SBM #114 Do you lead from the front or the back?

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Regardless of whether you have two or twenty employees, leadership matters and for what it’s worth, there are few natural born leaders. That’s why leadership skills need to be learned and relearned all the time.

So here’s a question I bet most entrepreneurs don’t ever consider. Do you lead from the front or the back? Some entrepreneurs know instinctively when to lead from the front or to lead from the back. Others though need to consciously work at trying to balance between the two. But sadly too many haven’t got a clue and nor do they care.

To say that leadership is a large and fragmented topic, would be an understatement. A recent search of Google on the word “Leadership” returned an astronomical 4.7 billion results. That’s “B” as in billions. Therefore it’s safe to assume that there is lots of interest in the topic.

To be sure that with this many results there is bound be a fair amount of repetitiveness in the advice given. Fortunately, there are always those tried and true nuggets of wisdom that have stood the test of time.

One of those truths is that good leaders tend to be good leaders regardless of the environment. Having said that, one of the biggest challenge facing leaders today is that they may have to up their empathy quotient. This is so that they can accommodate the current crop of employees, as many appear to need more hand holding than previous generations.

Female warrior leader aggressive stance
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Why step back?

Although every situation is different, the good leaders know when to assert themselves and take charge or when to back off and let someone else lead.

They’re confident enough to know they don’t always have to be out front. By relinquishing control, they give their staff the opportunity to grow their leadership skills.

Ultimately, the more you lead from the back, the more freedom you’ll have, allowing you to tackle more strategic issues, or to simply cut back on your workload.

The trick is to know when to take charge and when to let others do so. Finding the right balance is tough and should always be determined by the situation.

So when do you lead from the front?

So how often do you lead from the front? Unless you have a very green team, it’s a lot less often than you think.
There are a number of situations that require you, the owner, to step up and lead the charge. These tend to fall into two buckets, crisis or opportunity.

A crisis can best be defined as a showstopper. It’s any situation that can negatively affect the company’s reputation or performance and has a high degree of urgency.

Many times in crisis situations you don’t have the luxury of sitting back and letting things unfold in a natural way. It often requires immediacy of action.

This is where experience and knowledge comes into play, whereby the leader can react far more quickly to the situation.

Opportunities on the other hand may require someone to lead from the front for political or strategic reasons.

Here are some situations that may require you to be out in front and leading the charge:

Let’s first look at some crises situations:
    1. Having a large client threaten to stop dealing with you after all attempts by your team have failed, would rank high.
    1. Needing to defend the actions of your team with a client would be another situation. Many times the “customer isn’t always right!”
    1. A massive competitive threat that comes out of nowhere might also qualify.
    1. A product or service failure. You need to own it!
And now opportunity situations
    1. Depending on your industry, you may need to lead the charge on launching a new product. This gives you the chance to get direct feedback, good or bad directly from your customers. Equally as important, it can show your customers and team that it is important.
    1. Setting the vision or direction of the company requires you to lead from front. It’s not something you can delegate. Your actions speaks louder than words.
    1. Matching is another situation where it’s important to be visible. Matching means exactly that. It’s where you match client title with your own.

For example, a new clients wants a presentation on your services. In attendance from their side will be mid-level person along with their company president or vice-president. In those case you should be visible and lead the conversation. It also shows the client that they are important.

The switch

Regardless of whether it’s a crises or an opportunity, the goal here is to ultimately relinquish the relationship to a team member.

This is done by stating something to the effect “Going forward Mary will be your key contact”, or “John will follow up with next week to discuss next steps”. By making that statement, you go from leading from the front to leading from the back.

Additionally, whether you lead from the front or the back, these situations must be used as teaching moments.

These teaching moments include taking the time to explain to your team the rationale for the given course of action and will be open to input.

However, being open to input doesn’t mean that you are obliged to act on it. So to counter this, you must take the time to explain why it will or why it won’t be incorporated it into the plan.

