Business Archives - Greg Weatherdon

SBM #113 Two Kinds of Entrepreneurs

Tagged as: bad, Canada, care, entrepreneur, good, small business expert, Small Business Minute, trust, untrustworthy

Unfortunately, not all entrepreneurs have the same motivations. There are those that really care about what they do and how they do it – the good, and there are those that just want your money – the bad. Fortunately, there are more of the former than the latter.

We often hear complaints on how consumers have been taken advantage of by a less than professional business, but these issue are equally as prevalent in the B to B environments.

Let’s look at both and hopefully provide some clues to who you are dealing with.

The Bad

The bad entrepreneurs are the ones who are only in it for their own gain. They don’t care about the customer. They just want to make a quick buck and move on. These types of entrepreneurs have no regard for quality or customer service. They may be selling products that aren’t up to standard, or services that don’t deliver what was promised.

They may also be trying to take advantage of customers by charging too much – often relying on business owners lack of knowledge of the market rates for these services.

These types of entrepreneurs will often be quick to promise results, but slow to deliver them. They may also try to push you into a deal before you have had time to think it through properly by pressuring you into signing contracts that are not in your best interest.

The Good

On the other hand, there are good entrepreneurs who genuinely care about their customers and what they do. These are the people who take pride in their work and strive to deliver the best quality they can produce.

Often, they’ll walk away from a sale when they know they can’t deliver on the customers expectations. Let’s be honest, that one of the hardest things to do, but more often than not it is the best decision for both parties.

The good entrepreneurs also understand the importance of customer service. They will go out of their way to ensure that customers are satisfied with their product or service, and they’ll be willing to put in extra effort if something isn’t quite right.

These types of entrepreneurs will also be more transparent about pricing and when questioned, willingly explain their costs. They may or may not negotiate, but you’ll know why. Their goal is not just to make money but rather build long-term relationships with their customers, which usually begins with trust. If earned this trust will result in repeat business and repeat business is far more profitable, than one off sales.

How to Spot the Difference

It’s not always easy to tell the difference between good and bad entrepreneurs, especially when you’re dealing with someone for the first time. Here are a few tips that can help:

Research their background

Ask around in your network if they have any experience of working with them. This will give you an indication of how reliable they are and what kind of service you can expect from them. But be careful where you source referrals.

Too often entrepreneurs take the lazy way out and post on social media that they are looking a referrals for a specific supplier such as a graphic designer or and accountant. Rarely does this solve their problem as they end up getting dozens upon dozens of referrals from their connections all stating that theirs is the best, without any context. This does nothing to solve the issue and is not much better than a Google search.

Instead, contact a few key trusted associates and ask them if they can provide a referral to the service you’re looking for. That way you can have a more in-depth conversation about why they recommend them.

Look at online reviews

Carefully read them. A telling sign of an entrepreneur’s commitment to customer service is how or if they respond to reviews, but especially negative ones. An entrepreneur that ignores any review they get should be suspect.

Let’s not forget that there are always two sides to an issue and that the customer is not always right. If a negative review is responded to by an entrepreneur in a professional matter that clearly lays out their side of the issue, they are probably worth a considering. Ensure you check for tone and sincerity of their response. Righteous indignation might be a indicator that they are difficult to work with.

However, a high percentage of negative reviews without a response from the owner, should get a pass. Likewise, nothing but 5 star reviews should also be looked at with a jaundiced eye. Lack of performance details or specifics might be a sign there could be a disproportionate number of fake or paid reviews.

Ask questions

Once you’ve identified potential candidates, ask a lot of questions. The best suppliers tend to answer most questions before they are even asked and not just the positive attributes, but also the negative ones.

This type of honesty is the exception yet should be the norm. However, it can serve as a good indicator of the depth of their experience. Because of this experience, they know what concerns their clients have and go out of their way to allay those issues with specific examples.

Knowledge

Listen to what they say about their industry. Their discussion should include letting you know about the trends within their industry and whether they are in tune. Whether they agree or disagree with the changes is secondary to the fact that they are aware of what’s going on. But they should explain their position.

Set expectations

This applies to both parties. Understanding what both parties expect will avoid future problems. Most of the time this revolves around timelines for deliverables and the the potential consequences of missing these dates. This will give you a better understanding of what they can offer and how they work.

Get a quote

Ask for an estimate or quote on the service or product you are interested in. A good provider should be able to provide this quickly. If not, then it might be a sign that they’re not as professional as they claim to be. This may also indicate that they have limited experience with the type of work you are requesting and are unsure of how to price the service.

Check their terms and conditions

This sounds like a no brainer, but make sure you read all the small print before you sign any contracts or agreements. Question anything you don’t understand and ensure you get a straight answer. This will help to ensure that you are getting the best deal possible and that there are no hidden fees or costs.

Take your time

Don’t rush into a decision. Take your time to consider all of the options before making a final choice.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it’s important to do some research before committing to working with an entrepreneur as not all entrepreneurs have the same motivations and goals in mind when working with customers. The good entrepreneurs care about their customers and strive to provide the best quality service or product they can, whilst the bad entrepreneurs are only in it for themselves.

By taking your time to research potential candidates, ask questions and read all of the small print before signing any contracts, you should be able to find a good entrepreneur who will meet your needs.

You may also enjoy reading 4 Ways to Deal With Difficult Clients

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #112 Putting Lipstick on a pig

Tagged as: authority, customer experience, customers, delagting, entrepreneur, financials, operations, processes, responsibility, small business expert, success, templates

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I actually starting this piece 3 or 4 years ago, pre-Covid days. And as often happens when trying to be creative, you can be hit with a case of writer’s block that can leave any number of incomplete topics to collect dust. In my case, I can have upwards of a dozen or so pieces just sitting on the sidelines at any point in time. So was the case with this piece.

The reason I mention pre-Covid days is because many businesses are still facing challenges as they recover, however my original observation about customer experience were prior to Covid and yet still exist today.

Putting lipstick on a pig

The phrase to put “lipstick on a pig” means making superficial or cosmetic changes to a product in a futile effort to disguise its fundamental failings. {Wikipedia} Many businesses, both small and large, condone this kind of behaviour.

On a recent road trip south, we stayed in a number of hotels. Like many, when heading to a specific destination we tend to stay in mid range establishments that we book at some point during our day. Booking any farther ahead is pointless as we never know how far we’ll drive on any given day because of weather or traffic.

These establishment are well known chains, from Holiday Inn Express to Hampton Inns, to name a few. Fancy, no! But usually more than satisfactory for a quick overnight stop and they’re usually situated right near major highway exits. So easy off, easy on. In most cases they’re reasonably priced and provide a free breakfast. All in all, a good value proposition. Most of the time.

The following are just a few of the observations I made during our stays at various establishments.

Poorly trained and uncaring staff
Burnt out light bulbs in room.
Inoperative power ports or outlets in room.
Significant marks on wall and ceiling in room.
Peeling wallpaper in hallways.
Worn and scratched stain on bathroom door.
Poorly applied caulking around tub.

I ain’t buying the place

Individually, none of these shortcomings are a deal breaker and can be easily overlooked when just staying one night. As I like to say, “I ain’t buying the place” and for the most part the rooms and establishment were clean. But they tarnish the customer experience.

The point I’m trying to make with these observations is, when something such as a hotel room is serviced every single day, how do any of these items get overlooked? In one hotel we stayed in they were in the process of completely renovating the front lobby and the breakfast area. Yet, this is the same place where the wallpaper in the hallways was pealing and light bulbs in the room were burnt out. To my way of thinking they kind of got this back asswards.

