting skills.

Gone is that weekend epiphany. And the energy it delivered. You’re back at it. Doing what you’ve been doing for years. Fighting the fight.

Life in business is an exhilarating grind. It fuels you while sapping you. All at the same time. The paradox of being a small business owner. The price paid by every true operator.

Tuesday happens every week. It close enough to the beginning of a week and the ending of a weekend. Close enough to be destructive and dangerous. Close enough to sucking us back into the same rut that envelopes us every other week.

We’re no different than other people who endure the mundane, common occurrences of life. We’re also no different in what it takes to push us to change – or improve. Most often something dramatic has to happen to push us to consider doing something differently.

Friction Points

I wasn’t out of my teens when I learned the power of friction in selling. Or I should say, the power of reducing friction.

In retailing, if you want to make sure it won’t sell (except for fine jewelry where it’s always been expected), then put it under glass. Make it difficult for shoppers to check it out and you’ll make it difficult for them to buy.

But friction, in context of what we’re talking about today, has big power in our daily and weekly habits. It’s just too easy to keep doing what we’ve always done. There’s too much friction to change. We keep going in the same direction. It’s the power of Tuesday morning.

We need to utilize friction for our benefit, not our stagnation. But how can we do that?

Well, you might be able to do it alone, but not likely. If you could have done it by yourself you’d likely have figured out how by now. I’m not saying it’s impossible. I’m saying it crazy hard because the friction is so powerful against making a change.

People. Connection with others. Collaboration focused on achieving your most desired outcomes – that’s the answer. But that has a friction all its own.

How do you achieve that? How do you put yourself in the company of people who can help you battle – and win – against Tuesday morning?

You’ve likely tried it before and failed. You talk with your wife or your husband. You confide in close friends. You have conversation with other buddies who are also business owners. Mostly those conversations just deepen your sense of dread…even despair. Because everybody has their own version of Tuesday morning. They’ve got their own stuff. They care about you, but they’re not sure how to help you. And there’s no process or system in place to help them…or you. It just is what it is. You march on. Toward Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

One foot in front of the other. Day after day. With moments of optimism as you head toward yet another Tuesday morning.

Processes, Systems & Workflows

Like anything else in your business, or life – you need a solution that works. Repeatedly. Consistently. Predictably.

Tuesday morning will still happen, but you can keep going it alone and living in Groundhog Day like Bill Murray, or you decide the make the friction more intense against NOT improving or growing. Make it easier to grow and change. Make it harder to avoid growth and improvement.

Accountability is the answer. Be accountable to others. People who can safely, securely and confidentially hold you accountable for the decisions you make the grow.

Every business owner on the globe wants to grow and improve. Most don’t know how. They work hard. They push. They grind. Growing more frustrated by the day.

They embrace social media and pay close attention to the phony messages of a world gone amuck with success, high achievement and out-of-the-world accomplishment. Then they look at themselves and are dissatisfied. The lie of the world takes a heavy toll on life. We don’t measure up. We look like a loser compared to what we see happening all around us.

Because it’s a lie. We’re holding up our life against a false reality of fakes. It drives up our expectation only adding to our frustrations.

The reality is that there are millions of other small business owners just like us. Accomplished, high achieving, but sometimes struggling. Driven to succeed and reach higher altitudes, we know if we just had a little bit of support and help by people who understood us — if we could find people like us — then we’d be able to reduce or completely eliminate the friction of Tuesday morning. The friction that prevents us from growing.

Ripe is rotting. It won’t help us build a business where we’re growing great. It won’t help us build a great, growing business. Ripe is stagnation. It’s a refusal to change or not knowing how. All the same.

Growth is thrilling. Improvement is exciting.

Ditch the people in your life who don’t contribute to your energy. Embrace the people who most challenge you to grow. Value the people who care about you, but are willing to hold you accountable. They’re your true friends.

In every realm of life it’s the people around us who elevate us. Your very best antidote against Tuesday morning is surrounding yourself with people who can push you to get past it. People who have their own struggles with Tuesday morning and need you to do the same for them. You don’t think it’s possible.

What if you’re wrong?

Subscribe to the podcast

bula network podcast on itunesTo subscribe, please use the links below:

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking Review on iTunes. It’ll help the show rank better in iTunes.