Equally important is that, when leading from the back you must let the individual know that you have their back and are available for consultation if needed.

In conjunction with this support, your job is to run interference for their team. In other words, you need to make sure they don’t get distracted with other people’s priorities.

Female warrior leader standing down

Don’t jump in

The hardest part for any leader when taking a back seat is to avoid jumping in and rescue an individual when it’s clear that their chosen course of action will not achieve the desired outcome.

This was a lesson I learned many years ago as a newly minted district manager at a major consumer goods company. A big part of my job was to monitor, motivate and train a dozen or so sales reps.

Fortunately or unfortunately, very little of this could be done remotely. For the most part this was a feet on the ground undertaking, riding shotgun for hours or days as we visited dozens of accounts.

One of the golden rules when leading from the back, was never to interrupt or critique the individual, while they were presenting to a buyer. Sometimes this was painful, when it was clear that things were going off the rails or there was a missed upsell opportunity.

Had I jumped in to save the day on any of these calls, we would have surely walked out with a bigger order, but at what cost?

Taking control in those moments risked destroying the individual’s self-confidence and undermine their authority with that buyer. Not a fair trade to my way of thinking.

Instead, the right approach was to wait until the call was completed and undertake a post-mortem. Unless the individual was brand new, these after call reviews only took a few minutes and happened in the car on the way to the next call. Simple teaching moments that paid immediate dividends throughout the rest of the day.

Female warrior confident pose

Time well spent.

In hindsight, working this closely and exclusively with any team member for a day or two pays huge dividends. Unfortunately, that’s a rarity today and that’s a shame.

Fortunately though, time spent working with your team to show them how to be more effective is always a good investment. It gives you a chance to share your knowledge and experience, usually in real life situations instead of in hypotheticals.

People go to work to be successful!

Developing your team’s leadership capabilities by knowing when to lead from the front or the back is critical if you want to grow your company.

By developing a more capable workforce, it frees you up to spend more time on strategic initiatives, such as goal setting or keeping the organization on point vis-à-vis your vision. And let’s not forget the freedom to seek out new opportunities.

Understanding that if employees are enjoying their work and feel appreciated, they’ll perform at a higher level. There’s nothing new or complicated in that statement, but it’s surprising how misunderstood this simple concept is.

As with any delegation initiatives, the goal here is to free up your time and increase employee’s satisfaction. Always keep in mind that people go to work to be successful. Being bored with their work is a sure fire way to increase turnover.

There’s a time and a place to be that hard charging entrepreneur and there’s a time to step back. Knowing the difference can really help you and your company grow.

 

You may also enjoy SBM #33 Responsibility and authority

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.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

SBM #95 What 3 things could put you out of business?

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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.

What 3 things could put you out of business?

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.”

What 3 things could put you out of business?

 

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.

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.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

SBM #91 The Money Business

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Money, it’s one of those personal topics that many people are uncomfortable discussing. Why that is, varies from person to person.

Even inside a business that uncomfortableness exist, but that needs to change. Generally speaking, the only time the subject of money seems to ever comes up is in the heat of the moment in comments such as “Do you know how much that costs?”. Even then the word money is not used.

When I ask owners what business they are in, I usually get the expected answer such as “I’m in retail or I own a restaurant or I’m in a service business of some sorts.” These are all technically correct answers and serve to explain your enterprise to your external customers and strangers alike.

However, I would like you to consider an alternative definition that should be used internally within the organization and be at the forefront of your decision making process. What is that internal definition? Simply, “We are in the money business!”

dollars, pounds, yen

And it matters not one bit what industry you are in. At the end of the day, you are in the money getting business. Pure and simple. You exchange your services in return for money.

The service you offer is nothing more than the vehicle you use to get that money.

This may sound a little crass to some because they don’t want to think of their business in such impersonal terms. Others are so emotionally committed to their desire to be an entrepreneur that they have fallen in love with their idea and not the business of the business itself.