I always wonder whose decision it is to invest tens of thousands of dollars in refurbishing the lobby when the rest of the establishment is in dire need of some loving. Especially when these items can be rectified at little or no cost. It’s akin to putting lipstick on a pig and again does little to improve the customer experience. Considering that these places are designed for travellers who typically spend more time in their rooms than in the lobby as they rest up for their next driving day.

When you think about it, once checked in, most guests spend their time in the room as they rest up for the next day of driving. So, wouldn’t think room maintenance would be a priority? Just saying!

To be sure 1st impressions are important and major renovations are part of the hospitality industry. As franchisees, they have requirements to update their facilities to new standards set out by the franchisor.

Out of sync

But many small businesses operate the same way. They are more concerned about their outward appearance, which I maintain is an absolute must, but useless if the behind the scenes operations are totally out of sync with that image.

Too often I see small business owners spend time, effort and resources on producing a great website and social media posts but only deliver mediocre products, services, or results for their customers. If they only spent a part of that effort on delivering great service to their customers, their profitability would soar. Unfortunately, that kind of effort doesn’t get them the likes or shares that they so desperately seem to need.

What many forget is that likes or shares rarely put money in the bank. Let me ask you how many times have you purchased a product or service only because of their social media activity? If you’re like most, not very often, if ever.

The sad part is that the return on investment on social media is, for the most part never measured. Mostly because most small businesses don’t have the knowledge or resources to track results. The assumption is that they’re successfully executing their strategy, because views or likes keep growing.

Focusing on the wrong things, rarely pays any dividends. The true metrics that they should be measuring are those that are focused on the customer experience. average order size, repeat sales and on time delivery. This is what successful entrepreneurs do. They focus on getting better.

Do you care enough?

So in order to determine if you are focused on the right things, the first question to ask yourself is “Do you care?”

Are you actively working on becoming more efficient? Are you paying attention to the little things that would make it easier for your clients to deal with you? Are you actively seeking input from your customers on what’s working and what isn’t?

What are their pain points in dealing with you? These are all legitimate questions and more often there are a myriad of little things that you and your team can do to improve your deliverables. But first, you must care. You must care enough to dig deep to identify your company’s shortcomings. It’s never easy to self-criticize but is necessary if you’re going to improve the customer experience.

What you can do to improve the customer experience

One of the best way to start the process is to ask yourself, if you were your customer, would you be willing to accept your service levels? To help with the process, the following is a list of questions to help you get started on the journey of discovery that cost little or nothing but will help with your customer experience.

1. When was the last time you looked at your website? Is the information relevant and current? Is it mobile friendly? Do a quick search on “outdated websites” and you’ll discover what turns off your customers when they visit an outdated website. It might be costing more than you think. Consider that over 70% of customers visit a website before visiting the business.

2. When was the last time you checked both the company voicemail and that of your employees? Does it still have your “out-of-office” notice from last years summer vacation? Does the message drone on forever with information, instead of directing them to your website. Do you use it for quick promotional messages?

3. What’s your response time to voicemails or emails? Many voicemail messages state that they’ll get back to you within 24-48hrs. Seriously, customer calls should be returned immediately, if not, then the same day at least. Get too many calls that you can’t return them the same day? Then hire more people or put the most commonly asked questions on your website to reduce the volume of calls that only require information. See point #1

4. Do you deliver on time? Are you constantly missing deadlines and having to make excuses? Maybe you’re taking on too much work and agreeing to timelines that you know will be impossible to meet. To correct this, you might need to be honest with the customer from the start and set realistic completion dates. Yes, you might lose some business, but it’s better than failing to deliver and damaging your reputation. It’s about managing workflow.

5. Is your staff working efficiently? That doesn’t mean they need to work harder. No, it means you need to make sure that they are properly trained and that you identify and remove roadblocks that inhibit their abilities. Do they need your approval on everything? Train them, then delegate the responsibility and authority to make decisions. (See SBM #33 Responsibility & Authority) Creating templates and processes can reduce the time and effort needed deliver the final report or product.

6. Are you trying to provide too much to your customers under the “value added” premise when nobody cares? Working under the pretense of “more is better” when in fact “less is more” might be the better approach.

7. Do you update your clients with regular status reports, or do you leave your customers in the dark? Having a customer constantly looking for an update is wrong. A quick phone call, text message or email to update them on the status of a backorder or delay can diffuse a lot of problems.

Rest assured that any time spent on providing exceptional customer experience quickly translates into reduced customer churn, increased repeat orders and of course, improved financials.

What’s stressing you out?

Another way to improve customer experience is to consider what’s stressing you out? It’s usually a good indicator of what needs fixing. Specifically, where do you think you can provide a better customer experience? What are your pain points? These are the things that keep you awake at night. What are you doing about them? Be honest with yourself, because we can all do better. Let’s face it, there’s no point attracting new customers only to lose them because you fail to deliver.

So what’s your peeling wallpaper or burnt out lightbulbs? In many cases it’s not the things we hear about that need to be fixed. It’s the ones we don’t hear about that’s troubling. This is where the silent majority just walk away, never to be seen again.

Sometimes good enough, isn’t!

You may also enjoy reading SBM #74 Average or Great

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #109 The Accidental Solopreneur

Tagged as: consultant, entrepreneur, focus, niche, playbook, sales, small business expert, success

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The following is an edited transcript

{Greg}
Today I would like to welcome back Dennis Geelen the author of the Zero In Formula. Dennis was a previous guest on SBM #92 titled – The 2 Biggest Mistakes. If you haven’t listened to it, I encourage you to check it out.

The reason for having Dennis join us today, is that he’s launching his new book – The Accidental Solopreneur.
So, welcome back to the Small Business Minute.

{Dennis}
Hey, Greg. Thanks so much for having me back on the podcast. So happy to be here.

{Greg}
So, I thought a good place to is by getting Dennis to share his background as we really didn’t touch on any this the last time he was on.

So my first question is, what prompted you to leave the corporate world and start your journey as a solopreneur consultant?

{Dennis}
So, your question, what prompted me to leave the corporate world and start my journey as a solopreneur consultant?

Well, short answer is I was laid off, at the age of 43, for the first time ever. I was laid off from a corporate job and I decided, hey, why not bet on myself and start my own solopreneur practice?

The longer answer would be I had great encouragement and support from my wife. I had a nice severance package, so I knew that I could give it some time.

I decided to give it a full year. Really try and give it my all and start my own consulting business. And at the end of the year, if things were working great, awesome, I would have no regrets. I would have learned, and I’d be on to something. Just the feeling of betting on myself and making it, would be awesome.

If it didn’t work again, no regrets. I would know that I tried, gave it my all and I would never have that – “What if?” feeling. And I would still be young enough to jump back into the corporate world and probably be a better person because of it.

So that’s really what prompted me. If I hadn’t had been laid off, I never probably would have taken the step. So, I guess it was a blessing in disguise.

{Greg}
We all know there are many ways to become an entrepreneur and to co-opt some words from Shakespeare- “Some are born entrepreneurs, some become entrepreneurs, and some have entrepreneurship thrust upon them”

Being laid-off has always been a common theme for people transitioning to entrepreneurship. This is especially true if one has a decent severance package. As I like to say, it let’s you take your idea for test ride, and judging by the success your enjoying, it certainly seems to have paid off for you.

So, can you share what were some of the biggest mistakes you made early in your journey?

{Dennis}
Yeah, lots, lots of mistakes made early on. Where do I start?
So, when I first started zero in my consulting business, I was very naive.

I just thought, hey, I’ve got 20 plus years of corporate experience. I’ll just announce to the world that I’m a business consultant and I’ll give myself a catchy name, Zero IN.
I’ll create a logo, I’ll create a website, and then I’ll just sit back and watch the clients roll in. Of course, that’s not what happened at all.