Thank you!

Tuesday Happens (A Quick Hit) Read More »

What Are You Chasing In Your Small Business? Part 3 #4065

What Are You Chasing In Your Small Business? Part 3 #4065

What Are You Chasing In Your Small Business? Part 3 #4065

In episode 4063, part 1 of this little series, we talked about pursuing confidence. Then in part 2, episode 4064, we talked about chasing delusions. Today, I want to wrap up this series with a conversation about chasing the things that will propel you forward while simultaneously ditching the things that will drag you down.

• Pursue optimism over pessimism
• Pursue collaboration over autocracy
• Pursue humility over hubris
• Pursue learning over having the answers
• Pursue growth over stagnation/loss
• Pursue accountability over never answering for your choices/performance

WARNING: It’s more difficult to choose what’s profitable. That’s why you’ll be in select company should you make that choice. The majority of the world takes that path of least resistance where things are easier, but where success can never be found.

The formula is lots of hard work plus leveraging your strengths/skills plus embracing the need to make adjustments all along the way equals your best shot. You need patience while you also elevate your expectations that success and growth can happen today. The paradox of it is intentional. You need to succeed today and you want to succeed even more tomorrow.

Subscribe to the podcast

bula network podcast on itunesTo subscribe, please use the links below:

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking Review on iTunes. It’ll help the show rank better in iTunes.

Thank you!

What Are You Chasing In Your Small Business? Part 3 #4065 Read More »

What Are You Chasing In Your Small Business? Part 2 #4064 - GROW GREAT Podcast

What Are You Chasing In Your Small Business? Part 2 #4064

What Are You Chasing In Your Small Business? Part 2 #4064 - GROW GREAT Podcast

Business owners can pursue whatever they’d like. Sometimes our businesses are the outgrowth of a pursuit. Maybe it’s fortune. Or fame. Or freedom. Or flexibility. Lots of F things to pursue. But it could be most anything.

It’s the same with our careers. When we begin our career we may want certain things. Over time, it’s likely to change. And it’ll probably keep changing over time because our lives morph and grow.

Many small business owners are chasing or pursuing things that are problems for them. Problems they’re desperately trying to solve. A common one is CASH. Another common one is CUSTOMERS. These are worthwhile and necessary. But in the context of this series of podcasts we’re concentrating on solving problems in the hopes of improving and growing our businesses.

The goal is to create a business that will provide sustainable and somewhat predictable success. That means we want to create a business that can avoid chasing cash or customers. Doing it once in awhile isn’t the same as making it our way of life.

Are you chasing bad habits? Ruts? Ditches?

Are you chasing a false notion of how things should be?

Are you chasing profits margins that just aren’t possible?

Sales goals that are equally unreasonable?

Dream employees that don’t exist?

Today I want to talk about chasing delusions.

This happens every time a business owner laments how things are today versus how they once were. That delusion is being too romantic and fanciful by practicing “good-old-days” syndrome. It presupposes that memory is accurate and that’s not always the case. Sometimes we remember how things were with greater fondness than is deserved.

This happens when a business owner won’t or can’t face issues that are wrecking their company. Sometimes it’s a broken culture created by a lack of accountability. Or maybe it’s a sales process that no longer works. Or a compensation program that no longer rewards the correct performance standards. It could be anything that isn’t working, but the owner is stuck to fix it.

Delusions are fueled by faulty thinking and a lack of self awareness. It’s often the reaction of a business owner who simply doesn’t know what to do so they may decide to ignore the problem in hopes it will get better. It never does.

How can you stop chasing delusions?

First, open yourself up to the possibility that you could be wrong. If you’re not able to even consider that you might be wrong, then you can’t be helped. But, if you’ll consider – seriously consider – that you may not be seeing things as they really are, then you’ve got the opportunity to grow.

Second, surround yourself with people who can provide you different perspectives. You own the joint so you’re going to make the decisions, not them. But if you can find a way to put others around you who care about helping you grow, then you’ll be wiser for it.