Let’s be honest, the reason 99% of us went into business in the first place, is the allure of potentially making more money. To be sure, we had other reasons such as being our own boss, validating our idea or just finding a better way to do something. But at the end of the day, the majority of us were seeking higher incomes.

Focusing on money is not to say that you have to become Scrooge like. Nor does it mean caring less about your customers or how you do things. To the contrary, having higher profitability and more money gives you the ability to actually increase your service levels. The alternative means that you’re on the proverbial treadmill generating additional low margin business just to keep the doors open, which results in customer service taking a back seat to everything else.

No, it means being selective in where you commit this precious resource. It also means getting your staff to understand that their actions can impact, good or bad, the profitability and financial health of the company. But you need to reinforce that position with them. You need to make them understand that their actions have a cost associated with it.

Loving what you do is one thing, but it’s got to be profitable and the more money or profit you make allows you to build a safety net under your company. Consider for a moment, how unprepared so many small businesses were in the face of the Covid-19 lockdowns. Sadly, many have locked their doors forever.

Changing the mindset

 

There’s really only two things you need to know about money, where you get it and where you spend it. So, the logical place to start is to understand where you get your money.

It’s been my experience that just about every business has revenue categories. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs don’t bother to segregate their services into any formal groupings. As a result, they have no idea what percentage each product or service groupings contribute to their revenue.

 

But revenue grouping is only half the equation. We often hear that we should be focusing most of our time on revenue generating activities. I absolutely agree that this should be every entrepreneurs priority, with one added caveat. These revenue generating activities need to be profitable and we should be focusing on the most profitable of these activities.

Therefore, in order to determine which revenue generating activities are the most profitable, we need to be able to attribute what it costs to generate those revenue. You do so by allocating all the expenses incurred to each of the revenue groups. In doing so, you can now determine the most profitable areas of your business. In other words, what’s making you money, where you’re losing money and everything in between.

By having the ability to analyse your revenue categories, you can begin to make educated decisions. When you consider how much labour, overheads, and other expenses go into generating revenue and then to find out you lost money or only break even, it’s heartbreaking. Granted getting a nice big cheque for a project you just completed is a wonderful feeling. However, if it has a low profit margin, you are effectively just trading dollars.

So first and foremost, you need to prioritize your activities on the most profitable products or services you offer. Then you need to determine how you can increase your activity on these most profitable items.

At the end of the day your objective is to narrow your focus to those items or activities that are the most profitable and quit wasting time on marginal ones. There are only so many hours in a day available to you and your staff. If you subscribe even just a little bit to the 80/20 rule you’ll quickly determine that a lot of your energy and your staffs is wasted on low value products and activities.

I know many will say that they have to keep their prices low in order to compete. This is where you need to get your head around the fact that you are in the money business. If that’s truly the case, get the heck out of that line of business or quit offering that product. If you need to stay in that line of business, then find a way to increase the value of your offer without increasing your costs. That way you’ll you can demand a higher price, thereby increasing your profits. These decisions are well within your control.

A True Story

Many years ago, I undertook this exercise to determine where we were making our money. Although it was a tedious process, it was an eye opener. The net result of that undertaking was that I cut over $300,000 of revenue from the company by identifying low margin activities and clients in industries where, due to competition, we were unable to manage any form of price increase to make them more profitable.

This was at a time when my company had just achieved breakeven and this decision was going to be a major setback. However, as expected or maybe I should say hoped, our profitability grew significantly, and we were profitable in less than a year.

In hindsight, it made perfect sense and the risk was more imagined than real. When you consider that we focused on fewer but more profitable services and clients or labour and other expense inputs dropped dramatically, which resulted in more profits for the company.

In addition, this exercise helped us to identify and target those clients and industries where there was very little competition. Doing so allowed us to regain the lost revenue within 18 months and our profitability continued to grow. 