I did those things, but the clients didn’t roll in. What I found was I really had to niche down. I really had to be the expert at something. Just calling myself a business consultant really didn’t appeal to anybody. That’s a generalist.

I had to get really specific. What specific business challenges am I helping you solve and for who?
What business is in what industry. So, I really had to go through the process of learning how to be the expert and then building credibility as a consultant.

In in my corporate life people didn’t know me as a consultant. They knew me as a director of professional services or a director of Project Management.

You know, I was not a consultant, so I had to brand myself. I had to build credibility and I had to become the expert. Then I had to learn how to package my services, and sell my services. So, all kinds of mistakes in the beginning. Just assuming that announcing to the world you are a consultant, and you know people will be lining up at your door. I had a lot to learn and luckily had enough runway to be able to make those mistakes and learn from those mistakes.

“who makes more money the heart surgeon or the family physician?”

{Greg}
Focusing (SBM #53) or becoming expert in a given area is one of the hardest lessons for entrepreneurs to learn. That applies equally to companies and not just consultants. It’s a lesson I learned many years ago and it paid off handsomely.

When I sit with struggling entrepreneurs, most can’t identify their target market or ideal customer. That’s because they’ve never really looked at what they do differently or can do better than anyone else.

To drive home the point on focusing, I usually ask the question “who makes more money the heart surgeon or the family physician?” I think we all know the answer.

But to become the expert, it requires discipline and commitment. Discipline, as you point out in the Accidental Solopreneur, to know when to say no to an opportunity if it doesn’t fit. And commitment, to learn everything there is on the subject matter. It’s tough to do, but so worth it!

So let me ask, were you impacted by the pandemic, and if so, how did you pivot?

“I helped companies solve indifference.”

{Dennis}
Yeah, the pandemic. Boy, that really messed up a lot of businesses. So, for me, I was finally rolling, I had figured out my niche.

I helped medium sized businesses with their customer experience and creating a culture of innovation. Or as I like to say it, I helped companies solve indifference. Indifferent customers or indifferent employees. And here’s how you do it.

I had got my package down, my services down. I was doing all kinds of engagements. I was doing all kinds of speaking.
I was doing all kinds of workshops and then boom, the pandemic hits.

So, what I did was OK, now I had runway again. I had just made a bunch of money in the early part of 2020, in late 2019, from having figured things, so I had some time
I was given by the pandemic.

I had some money that I was given by my success. I decided to sit down and write the book the Zero in formula. It’s where I took everything that I was doing with my clients. I put it into a book released in September of 2020, and that’s right when things were starting to open back up again.

And boom, that got me all kinds of exposure and more, you know, companies understanding what I do and who I do it for and how I do it. And because I was on so many podcasts and, you know, there was articles about the book and the book hit bestseller. That really was a blessing in disguise. For me, the pandemic is what allowed me to do that.

{Greg}
So many business owners felt the wrath of Covid. They just weren’t prepared. As much as Covid was a health issue, it was also an economic one as the lockdowns came into play.

Long before Covid, I had always told my clients that you need to have a rainy day fund to survive any form of business slow down or interruption. I was usually thinking along the lines of short term illness or a fire, etc.

Like most people, I never in my wildest dreams would have contemplated a pandemic. However, those that heeded my advice, made it through. It wasn’t pleasant, but they made it.

By having cash reserved, it allows you to continue doing the things that need to be done or as in your case, gave you the opportunity to write Zero In.

I noticed that you now also help other solopreneurs start their own practice, what prompted that new initiative for you?

{Dennis}
Yeah, so a funny thing happened. After a few years in at zero in, things were rolling. I now have a book. I now had online courses.

I was doing all kinds of workshops and consulting engagements and I was just starting to write another business book. I thought, ok, I should have a follow up to the zero in formula. Similar niche, similar type of stuff I’m talking about, but a different spin on things just to keep things fresh.

What I noticed was a lot of people were reaching out to me at this point now saying, hey, I want to do what you did.
Hey, can I pick your brain for a little bit? Hey, I’m starting my own consulting practice. Can you give me a few pointers? Can you give me a few tips?

This was happening through e-mail, through DM’s, the zoom calls, people were wanting to spend time with me and pick my brain. I thought maybe there’s another niche here for me as well while I’ve got zero in going and I can help these medium sized businesses.

I could also start working with other solopreneurs to help them get started, so I pivoted and wrote a very different book.

Instead of the business book I was planning to write, I decided to write a book for solopreneurs and this one, The Accidental Solopreneur, which it ended up being called, is told in a fictional parable format.

I always love those types of books where it’s told in the form of a story with interesting characters. But tips and strategies come out through the book, so that’s what I did there. I started up a whole other side business as well, where now I’m also coaching solopreneurs where they can book calls with me.

I’ve created an online course called the Solopreneur Playbook where I take people through the six steps that I went through, to eventually build a successful solopreneur consulting business.

That’s really been a great new initiative for me, and it was really just prompted by all those people reaching out to ask and I thought there’s a market there. I’ve got expertise, I can help these people.

{Greg}
That certainly sounds like an interesting opportunity. Going into business is never an easy decision and most underestimate what is required.

By the time they do realize that they’re unprepared, they’ve used up their whole runway and have to throw in the towel. Fortunately, for those that get a reality check early in the process, they’ll now have a new resource available in The Accidental Solopreneur and the accompanying playbook.

So that a great segue to my final question. The Solopreneur Playbook that you have developed is based on your new book The Accidental Solopreneur. Can you give a high level overview of the playbook?

{Dennis}
So, like I said, the book came out of that and an online course as well. Really what I show in the book and in the course itself is a 6 step playbook. I call it the Solopreneur Playbook and it’s basically this.

Step 1 Be the expert. Like I said off the top, that was the first mistake I made, I didn’t niche down enough, but it’s easy to say that. How do you do that? What does that look like? So, in the book you get to see how the guy does it in the story.

In the course, there’s all kinds of resources to help you niche down and be the expert.

Step 2 is to build credibility. It’s great that you’ve niched down now, but you’re still probably one of several options in that niche. Why you? How do you build credibility so that people want to choose you instead of your competitors?

So, in the book, again, it shows how the guy does that in the course, all kinds of resources and examples on how to build your credibility.

Step #3 How do you refine? Which is extremely important is how do you refine and offer your services? How do you package them so that you’re not just selling your time for money so you’re not just saying, hey, it’s 100 bucks an hour to work with me?

What’s your proprietary process? How do you package what you do into a certain number of steps or a certain process and then sell it at a fixed price so people feel like they’re buying a proven methodology or a proven product?
I’ve been telling people in the course sell it like it’s a product, package it that way and price It that way.
So how do you do that?

Step #4 How do you sell it? Learning to sell and getting good at sales is so critical because if you don’t have any customers, you don’t have a business.

So, learn to sell is step #4. Now, I tell people in the course, those first four steps are probably going to be iterative.
You’re not going to get it perfect right off the bat. You’re probably have to go through several iterations before you get that, and then you might stop there.

You might have an offering that’s so good and is priced so well that you’re making all kinds of money and you’re helping all kinds of people or businesses and you’re good with that. But if you want to go further, that’s where steps five and six come in.

Step #5 is build an audience. Now, can you have a podcast? Can you have a newsletter? Can, you know, generate a large following on LinkedIn or Twitter so that you can really cash in on Step 6.

Step #6 is to build assets that generate recurring revenue instead of just offering your time and your services.
Can you write books? Can you do online courses?
Can you have people sponsor your podcast or your newsletter?