These should be people capable of the task. You don’t go to a dentist when you break your arm. Surround yourself with appropriate people. This is difficult because it takes effort and time. You can’t wait until you’re in trouble to start looking for good company. Most of us don’t have or take the time to join ourselves with people who can serve us until we find ourselves suddenly in need (and that too often means we’re in dire straits).

Business owners need the wise counsel of other business owners. Buddies won’t do the job. Family sure won’t do the job. You need people with whom you feel safe, and people who can actually provide value as you consider what to do. That means you need peers – people more of less like you. It doesn’t matter if they have your personality traits, or if they live in the same city, or if they cheer for the same football teams. What matters is that they can relate to you and where you are — because you share experiences as business owners.

Third, you need the conversation to stay on point if you’re going to derive the benefit. It’s easy for us to engage in “kick-the-ball-around” kinds of conversations where a lot of things get discussed, but where we never quite drill down to the crux of the matter. We all need somebody who will help us keep moving the conversation forward in a positive meaningful way so we can gain some clarity. Often times, the conversation just muddies up the water more.

The people who surround us matter, but so does the focus of the dialogue.

Lastly, we need accountability. The people who are helping us should be able and ready to hold us accountable for what we decide. Talk is always cheaper than action. And it’s always easier to talk than it is to act.

Your best intentions as a business owner don’t matter. What does matter is what you actually do. It’s about performance. Most notably your performance as a business owner. You’re accustomed to holding others accountable. Subjecting yourself to it may be a harder chore, but worthwhile. In the ROI world you occupy, you know it. Be courageous enough to accept it.

Subscribe to the podcast

bula network podcast on itunesTo subscribe, please use the links below:

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking Review on iTunes. It’ll help the show rank better in iTunes.

Thank you!

What Are You Chasing In Your Small Business? Part 2 #4064 Read More »

What Are You Chasing In Your Small Business? Part 1 #4063 - GROW GREAT Podcast

What Are You Chasing In Your Small Business? Part 1 #4063

What Are You Chasing In Your Small Business? Part 1 #4063 - GROW GREAT Podcast

Let me give you some context. As small business owners we’re constantly chasing some things. What we chase may differ depending on where we are in our business at the time. What we chased last year may not be exactly what we chased last year.

Some small business owners chase cash, but they chase it harder when payroll is rolling around. Some small business owners are merchants and they sometimes chase products, merchandise. We can get into a sales slump and find ourselves chasing customers.

By chase, I mean “pursue.” We’re hopefully pursuing things that are worthwhile. Today’s show is part 1 and we’ll talk about a number of things in future episodes, including some things we chase that maybe we should avoid chasing!

Subscribe to the podcast

bula network podcast on itunesTo subscribe, please use the links below:

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking Review on iTunes. It’ll help the show rank better in iTunes.

Thank you!

What Are You Chasing In Your Small Business? Part 1 #4063 Read More »

Small Business, Big Impact #4062

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration small business is BIG. Here’s what their website says:

  • The 28 million small businesses in America account for 54% of all U.S. sales.
  • Small businesses provide 55% of all jobs and 66% of all net new jobs since the 1970s.
  • The 600,000 plus franchised small businesses in the U.S. account for 40% of all retail sales and provide jobs for some 8 million people.
  • The small business sector in America occupies 30-50% of all commercial space, an estimated 20-34 billion square feet.
  • The number of small businesses in the United States has increased 49% since 1982.
  • Since 1990, as big business eliminated 4 million jobs, small businesses added 8 million new jobs.

By just about any measurement you care to examine, small business has a big impact in the U.S. I didn’t research the global impact of small business, but I’d imagine it has an equally large, or larger impact in other countries.

Perception Is Not Reality

Yesterday I read that Apple is sitting on over 250 billion in cash! Berkshire Hathaway held their stock holders’ meeting on Saturday (I watch it every year streamed exclusively at Yahoo). It’s very entertaining. Warren Buffett reported they’re sitting on over 90 billion in cash.

Headline grabbing numbers like that focus the attention on major league players, big business. Meanwhile, every morning small business owners are opening their doors, flipping on light switches and starting another day to make their presence felt in the world. Some have no employees. Others have hundreds. Their revenues range from “not nearly enough” to “a whole bunch.” Collectively, there’s no doubt about their impact in the local economy where they reside, or the broader economies they serve.