Just to reinforce this point, Covid-19 forced many global foods companies to reduce their product offerings in order to focus on their core products. Lays, Procter & Gamble, Kraft and the Campbell Soup Company, stop producing, not just cut back many of their slower moving products because demand on their core products exceed their ability to supply. Some of these companies reduced their offering by upwards of 18%. Many of these cut products may never return to our grocery shelves because the companies realized that their profits came from their core products.

Spending money is easy, making money is hard

Another thing to keep in mind is, that spending money is easy, making money it is hard. Because of how hard it is to make money, every spending decision, whether that be on equipment or staff needs to be paid for somehow. For example, if you’re netting 10% profit on the bottom line, a $10,000 expense requires you to generate extra revenue by a factor of 10. In other words, you need to generate $100,000 in additional revenue just to cover the cost of that expense.

So before you or your staff clicks the “Add to Cart” button or slap down your credit card on supplies or that new piece of equipment, you better make sure it’s necessary. Because at the end of the day, that’s less money you’ll be able to take out of the company personally.

Money is such a precious commodity in any business. Some of the benefits of having money in the bank, is that it’s a great stress reliever knowing we have the capabilities to meet our obligations. Taking that stress off the table, then allows us to concentrate our time on more productive duties.

It’s in times of crisis that the importance of money is reaffirmed. Crisis come in all shapes and sizes. From key customers that quit buying to pandemics, each can seriously mess with your business. So by adopting the attitude that you’re in the money business, will go a long way significantly increasing your profitability and your income.

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

You may also enjoy Clustering for Profits

If you found this of value, please pass this along to any business owner that you fell could benefit by understanding that they’re in The Money Business

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.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Order Here

SBM #89 Work From Home

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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.

open office 1950's

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

You may also enjoy SBM#53- Focus

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.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Order Here

SBM #85 – Entrepreneurs guide to conference calls

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The outbreak of Covid-19 has got the world on lock down and many employees have transitioned to working at home. With that, many entrepreneurs are holding daily conference calls to keep teams connected.

The upside is many employees are having greater communication with their managers than they previously had. Unfortunately, many owners have never participated or hosted conference calls and in my conversations with participants, I’m hearing that many of these calls are bit chaotic and frustrating.

So I thought I’d offer up the following 6 tips to have better conference calls.

1. Be on time!

There’s nothing more distracting than someone joining a call late only to declare “Hi I’m here!”. This usually happens without consideration that with a call in progress, someone may be already talking, and your arrival and announcement totally disrupts the flow. Login quietly and wait until there’s a break in the topic to let people know you’ve arrived.

2. The meeting Chair

Whoever is hosting or chairing the call, needs to set some rules or guidelines in order to control the conversation and keep it on track. One thing I did when chairing in-person committee meetings in my many volunteer roles, was to make sure everybody had a chance to speak. Many people have great ideas or want to contribute to a conversation but just don’t have the confidence to speak up. These same people tend to be a little more reserved and therefore remain quiet. Let be honest there’s always a core group of people who monopolize conversations, so the quieter ones are little intimidated and don’t speak up.

So, in order to give these individuals a chance to air their ideas or concerns, I would keep track of who has spoken on a given topic and then I would go around the table and ask the individuals who hadn’t commented, if they had anything to add. This way they were given the opportunity to make their thoughts known.

In a conference call, the chair should state the issue or ask the question and then ask each individual, one at a time to comment. This alleviates the typical free for all that usually happens, and the conference call becomes more productive.

As a caveat, some conference calling platforms have the ability for individuals to digitally raise their hand to comment. However, many of conference calls taking place today calls are being held on mobile phones without these functions.

3. Set out an agenda

Just like in person meetings, whoever is running or chairing the call should put out an agenda beforehand. Since these conference calls will be daily or twice daily events, the list will be small. It’ll help at keeping everyone focused on the issues at hand.

4. Put your phone on mute

There’s nothing more annoying than background noise during conference calls. Since many people are going to be working from home, with kids and dogs underfoot, this is a big problem. So, if you’re not talking, put your phone on mute until it’s your turn.