Can you create Cheat Sheets that people pay for? You know, what can you do now that you’ve built an audience? Build something once and sell it 1000 times.

So that’s the playbook. That’s the six steps. But it’s very important that you do them intentionally and in order, and you do them properly and that’s really what I go through in the book and the course.

“No Sales, No Business!”

{Greg}
Thanks Dennis for that overview. Those 6 steps make a lot of sense and that’s coming from someone who has been there. Step 4 Learn to Sell is the one that stood out for me the most.

Too often entrepreneurs are technically competent, but they lack the ability to properly present their expertise. I have a saying that I use frequently and that is “No sales, no business!” You can have the best mouse trap but if you don’t have any sales skills you’ll never get any customers.

That’s pretty much all the time we have, and I want to thank you for your time today as well as I want to wish great success with the book and the playbook. I’m sure it will help those many solopreneurs who want to grow their practices.

Also, I lied. I have more question for you. How can people contact you?

{Dennis}
Thanks again for having me on, Greg. So great to be here.
Yeah, if people want to get in touch with me, you can reach out through LinkedIn.

Always happy to connect with people there.
Or you can visit my website, www.dennisgeelen.me .
There you can see all about the book. You can see all about the courses or book coaching calls with me. Love to connect with people and help them through their journey.

{Greg}
Dennis has graciously offered a 25% discount for his online course to my listeners. So just head over to my site at gregweatherdon.com and you’ll find a link for the course, the discount code and his new book in the transcript of this interview.

Here is the link to the course – https://dgeelen.gumroad.com/l/solopreneur_playbook Use this promo code for 25% off – tvzvajc

Here’s the link to his book The Accidental Solopreneur

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #104 – Inflation the destroyer

Tagged as: business, customers, entrepreneur, Inflation, margin, professional speaker, profit, profitability, sales, small business expert, Small Business Minute, struggling

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Inflation is much like rust. Left unchecked it can quietly eat away at your buying power and can turn a profitable business into one that struggles and a struggling business into non-existence.

For many of us, you pretty much had to be a Boomer living in an industrialized world to fully appreciate the impact that inflation had during the 80’s. During that period mortgage rates skyrocketed to over 21% and unemployment exceeded 12% in North America.

As bad as that was, there were countries that faced 100% annual inflation back then. To put things in perspective, that meant that the price of goods doubled in a year.

The point of all this is not to provide an economics lesson, because I’d be the wrong person for that. No, this is intended is reinforce the need to be vigilant in managing your costs and pricing.

Regardless of your industry, you are probably facing cost increases in materials and wages. The latter because of the tight labour market, thanks in part to government social programs.

With all the things we must oversee as business owners, being a little more vigilant with all our purchases can become burdensome. However, with inflation starting to ramp up to serious levels, it’s more important than ever review your costs and adjust your pricing to protect your margins.

Too often I find small business owners struggle with increasing their prices because they are afraid of losing customers. Their internal dialogue usually centers around “I can’t charge them that much, that’s expensive, they’ll never pay that much!”

How is it that they won’t pay that much? Everybody is paying higher prices for just about everything they buy now. So, why should you be a martyr? Unfortunately, inflation is a perpetual motion machine that never stops.

The destructive power of inflation

What so many entrepreneurs fail to realize in a high inflation era, is that you need to keep your prices in step with the increases in your costs, otherwise it ends up costing you money and potentially your business.

Inflation can destroy your income statement in short order. When you look at the bottom line of many small businesses, there is not a lot left over after a year of hard work. The typical small business has a Net Income is way below 10% with many running in the 2-4% range. So, on a $1 million business that means your left with $20-40,000 or $10-20,000 on $500,000 and only $6-12,000 on a $300,000 business. Not much of reward for all the hard work.

Now layer on inflation at 4-7% that has recently been reported by various governments over the past few months and you will start to see the potential for margin destruction. But only if you don’t adjust your costs accordingly.

Business is not a charity

Using the previous examples, a 4% increase in inflation can wipe out the profit of most small businesses. Whereas a 7% increase you automatically go negative into a loss.

Look, nobody likes price increases, but it is a reality of our time. For the past 10+ years most of us have enjoyed a low predictable inflation rate below 2%. Even then I have encouraged small business owners to take annual price increases. Because 2% compounded annually equates to over 6.1% over a 3 year period.

Business is not a charity. You are here to make money. The more you make, the more security you can bring to your firm and your employees. The more money you make, the more you can pay your staff and yourself.

Some options

Being worried if your customers can afford the new price is noble but not realistic. There’s no point of losing money just to avoid increasing your prices. Yes, you can always offer a one time discount to your better customers as a way to ease them into the new pricing. But I stress one-time.

I also know that there always seems to be someone willing to do the job cheaper and to that I say let them. Every industry has someone who offers low pricing but it’s my experience that most don’t last long.

Alternatively, you can do what many consumer goods companies are doing, reduce the size of the product to maintain a price. Offering your customers a “lite” version of your existing product or services may be all you need to do.

Minor tweaks such as a decrease in reporting, a reduced delivery frequency or even quicker payment terms are just some of the examples. These small adjustments can be used to maintain a given price point.

Another thing to always keep in mind is if those customers are only shopping on price, you must ask yourself whether you want them as customers in the first place. Often, they are not loyal and will change suppliers for a nickel.

It has been my experience that profit margins are never high enough. So, increasing your prices to ensure inflation doesn’t destroy your company, is just smart business.

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Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #102 Passion vs Passionate

Tagged as: advice, business, customers, entrepreneur, passion, passionate, professional speaker, sales, small business, small business expert, Small Business Minute, success

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

An often published piece of advice to aspiring and to lesser extent existing entrepreneurs is to follow your passion. By doing so, riches or success will surely be yours. But, as with most of these sound bites, this is rarely the case.

Let’s be honest. There’s lots of things that people have a passion for that could never support their dream lifestyle. Unless of course their dream is to just grind out a meager living.

There are plenty of examples of bankrupt restauranteurs who have a passion for cooking but couldn’t run a restaurant. What about the numerous clothing stores that couldn’t make it even though the owner’s passion was fashion?

Plenty of people have a passion for gardening, knitting, pottery, or music, but few would ever be able to or even consider creating anything more than a side hustle that adds a few dollars in their pockets. Of course, there are always the exceptions to this, but they are by far in the minority.

Be Passionate

So, just because you have a passion for something doesn’t mean you can make a business out of it. But then what would happen to all those “Follow your passion” sound bites and their perpetrators?

So instead of “Follow your passion”, what we should be promoting is “Be passionate about what you do!” To some this may be just semantics, but it’s far more than that. It’s about believing that what you do provides a better solution for your customers and not just wishful thinking.

Another way to look at it is that being passionate more closely resembles enthusiasm whereas having a passion is more emotional.

Merriam-Webster defines enthusiasm as having a strong feeling of active interest in something that you like or enjoy. The operative words being “active interest”. Emotions on the other hand, is defined as a strong feeling such as love, anger, joy, hate or fear.

Being passionate is also about continually trying to improve what you do. It’s about immersing yourself in the industry and grasping its nuances. It’s about becoming a student of your industry and the needs of its customers. In other words, to strive to be an expert.

What are you good at?

Another reason being passionate wins out over passion, is because being passionate usually means your good at something. You’ve found a niche that allows you to excel and therefore you just naturally gravitate towards the area where learning and subject matter information is easily consumed.

At the end of the day, most of us would never achieve any level of success if we just followed our passion. And having talked with hundreds of successful entrepreneurs it was interesting that most didn’t follow their passion.