Because individually they’re not fancy, the perception is that they’re not that important. Or that their work isn’t that significant.

Just yesterday Apple bought a sleep tracking company based in Finland, Beddit. Terms are undisclosed for now, but Beddit is a small business. It’s not Apple’s in house innovation. They bought it by acquiring a small business. Innovation often happens at the hands (and imagination) of a small business owner!

But you don’t care about perception if you’re a small business owner. You already know the reality.

Small Business Owners Make Things Happen. That’s Real.

Whether it’s a local dry cleaning company that does a few hundred thousand dollars annually or a local custom home builder doing a few hundred million dollars annually…small business owners make things happen every day. Partly because they have to and mostly because they want to.

In a world before chain stores and restaurants peppered every community, local businesses ruled Main Street and Maple, along with every other street in town. Gas stations were called “filling stations” and even if they bore a national brand name, the owner was a local guy. That historical DNA hasn’t changed. These were people brave enough, driven enough and crafty enough to make a business come to life. They learned how to operate, make a profit and the most successful ones learned how to grow.

The competition changed. Big business spread nationally, then globally. Small business suffered and thrived, all at the same time. The weak operators fell away. The strong operators just got stronger, finding ways to adapt with speed unmatched by big business.

Nimble. Fast. Adaptable. Those are the strengths of small business. And the competitive edge enjoyed by many small business owners.

Size Matters, But Not Like You Think.

Small business owners may want a larger individual impact. That is, the one-store operator may want to open up a second location. The local small business owner may want to become a regional operator. The regional operator may want to expand nationally.

Every successful small business operator wants to grow and improve. They may be perfectly happy with the overall scope and scale of their enterprise. It’s the individual business owners choice often ignoring the mass cry to “go big or go home.”

Some small business operators confidently lead companies that generate in excess of $200 million. Others may struggle to break the million dollar mark. The size doesn’t necessarily determine smallness, but I rather view the proximity of the owner to the work. Most big businesses are run by executives, professional managers. Most small businesses are run by operators, people who know how to actually get it done.

It doesn’t mean small business owners don’t know how to delegate, but that’s a more common problem in their ranks. Professional managers at the helm of big business know how to operate at scale. That means they understand how to get things done through others. Small business owners can struggle as they learn those lessons. It’s not better or worse. It’s just different.

Every business regardless of size is focused on activities that fit into one or more of the three categories I call “the trifecta of business building” –

  1. Getting new customers
  2. Serving existing customers better
  3. Not going crazy in the process

For nearly a decade I’ve worked mostly one-on-one with business operators to improve all three of these areas. Now it’s time to narrow the focus, but broaden the impact. That’s why I’m launching the Bula Network Owners’ Alliance – a peer advisory group of 7 small business owners from around the U.S. Because I know firsthand the big impact small business has. And I know the impact small business owners can have on each other when they focus their attention on improving and growing their businesses. Nothing works better! Nothing substitutes the impact small business owners have on each other as together they get more focused on growing their businesses. Nothing.

Questions. Answers. Questioning Answers.

Here’s the rub. Sounds simple, but it’s hard.

I typically encounter two types of entrepreneurs. I’ve found it pretty easy to classify business owners into just these two groups: those eager to learn and those resistant to learn. The high achievers are eager to learn. They’re open to close examination of what they do and how they do it. They’re also eager to share it and perhaps defend it. But, they’re also always looking for ways to squeeze more productivity, revenue and profit from the machine. They have high expectations. The thrill of the climb fuels them and their entire team. No matter how high the climb was today, tomorrow’s summit will be higher. These are the business owners I’m always attracted to serve.

The process isn’t complicated, but it’s demands high courage. Questioning your answers requires an intense focused drive to get better. These small business owners do not want to lose. They’re among the most competitive people on the planet. They hate to lose.

Contrast that with those resistant to learn and they’re okay with whatever results come their way. They sound optimistic, but mostly they shrug with modest approval on what results come their way.

Not the high achievers. They’re hacked when the numbers aren’t what they could be. Even maniacal when people falter in performance.

I can begin the conversation asking small business owners to tell me about their sales process and the high achievers will readily share and ask for feedback. The others are immediately in defensive mode, making sure they explain why they do what they do — and how there’s no way it can happen any differently.