5. No speaker phones or hands free.

Usually the sound quality when talking on speaker phone is significantly reduced. Using the speaker phone setting makes it difficult for everyone else to hear what your saying and requires immense concentration. Get a set of headphones if you need your hands to be free during the call. It’ll make the call more comfortable for everyone else.

6. Assign a minute taker

Just like any formal meeting someone should be taking minutes of the meeting. They don’t have to be long dissertations. Point form is sufficient and is really just a summary of issues and actions required. Unlike an office meeting, there’s little chance to do face to face follow up, so these minutes can be distributed shortly after the conference call ends and serves to keep everyone on task. The minute taker should be rotated between the callers every day.

These are trying times for most entrepreneurs. Many have never faced such a dramatic shift in they way they are forced to do business. However, this is a wonderful opportunity to try out those ideas you’ve always had, but never had the time to test.

Using conference calls to keep your arms around everyone and provide clear direction is just one of the tools, that did not exist or were the exclusive domain of large corporations not that many years ago.

Stay safe.

You may also enjoy Are you Ready

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.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

SBM #82 – Starting Over

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What if, you had the chance of starting over? What if you could reboot your business? What would you do differently? Theses are questions that I regularly ask small business owners, especially when I come across those that are struggling, stressed out and unhappy.

The answers I get range from, “I’d hire better people” to “I would not have tried to grow so fast”. Let’s not forget the commonly heard “I was happier when I got to do the stuff I liked doing”. Depending on the individual and their speciality, that could range from selling to working in the shop.

Keeping your foot to the floor

The reality of business ownership is that we are driven to build the company as fast as possible. Of course, that makes total sense as we need to generate revenue and get profitable as soon as we can, or we just don’t survive. Simple enough and it makes total sense.

Where the problem arises for many, is that they just keep their foot to floor, to steal a metaphor, and don’t back off once they hit that threshold of profitability. For others, the bigger they get, the less money they seem to make. At some point, they reach that tipping point whereby they’re just tired of chasing what seems to be an elusive goal and now feel trapped in a future of their own making.

So why is that? Well the answer is pretty simple. Everything we read, see or hear regarding entrepreneurial success is about growing your business. Everything is sensationalised. Rarely do we hear about the thousands upon thousands successful small business owners who are quite content with the size of their businesses and are not looking expand other than by organic growth. But they exist, they’re successful and they’re happy.

If you’re not growing, you’re dying!

I too wanted to build that empire. I was also caught up in the grow your business mentality, where the mantra “if you’re not growing, you’re dying” was the battle cry of the day. There’s a small bit of truth in that statement, in that your revenues should be growing annually, if nothing more than to keep up with inflation. But as with most of these statements, they’re always taken to the extreme, which put undue stress on an owner and their ability to keep up. For example, the current buzz words are that you need to “10x” your business or grow it 10 times the current size. Really? Why?

It took a while for me to ignore the hype and focus on what’s was important to me. What I came to realize was that I wasn’t prepared to make the personal sacrifices required to grow the company at all costs. My family and quality of life were my priorities.

That’s not to say I didn’t have any drive or ambition. On the contrary, but I was no longer in a rush and I came to enjoy the measured approach to growth, where I could have some degree of control over it. Put another way, I subscribed to the notion that “the journey is the destination”. Once I realized what was important to me, I found my level or balance if you wish.

You don’t have to ask for permission

So, when I hear the answers to the question – What would you do differently? I usually ask, what’s stopping you? Which usually stops the individual in their tracks. They really don’t have an answer. Oh, they say things like, I’ve got too much invested, or I can’t just fire these people. To which I respond, you can do whatever you want. Who’s stopping you and why can’t you?