As a matter of fact, I don’t recall anyone of them telling me they followed their passion. No, most just saw an opportunity that aligned with their skill set and went for it. But they were passionate about what they were doing. Being “passionate” about what you do, is far better advice than “follow your passion” in my opinion.

You may also enjoy SBM #64 Defining Moments

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #98 Why industry experience matters

Tagged as: entrepreneurs, experience, failure, greg weatherdon, industry, small business expert, Small Business Minute, startup, success, successful

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

There are lots of reasons start-ups fail, but one that I see far too often is the lack of industry experience. Industry experience can be summed up as having substantive knowledge working in the area of the planned start-up.

As an advisor, I have met with hundreds of budding start-ups and one of my primary questions to them once they have explained their idea is, “what industry experience do you have?” Unfortunately, I never thought to quantify the responses, but suffice to say that a large percentage had zero industry experience.

Interesting enough, this was not isolated to any particular industry, but ran the gamut from app development to the hospitality industry and everything in between. This lack of industry experience can be partially explained by the rampant promotion of entrepreneurship and the social media heroes that give false hope to their many followers, by suggesting that they only need desire or ambition to be successful. For those of us that know better, nothing could be farther from the truth.

To be sure there are examples of individuals who have been successful in areas where they had little experience. For the most part these individuals had a lot of luck or a lot of money to support them while they learned, but they are the exceptions. The average entrepreneur has neither, but what the successful ones do have is industry experience.

Knowledge deficit

The authors of Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship stated the following in a Harvard Business Review post;

“We found that work experience plays a critical role. Relative to founders with no relevant experience, those with at least three years of prior work experience in the same narrow industry as their start-up were 85% more likely to launch a highly successful start-up.”

History itself can be a great teacher and as Winston Churchill once said in a speech to the House of Commons “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” There are many examples from history that entrepreneurs can draw upon to support or justify why those individuals with industry experience have a greater chance at success.

What most people overlook is that having industry experience is a massive competitive advantage. It gives you the knowledge to spot an opportunity from the inside that is invisible to an outsider. This is by no means a guarantee but having industry experience can minimizes potential missteps that are not clearly visible to the outsider.

Klondike (Yukon) Gold Rush

One of the most interesting comparisons that I can make to todays rush to entrepreneurship is that of the Klondike Gold Rush. Once the news leaked out that gold was discovered in Dawson City in the Yukon in 1896, the stampede was on.

Much like social media does today, newspapers from around the world wrote extensively about the bonanza. So much so, that in one San Francisco newspaper it was front page news for over a year.

It is estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 people from around the world, regardless of their experience, quit their jobs, left their families, and headed out on the year long trek to claim their share of the riches. Sadly, many did not get far. Of the potential 300,000 who set out, only 100,000 thousand actually made it to the Yukon and only 30,000 of them got to Dawson City.

It is interesting to note that of the 30,000 who made it to Dawson City, only 2,000 actually found gold and only a handful of those returned home with any.

Access to Yukon in those days required the gold seekers to travel north via ships from ports along the Pacific west coast to Skagway Alaska. This was the jumping off point to the Yukon, but even if you made it this far, many Stampeders, as they became known, were in for a rude awakening and ended many a dream.

Beginning in 1896 the Canadian government would not allow entrance into the Yukon unless the individual had a year’s worth of supplies to sustain themselves. This is one of the reasons that tens of thousands of people could not continue, because they didn’t have the money to buy what was required.

These supplies were split equally between food and equipment and weighed approximately 2000 pounds. Failure to comply, would result in you being turned away at the Canadian border because the government did not want those who were woefully unprepared to even attempt this most grueling journey. Maybe today’s start-ups should be mandated in a similar way, but I digress.

The Chilkoot Pass

One of the most famous pictures of that time is of the Chilkoot pass, where a long stream of prospectors are struggling up a 900 foot climb.

This 33 mile (53 kms) pass was the fastest, but more arduous way to Dawson City and once you made it over the pass, you still had 400+ miles (700 kms) to go. But you did not just have to climb the pass once, no you had to do it upwards of 20 times in order to move your 2000 pounds of supplies along your route.

In the early days, this was raw country and there just was not many transportation alternatives. For the most part, you either did it yourself or it did not move.

Just show up

The point of this comparison is that of tens of thousands that set out to stake their claim to riches, most had never prospected for anything. But because of all the newspaper hype, many just assumed that the gold was just lying there waiting to be picked up and if they could just get there, they would be rich. Experience did not matter, just show up.

Not to be overlooked, because it is not well documented, is how many people died in the attempt to reach the Klondike, but it numbered in the thousands. They died from either malnutrition or exposure, as the temperatures dropped to -40 degrees and colder in the winter. Sadly, they naively set out on journey, not knowing any better nor bring prepared. In other words, they had no experience.
Too many people today assume that it is easy to start a business and all they must do is to show up. Sadly, those that are not prepared, never make it to their destination. It takes more than desire, it takes knowledge and skills, and those skills and knowledge come from experience.

We need to change the way we promote entrepreneurship because, contrary to what we hear, it is not for everybody. However, for those that want to be their own boss, they need to understand that one of the best things they can do to increase their odds of success, is to get some industry experience.

It is not enough to watch a few how-to videos on YouTube or participate webinars. Only working in the industry will give you the necessary insights to map your way to the gold.

Fortunately, unlike the Yukon Gold Rush, few today are dying because of a failed business idea.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #97 Think

Tagged as: Canada, entrepreneur, focus, knowledge, professional speaker, small business expert, Small Business Minute, social media, strategic thinking, think, worry

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

“Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think”. This often repeated quote is regularly but wrongly attributed to Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and philosopher Bertrand Russell, all big thinkers in their own right. The reason for this is that they all had similar thoughts on the on the capacity or desire of humans to think, because thinking is hard work and most shy away from it. By the way, the actual author is Woods Hutchinson, an American physician who published “Balanced Work” in an edition of The Saturday Evening Post.

As entrepreneurs we are faced with a myriad of decisions we must make on any given day and quite frankly it can be exhausting. Couple that with all our other responsibilities, it leaves little time or more precisely, the energy to think. By think I mean intentionally focusing on a problem, opportunity, or challenge without distraction for an extended period of time as we search for the best solution. This is often referred to critical thinking.

Think not worry!

This is one of the reasons I repeatedly tell my audiences that as entrepreneurs, they need to make time to think. They need to find a way or a place to mentally retreat from all the day to day noise of our businesses and concentrate on the issue. For years I have used my daily walk or bike ride to ponder an issue. This 30 to 60 minute escape effectively disconnects me from all the other noise or distractions and provides focus time needed. I do not always resolve the issue, but this diversion usually provides a fertile field for ideas from which to germinate.

Too often people confuse worry with thinking and that is a mistake because there is a big difference between the two. Worry usually has too much emotional baggage attached to it and often has negative connotations that cloud our judgement. Whereas critical thinking on the other hand, is starting with a clean sheet and an opportunity mindset. This sets the stage to evaluate the issue or issues from a 360 degree perspective. The other upside to pondering our own solutions, is that it enhances our decision making process. To seriously think requires you to draw on all your knowledge and to determine any gaps you may have. Researching these gaps then adds to your knowledge and the more knowledge we gain, the more information we have to apply against future decisions.

Another way to look at it, is thinking is like exercise for the brain. As with all exercise it builds strength, resilience, and endurance to specific parts of our bodies. The same principle applies to thinking. The more we do it, the better we become, which in turn allows you to perform at a higher level.

The impact of Social Media

Although based purely on my observations, I see a disturbing trend evolving with many entrepreneurs and, for that matter, many individuals. They turn to various forums on social media platforms to solve their every problem. To my way of thinking this is doing the individual a disservice. Relying on others to help you make a decision does nothing to enhance your skill in this all important area.