Nobody Can Care More Than You Do.

A big part of why I’m launching the Alliance and turning Bula Network into what it was probably always destined to be — a peer advisory company for small business owners — is the realization I made a few years ago.

Because my empathy is so ridiculously high I often have to tap the brakes on my level of caring. It’s a business thing. And I know it. I’ve always known it. Can a person care too much? Absolutely.

Empathy enables me to understand people. So I talk to a business owner or CEO and they find no value in questions, answers or questioning answers. I’m empathetic to them. But earlier in my career I wanted to help people see value where they didn’t or couldn’t see it. Until I realized I was wrong. And learning the truth changed everything.

It’s impossible for me to care more than my customers. 

It wasn’t a customer problem. It was MY problem.

In my younger days I did care more than customers. It’s a hard lesson to learn because it requires empowering people to do what they want. And it required me to walk away respecting their point of view and decision.

Here’s what happened. I started saying no to people. I started having longer conversations with people who cared and wanted to improve. I started having shorter or no conversations with those who didn’t. Suddenly, everybody was winning.

Those owners and CEOs who didn’t want to learn were no longer bothered (not much). Those eager to learn happily engaged, anxious to find out what I might be able to do to help them.

That’s the lesson for you as a small business owner!

I have a friend who helps people with their finances. We were engaged in a bit of a coaching call the other day as I was working to help him with some processes and work flow issues. His work is very focused on helping clients realize they’re losing money in a variety of areas of their life. Some of his prospects are losing lots of money. It’s as though they have holes in their pockets.

But not all of his prospects act as though they care that much. Some do. Many don’t.

Over the course of an hour long phone call I probed and probed. We reviewed the language used to communicate to prospects, the calls to action made and most everything in the front end of the sales funnel. I challenged him to make a few small, but impactful tweaks. Every single adjustment pointed to this one truth: you can’t care more than your prospects or customers.

People who don’t care about how much money they lose aren’t ideal prospects for anybody in the financial services game. Just look at their behavior. They don’t mind losing their own money…why would they want to take time out of their life to get your help? And why would they pay for what you can do for them? Answer: they wouldn’t. So I told him to blow them off more quickly and focus on the prospects who cared more deeply about the money they’re losing.

It always works. Always.

When small business owners start operating with the understanding that their biggest impact is going to be serving people who care more, then higher success follows. In a recent video on selling I talked about getting visibility with people, then helping people understand what we do and why it’s valuable, then ultimately working to achieve an appreciation from the prospect so they’re willing to buy us. You can win the first two stages and still lose because people just don’t appreciate what you have. That speaks directly to this issue of caring more than they do. People won’t buy your stuff if they don’t appreciate as much as you do. And no amount of appreciation on your part will help them appreciate it. No amount of talking with help either. Move on!

Nearly every small business owner I’ve ever served has been searching for better customers. It’s hard to accomplish because it demands seemingly unreasonable courage. The courage to walk away from the less than ideal customer. The courage to stop trying to convince people who won’t appreciate your product or service no matter how much effort you give. Stop caring as much as the people who don’t care enough to appreciate you.

I want your small business to have the biggest impact possible. I don’t want to determine that. That’s your job as the small business owner. My role is to serve those of you who deeply care to climb just as high as you can. Right now, my role is to find those of you who care as much as I do about taking your small business to new heights of success. Right now I’m just looking for 14 of you to fill one peer advisory group that will meet in the morning and one that will meet in the late afternoon. You can find details here. 

And starting now I’m going to dive more deeply into content here and in the podcast aimed at serving you small business owners who care enough to achieve more. TEAM does mean together everybody achieves more. It’s always been true and in the coming years it’s going to prove even more true among leaders and business owners. Our success is always enhanced when we surround ourselves with people who care enough to help us and when we match or exceed  it with our own commitment to ourselves.

Be bold. Be courageous. Let’s find a way to achieve more together!

Subscribe to the podcast

bula network podcast on itunesTo subscribe, please use the links below:

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking Review on iTunes. It’ll help the show rank better in iTunes.

Thank you!

Small Business, Big Impact #4062 Read More »

Scroll to Top