Seriously, we have the control. We don’t have to ask permission of anyone. As owners we are not infallible. We make mistakes. We make mistakes in hiring. We make mistakes in our strategic planning. We make mistakes in the products or services we offer. We are human and no one has a crystal ball. Yet too many of us get trapped by past decisions. So, what’s stopping us from changing? Is it ego? I believe that’s part of it. Is it pride? Yup I believe that also part of it. However, I believe the biggest issue is fear. Fear that we might make the same mistake all over again. That’s certainly a risk, but frankly it’s a small risk because you’re far more knowledgeable than you used to be, and you now know what you don’t like. The alternative of course is to do nothing, and I can pretty much guarantee you’ll continue to be miserable.

The beauty about starting over is you already have a business, so you’re not really starting over. It’s more of a makeover and it doesn’t have to happen all at once. However, you do need a plan because without one, you risk ending up right back where you started. What that plan looks like varies by individual.

Don’t get paralyzed

Yes, this process can seem a little overwhelming, so you need to make sure you don’t get paralyzed with all the decisions you need to make. So, the first thing you need do, if you’re looking to morph your business into the one you want, is to make a list of everything you want to change. Be tough and list everything and everybody. The objective of making the list is not just to get organized, but to break down everything you want to do into bite sized pieces. This will make the whole process more manageable and also help feel like you’re making progress as you check off the items.

Now rank the items from urgent to less urgent. Don’t forget to include your own personal improvements on this list, because you’ll also need to do things differently than you have. Next, just start with the first item. Remember, some things can be done immediately, and some may take a little longer.

A common example I run into is having to let someone go. You’ve most likely been contemplating dismissing the individual for quite some time. You’ve probably been putting it off because you’re hoping that they’ll improve or, more likely, it’s because you just hate doing the deed. But the truth is that deep down inside, you know it’ll never work, so why wait any longer? To use the Nike slogan “Just Do It!”. Although you may not enjoy the process, the sooner it’s done, the sooner it’ll be in your rearview mirror and you won’t be stressing over it.

Leadership

This whole process is about leadership. It’s about taking charge of your destiny, your future. Sometimes you lead from the front, sometimes you lead from the rear. This is one of those times you need to lead from the front, and you do so by taking action. No more hesitation. This is about your life and your happiness.

For example, I work with a number contractors in various trades. Many of them miss being “on the tools” as they like to say. For them it’s therapeutic and gets them away from the day-to-day running of the company. Unfortunately for most, their toolbelts are just hanging on the wall collecting dust. So, what I recommend to these individuals is to just schedule a few days a month where they strap on their toolbelts and go work on the job site. It’s that simple.

Do you miss the customer interaction because you’re too busy doing administrative duties? Then just schedule a couple of days to visit clients. The upside to getting out is that you may just discover missed opportunities with your existing customers.

Getting your business to align with your needs is easier than you think, because you have the power to make the changes you want. It just takes the sincere desire to make changes. If your goals have changed from when you first started, that’s ok, they’re your goals. You don’t need anybody’s permission to adjust course. If you do, I give you permission.

You may also enjoy Successful People Do the Hard Stuff

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.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

SBM #57 Recognition

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Recognition is the easiest and most effective way to motivate employees, yet remarkably, one of the least used.¬ Entrepreneurs spend endless hours trying to figure out how to motivate their teams, yet ignore this basic human need.

A little research will show that there are an untold number of studies that rank recognition, or appreciation for their work, in the top 10 qualities that lead to job satisfaction, often placing it as the number one item.

The funny thing is, this is not revolutionary. I remember being a young manager in the pre-digital age and regularly coming across articles stating the exact same thing. A different time, a different generation, yet the very same piece of advice for managers. Tom Peters, in his seminal book, In Search of Excellence, stated that “we need to catch people doing something right”!

What about all the good?

All too often we’re quick to notice when something goes awry, we lose no time in bringing the misstep to the guilty party’s attention. Yet, how often have we ignored the many good things that same individual does? Is it because we take the position that it’s their job to do it right and that’s what I’m paying them for?

Catching people doing something right requires very little effort and only entails you to be on the lookout for those moments. Recognition of a job well done can have a significant impact on morale, on profitability as well as innovation.