To be sure two heads can be better than one, but hundreds of opinions, not so much. The problem is the audience lacks the context of your specific situation and are better used when dealing technical issues rather than directional ones. Relying on others does absolutely nothing to enhance this much needed entrepreneurial skill set. Just remember old saying that “practice makes perfect”.

IBM – Think

Thinking was so important that for years IBM had the word THINK strategically placed above every doorway as a reminder. They expected their employees to solve problems both internally and externally for their customers. Apparently, the origin stems from an uninspiring sales meeting. Thomas Watson, the founder interrupted the meeting, saying “The trouble with every one of us is that we don’t think enough. We don’t get paid for working with our feet — we get paid for working with our heads”. Watson then wrote THINK on the easel. (Wikipedia). The word THINK has since long been an IBM trademark and they even named their laptops ThinkPads, that are now owned by Lenovo.

The ability to think critically opens our minds to our own possibilities and if done well it allows you to solve problems or envision what your future could be. By thinking through the pros and cons and all the what ifs, allows you to distill a course of action that is home grown and is tailored to your specific needs. But it cannot happen unless you make the time to think.

You may also enjoy 10 things to overcome business failure

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

A year ago, had you asked small business owners what 5 things could put them out of business?, I would have bet a pandemic would not have been on their top 10 let alone their top 50 things. But a lot has changed in just over a year. According to the CFIB (Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses), it is estimated that 1 in 6 small businesses won’t survive because of Covid-19. The UK is also predicting hundreds of thousands of failures with the US expecting that number to exceed 1 million according to McKinsey.

Assuming the 1 in 6 estimate to be true, that means that approximately 83% of small businesses will survive. Most certainly won’t flourish and it’ll take a long time to recover, but they will survive. Unfortunately, with the ongoing lockdowns, just surviving is incredibly stressful, to say nothing about how exhausting it can be.

5 areas that require every owners attention

Managing the work-from-home environment is not easy for most small business owners. For many, current technology has made it possible to continue, but only after a number of implementation headaches and costs. The learning curve has been steep. Because for many, technology is just something they’ve never understood.

What we need to understand, is that most small businesses are run in an impromptu or spontaneous manner. The owners have been so busy trying grow their businesses prior to the pandemic, that the majority lacked formal processes. Most just spent their days acting, or more accurately, reacting to whatever the day had instore for them. They are more like fire fighters directing their staff on a moment to moment basis depending what fire was burning the most brightly.

To be sure this pandemic has forced a few owners to get better organized in how they structure their working days, but for many it has become quite the challenge in keeping everyone focused, productive and motivated. In episode #93 Pivot, I discussed the whole concept of pivoting, which is far more difficult than people are led to believe, but so is changing the way a company operates.

So this brings me to my question – What 3 things would put you out of business? Well if you are surviving, you can scratch off pandemic. Sadly, because so many entrepreneurs are so focused in the moment, they don’t realize there are a whole host of issues that can kill their
businesses in a heart beat. The following is a primer list of 5 pretty common areas that require every owners attention, in order to safeguard their business’s future.

“Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise, will sooner or later have to find time for illness.”

Edward Stanley, former Prime Minister of the UK

#1 Your health

Unfortunately, most of us don’t even consider what would happen to their life’s work if they were suddenly struck with an injury or worse a life threatening illness. What would happen to the business if you were laid up? Would it survive? If not, what would you do for income? How would you handle the debt? How would it affect your family? This is serious stuff and requires your attention. Contrary to what we think, we are not invincible.

The following are few of solutions that you can minimize the impact of a health problem.

First off, you should investigate disability insurance. Yes, it can be expensive and yes, it usually pays out less than you’re currently earning. But something is better than nothing.

Secondly, many health related issues are self inflicted by our lifestyle. Making time for some form of exercise should be mandatory for every owner. It can range from taking a daily walk to a full on cross-fit workout at the gym. Something is better than nothing. There’s a wonderful saying that kind of drives the point home and it is from Edward Stanley, former Prime Minister of the UK that says:

“Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise, will sooner or later have to find time for illness.”

An additional item that should be mandatory in every small business and that is delegate. By delegating absolutely everything you can to your existing staff, this will certainly relieve some of the pressure. That way, there’s a good chance that the business will survive, while you are laid up. Unfortunately, this is one of the hardest things to get entrepreneurs to do. (See Small Business Minute #18 Delegating is easier than you think)

#2 Key staff quits.

Having your key staff member quit can really ruin a perfectly good day and for some people it can take their business down.

People leave companies for a lot of reasons and sometimes there is nothing you can have do to prevent it. From career changes, to better opportunities to relocations, sometimes it’s just out of your hands. But in many cases it’s not. One of the top reasons employees leave is the lack of recognition and this is something you can control. An occasional pat on the back or some other form appreciation goes a long way. It can be as simple as a thank you for their efforts.

However, if a key employee leaves, what’s your plan? If you’re like most you don’t have one and chances are you don’t have a deep bench of trained people ready to assume that position.

Therefore one of the best things you can do is to cross train individuals. The secondary person doesn’t have to be as well versed as the key person, but they should have been given enough exposure that they could perform the job being vacated even though they may be less efficient.

Additionally, creating in depth documented processes for all positions, allows other personnel to perform those functions until such time as you can find a replacement. This will go a long way to ensure that your company will survive. (see SBM #34 Processes- Shampoo, Rinse and Repeat)

#3 Business interruption

Covid-19 aside, there are lots of things that can cause business interruptions. A flood, a fire, even vandalism can shut your business down for weeks, if not months. A closed business can’t generate cashflow, yet bills still need to be paid.

It is estimated that over 80% of small businesses have no form of business interruption insurance that would pay out a set dollar amount in the event of a catastrophe. This is different than typical commercial/business insurance, whereby the physical damage to your business is repaired. Business Interruption on the other hand can cover Gross Earnings, Profits, Extra Expenses. Certainly worth considering.

#4 Competition

What would happen if a new competitor came into your market, how would you deal with it? Being so focused on the here and now, is a great way to get caught off guard. As I’ve stated before, too many entrepreneurs are so busy just handling the daily priorities, they never have time to lift their heads up to see what going.

Inevitably, they are not even aware of that a competitor has set up shop until they start stealing your customers. By the time they do realize what’s happening that trickle of desertions turns into a flood and is hard to reverse.

One of the best ways to avoid getting sideswiped is to stay in touch with all your customers on a regular basis. Too often the only time business owners talk with their customers is when they call in an order. The thought is, “they know where we are if they need us and I don’t want to bother them.”

Staying in regular contact with customers signals that they are important to your business and can also provide you with competitive intelligence. Most customer don’t change on a whim unless you’ve treated them poorly. So, by staying in touch the fact that a competitor is circling is often shared, thereby giving you time to react. (See SBM #76 Pick up the phone)

#5 Bad debt

This one item alone has contributed to the demise of many small businesses. Aside from not being diligent in collecting receivables, having one customer represent more than 15% of your business can be potential fatal if they close their doors or refuse to pay.

When you consider that many small businesses have net incomes of less than 10%, taking a hit from a major customer can be devastating. For example if a client reneges on a $20,000 invoice and you only net 10%, you’ll need to generate $200,000 in additional revenue just to recover that loss.

When you think about it, most small business are not flush with spare cash, missing out a major payment means you can’t cover payroll, rent or suppliers.

If you do find yourself with a client that represents more than 15%, you have two choices. First grow your business to get them below that threshold or alternatively collect early and often. Don’t forget you can set the rules, so don’t be shy about protecting your company. (See SBM #20 Cash Flow, the Breath of Life).

These are just 5 areas that should get you thinking, but every business has it’s Achilles heel. Spending some time thinking about “What 3 things would put you out of business?” certainly deserves your attention. Then pick the #1 item on your list and make a plan.

Let me know your thought sand ideas in the comment section.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I’ve been wanting to golf at a rural course for a number of years now. The reason is that this golf course now sits upon farmland that was once owned by two of my uncles. I had spent a lot of time of these farms as a kid growing up and I had only played the course once many years before and my memory suggested it wasn’t a bad little course.

So when a neighbour suggested that we get out for a round of golf, I recommended we go to this course and told him about my family heritage. He agreed and a tee time was booked.

For the sake of brevity, let’s just say the course condition was less than stellar. The fairways and greens looked like they hadn’t seen water the whole season and were harder than concrete. Needless to say I was a little embarrassed that I had recommended the course.

“…playing on what was the equivalent of a parking lot didn’t help.”

Aside from the terrible course condition, the signage was askew, and you were left to your own devices to find your way between holes. All in all, not a great experience and my score reflected my frustration. Heck, golf is hard enough at times and playing on what was the equivalent of a parking lot didn’t help.

My Google review

So, having wasted good money playing a bad course, I felt compelled to leave a Google review. Needless to say they only received a one-star and my write-up stated that the course was unkept and appeared to be unloved as well. I further stated that they clearly couldn’t maintain 36 holes, so maybe they should try to focus on 18 and do it better.

About a week or so later, I noticed a message alert in my Facebook feed. To my surprise, it was from the course operation manager asking if we could chat, to which I agreed.

This individual went on to tell me that my review pained him because they are family owned and they work hard. He further explained that their water pump had been down for three weeks and that they’d been hauling water day and night during the hottest time of the year. He then proceeded to ask me to remove my review now that he had explained his position.

My initial response to his request was that he should have let us know at the time that the course was unplayable and let us make the decision to play, or they should have offered some form of discount when we showed up. This is a common theme with many small businesses, when they are unable to provide an acceptable level of service for whatever reason. They just keep quiet and continue to charge their regular fees, instead of coming clean and being honest.

Responding to Google reviews helps

It’s been my experience, that the main driver for this type of behaviour is that they are so in need of the revenue, that they place customer service or experience a distant second. But what they don’t realize is that this attitude costs them far more in the long run and just compounds an already bad situation.

I further suggested to the individual that they should reply to my comment on Google because people want to see how businesses react to bad reviews. I also told him that responding to bad reviews with a legitimate reason actually has a positive impact. He responded that they would just prefer that I remove the original comment because they don’t think they should have to air their disputes in public.

Shortly after this, the conversation started going off the rails. I explained to him that I wasn’t prepared to remove my comments, because I experienced a subpar course regardless of the reasons. In addition, I also wanted him respond to my review as I knew it was in his best interest, but he wanted none of that.

The point of this story is that far too many businesses fail to pay attention to the impact of good or bad reviews can have on your business. But even more importantly, is the impact you can have in responding to any and all reviews. Just think of how you go about searching for goods or services on Google. Once you’ve narrowed down the search results, do you read the Google reviews? How do you react when you see reviews that have no response from the business owner? How do you feel when there is honest commentary from the business owner to each comment?

When asked, most people agree that they value Google reviews when researching businesses and the research overwhelmingly support this position. Unfortunately, too many businesses do not pay any attention to this free resource and it’s costing them a lot of business.

Google provides every business the ability to be listed in their search results. It’s always of interest to me when I do a search within an industry to see businesses that haven’t claimed their listing. To find out if your business is listed, simply go to Google my Business. If your business is not listed, they make it quite easy to get a listing included in their search results by logging in and completing your business profile. That way you’ll be able to get the benefits of having Google reviews

In a recent survey by BrightLocal, an online agency that helps marketers working with a local business do their job better, found the following key statistics:

Key Statistics

90% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last year, with 33% looking every day
82% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, with 52% of 18-54-year-olds saying they ‘always’ read reviews
The average consumer reads 10 reviews before feeling able to trust a business
Only 53% of people would consider using a business with less than 4 stars
The average consumer spends 13 minutes and 45 seconds reading reviews before making a decision
Among consumers that read reviews, 97% read businesses’ responses to reviews

A link to the complete survey results can be found here:

https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/#influence-of-reviews

Additionally, research has also found that consumer give more credibility to businesses that respond to reviews, good or bad. That’s because it shows that the business actually cares about their customer service. For proof, just think about how you react to reviews with and without responses from the business. I know how I feel, but to qualify this, I asked approximately 10 people what their thoughts were regarding businesses that respond to reviews. 100% agreed that they look favourably upon those businesses that take the time to respond.

Make them personal

If you’re going to respond to review, avoid the standard cut and paste responses, such as “Thank you” and make them a little personal. Whatever you do, do not offer any discounts or bribes to people in order to get them to write a Google review. It’s highly frowned upon by Google should they find out and will seriously impact your search ranking. However, asking people for reviews is quite acceptable and worthwhile.

As for my little story, in order to end my conversation with the individual, I stated that I will consider updating my comments to reflect that the owner did reach out to me. However, after further ruminating on the subject, I decided not to update my comments. My rationale was that it’s not my responsibility to do his job.

I’d like to know your thoughts if you were faced with a similar situation. So, leave your comments below.

You may also enjoy Want More Sales-Follow up

If you found this of value, please pass this along to any business owner that you fell could benefit by understanding the upside to Google reviews.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

Order Here

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Work from home is not a new concept. People have been looking for any excuse to do so since the turn of the century. Initially, Friday’s was the defacto work from home day. It’s popularity was driven mostly to get a jump on the weekend, more so than trying to get distraction free time in order to get caught up. For evidence, just check the highway traffic on Friday’s afternoons during the summer, as people are fleeing the city.

Over time as work from home became more and more accepted, Wednesday also became popular. Wednesday is a natural work from home day as it not only breaks up your week, but for many was a legitimate opportunity to work uninterrupted. The mid week isolation gave individuals the chance to focus on major assignments or priorities. Of course, people raved about how productive they are working from home and most were.

So what changed?

For centuries people have been making their way into the office. Initially most could walk to their place of employment. But over time, as cities grew, public transit became the norm for those who had to travel greater distance than walking. Finally, as the downtown core in many cities became the commercial hub and with people moving to the suburbs for affordable housing, the car began to dominate as the preferred method to commute in many cities.

As this cycle of commercial intensification in the downtown cores and suburb getting farther away, going to work went from a simple task to a stressed induced war pitting driver against driver to see who can gain the best lane advantage. Depending on where you lived, this daily ritual could easily last from 30 minutes to over an hour, twice daily. So needless to say, people started looking for any opportunity to get the occasional reprieve from this daily grind.

But that’s not all!

Another major catalyst for what has become the Work from Home (WFH) movement, is the growth of the open office concept. Long before Covid-19 changed our world, companies of all sizes were jumping on the open office concept. Gone were the cubicles, the open office concept, embraced by the major tech companies, was the model to follow.

Contrary to what is expounded by management of the team building benefits of an open office, the real motivation is cost saving. Open office concepts save a lot of money because they pretty much eliminate the need for all but minimal leasehold improvements. Plus they offer a ton of savings on office furnishings.

What I find genuinely interesting with the open office concept, is that most senior managers all end up with offices. If it’s good for the goose, shouldn’t it be good for the gander? Of course, they justify it based on their need for privacy. Shouldn’t these managers be subjected to the same restrictions and annoyances they place on their employees?

To be sure the open office concept is not new. Just check on those black and white photos of the clerical pools of 1950’s, where there were rows upon rows of desks in large rooms. But those were days before computers and automation. Most of those jobs were repetitive task driven activities and although these individuals were knowledgeable, they weren’t considered knowledge workers. Most of those tasks of yesteryear have been replaced by automated solutions with little human interaction.

So many of today’s workers are considered knowledge workers and are required to think and make decisions. They need to be creative and require time to focus. The reality is that as individuals, we are creative at different times of the day. Some individuals are at their best creatively in the morning, some at midday and other late afternoon and not necessarily everyday. Let’s be honest, creativity can very spontaneous and generally can’t be scheduled. So reserving one of the “quiet rooms” located on the perimeter of the open office concept, at a moments notice, is not always possible.

At the end of the day, the reason why people want to work from home is that there are too many distraction in the open office concept. Whether those distractions are in the form of visual, auditory, or human interruptions they abound everywhere and everyday. There’s just no privacy. Interruptions by fellow employees appears to be the most frustrating issue reported, because there’s no place to hide or call your own. An attitude that, you’re at your desk, therefore it’s okay to talk to you, is the norm. You’re living in a fishbowl.

As a result, individuals are going to great lengths now to develop the virtual version of “do not disturb” signals and it is stressing them out. Wearing headphones and not looking up when someone goes by, is essentially an indicator that “I’m busy”, but even then many teammates are oblivious to these indicators.

As a curious individual, I’m hard wired to be constantly scanning my environment. Maybe it’s a hold over from the prehistoric days when you really had to be aware of your surroundings, otherwise you became somebody’s lunch. So keeping my head down all day, is as big of a distraction as being interrupted.

Is work from home any better?

For people around the world, this wasn’t a conscious decision. Covid-19 just forced everybody’s hand to work from home because there wasn’t much of an alternative. After three months, many are liking it, but many aren’t and as time moves on, there appear to be cracks forming in their new love affair with the work from home concept.

For those fortunate to have a spare room, the transition was acceptable. However, if a couple are both relegated to work from home, then someone is going to get stuck at the kitchen or dining room table. This is okay for a day or two, but for three plus months, I don’t think so.

So, if this work from home movement is to become permanent, how are individuals going to manage this? You can’t expect most couples to share that spare bedroom and work side by side, that’s just a recipe for disaster. Most individuals can’t afford a bigger house, so what’s the option. What about condo and apartment dwellers? No, work from home is not sustainable under many individuals current lifestyle.

Taken a step further and assuming an individual has the physical space to work from home, who’s going to pay for all the necessary upgrades to make it workable and at what cost? What about security and liability? What if someone gets injured? What if someone trip or falls going to their home office, where does the liability begin or end? Is that a workers compensation issue or a safety issue? Believe me, I don’t have the answers and I’m not sure anybody does at this point.

Let’s talk about team unity

In order to maintain communication and team unity, everybody jumped on the available collaboration tools available such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and albeit a little late to the party, Google’s Meet, just to name a few. For all the praise for the ease of use and quick implementation of these tools, it’s just not the same as an in person meeting.

Having participated in a few of these digital meetings, I’ve come up with some observations that I have no idea how they are to be solved. Granted people are getting far more comfortable on the platforms, but they are draining. Gone are all the physical queues we become accustomed to. When to speak, avoiding talking over someone paying attention are just a couple of the myriad of challenges individuals face on video platforms.

Because we’ve done it so long, most people are comfortable in live meetings, albeit bored on occasion. Being on a video conference requires 100% attention to the screen because you have 6, 10 or 20 people staring back at you for the duration, so you need to be on your best behaviour. Reports from individuals that are on video calls or meetings a good portion of their day, are reporting that they are exhausted, where they weren’t in in-person meetings.

Leaders checking in

Now I will profess that I subscribe to the Management by Walking Around style of management. I wasn’t aware that my style actually had a name until such time as I read In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Robert Wateman many years ago.

Essentially, it’s what the name infers. As opposed to a formal meeting, a manager wanders around checking in with their staff in an impromptu manner. It’s not about catching people slacking off, it’s about creating informal teaching moments. But at a deeper level, it’s about connecting with your staff by having more face time. The concept apparently originated at Hewlett Packer or HP as it is known today.

There was a study done by Leadership IQ on the Importance of Leadership. The report states that 50% of employees spend less than 3 hours a week with their leader. However, those that spend 6 or more hours per week with their leaders are

29% more inspired
30% more engaged
15% more motivated
10% more innovative

This level of engagement, although possible, will be difficult to achieve using video conferencing. Managers of all types will need to reinvent themselves if work from home is the new normal. I’m just not sure it’ll be as effective as face-to-face.

If this is ever going to work, managers will need to up their game and reinvent themselves. Team members will worry that because they are out of site, they’re out of mind and fear they won’t get the recognition they want or more importantly need.

Personal boundaries

The curse of the smartphone has stretched many peoples day, as emails or text messages come in at all hours of the day. As a result, many have defaulted into responding to them no matter when they come in. The justification is that it’s only one email and, what the heck, if I answer it now, it’ll be one less thing to do tomorrow. In addition, email and messaging has created a false sense of urgency and therefore an answer is expected immediately. This was bad enough before Covid-19 and I can only imagine what the new normal will look like.

Where all this really falls apart is if people are permanently anchored at home, they naturally loose their work boundaries. They’ll take advantage of doing errands that were traditionally relegated to nights and weekends. And they’ll justify it by they can catch up on their work later that night or weekends. Boundaries are going to get blurred by managers and employees alike.

Humans are social

Let’s remember, that for the most part humans are social and need interaction. That can’t be replicated on video or conference calls. There’s a potential risk that people will start to feel disconnected from the rest of your team as all those informal interaction become a thing of the past.

What companies need to be on the lookout for will be the potential reduction in innovation and creativity, much of which just happens when colleagues pump into each other at the water cooler or in the hallway. This can’t be replicated digitally.

Work from home has been tried in the past by some very large corporations and their experiments failed miserably. Granted the advance in technology will certainly improve the odds, but I don’t believe by much. IBM for all it’s technological know how, recalled about 11,000 of their employees back into the office 18 months ago after realizing they were missing out on the innovation that just happened through interacting in person.

What’s the solution?

When Covid-19 is in our rear view mirrors, I think most people will be back in their workplaces and rumours of the death of the office are premature. What might be interesting is a hybrid solution, whereby people will able to split their week or rotate days that they’re in the office. But for those companies, that are going fully remote, you’ll need to create some very unique skills in order to keep your teams organized, motivated and loyal. It won’t be easy

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

Order Here

1 2 3 … 9 »

Category: Business

The Bad

The Good

How to Spot the Difference

Research their background

Look at online reviews

Ask questions

Knowledge

Set expectations

Get a quote

Check their terms and conditions

Take your time

Conclusion

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Putting lipstick on a pig

I ain’t buying the place

Out of sync

Do you care enough?

What you can do to improve the customer experience

What’s stressing you out?

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

The destructive power of inflation

Business is not a charity

Some options

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Be Passionate

What are you good at?

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Knowledge deficit

Klondike (Yukon) Gold Rush

The Chilkoot Pass

Just show up

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Think not worry!

The impact of Social Media

IBM – Think

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

5 areas that require every owners attention

#1 Your health

#2 Key staff quits.

#3 Business interruption

#4 Competition

#5 Bad debt

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

My Google review

Responding to Google reviews helps

Key Statistics

Make them personal

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

So what changed?

But that’s not all!

Is work from home any better?

Let’s talk about team unity

Leaders checking in

Personal boundaries

Humans are social

What’s the solution?

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

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