Build confidence

Think about it for second. You catch someone doing something really well or took the initiative to try something new. At this point you thank them and let them know you’re pleased. So, what do think happens next? Well, it’s been my experience that a smile usually breaks across the individual face. Even the most grizzled employee will probably soften for a moment. That small action on your part signals that what they do, matters. It builds their confidence, all because someone noticed.

Let’s face it, we all like to be recognized. We all enjoy the occasional pat on the back. Don’t you beam just a little when a customer says, you did a great job? Well your employees are no different. Seriously, how much effort does it take to acknowledge a job well done? Very little!

Just a little effort

If you train yourself to be on the outlook, you’ll find plenty of moments to praise. Just be sure to be sincere. The following are just a couple of examples to prime your thinking

  • You overhear an employee on the phone with a customer and you’re impressed at how they handled the situation. So as soon as the call is completed, let them know that you were impressed and thank them for caring. You can’t wait until later. It must be done immediately after the call is completed to maximize it’s impact.
  • You task someone to query your customer database for a list of customers that either bought a specific product or service. Not only does the individual provide you what you asked for, but took it a step farther and provided a list of potential targets of that service or product.
  • Another employee, shares with you something a co-worker did to go the extra mile or how they helped another employee. You first thank the employee for bringing to your attention and then immediately let the other employee know that you appreciate what they did. That’s a double in my books.

It really does matter

These types of situations happen everyday in thousand of business, without the owners ever acknowledging the individuals for going the extra distance. Too be fair, many entrepreneurs do recognize the effort, but fail to let the employee know because they get busy and forget or they don’t think it matters. Let me be very clear on this point, it does matter!

By regularly acknowledging peoples good work, you set the stage for people to give a little more or try a little harder. By letting them know their efforts are appreciated, they will go the extra mile and the impact will have a trickle down effect throughout the organization that will be noticeable.

The beauty of catching people doing good is that it doesn’t cost anything. The reward is the recognition and knowing they are appreciated. So, I challenge you to spend the next week catching people doing good, and see if there is even the slightest change in morale. What have you got to lose?

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.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

SBM #32- Empathy-The Double Edged Sword!

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Most successful entrepreneurs that I’ve met have a balanced approach to empathy, deep when required and non-existent when really necessary. On the other hand, I witness owners that aren’t so balanced.

Those that have too much empathy, frequently worry way too much how a given decision or request will be accepted by their employees and regularly succumb to the slightest resistance. This failure to follow through on their decision, even though deep down inside they know it’s the right to do, often limits their success or ability to move the company forward.

“In many cases these companies find it difficult to keep good people”

Conversely, having no empathy can be equally limiting. Individuals with no empathy are regularly referred to as tyrannical or worse by their employees. Right, wrong or indifferent these owners don’t care how their decisions will impact the individuals that work for the organization. It’s their way or the highway. 

In many cases these companies find it difficult to keep good people because their lack of respect or don’t seek their input. More often than not, those companies are left with mediocre employees that are unwillingly or unable to leave even though they would like to.

Having a balanced approach to empathy is one of the best attributes a leader can have. Taking into account the impact and feelings a decision can have on employees and then adjusting if they receive valid feedback. It’s a sign that you respect and appreciate input and that you are open to feedback.

“Taking the time to explain, goes a long way”

There are occasions when a decision is not open to debate. It could be a change in direction, a new policy or any number of unpleasant decisions we as owners are forced to make once in a while. In these situations, simply taking the time to explain the rationale for the decision, goes a long way to minimizing any hard feelings.

Having the right balance of empathy is akin to the beds in Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Not too soft, not too hard, but just right.

Copyright © Greg Weatherdon

If you found this helpful, Tweet, Like or tell a friend.

 

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.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

SBM #12- Leadership

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Being a great leader is about helping others achieve, it’s not a position, it’s an attitude and anyone can be a leader, no matter where you are in an organization.

Great leaders work hard and are humble.

Great leaders are empathetic and they have an uncanny ability to see around corners.

Great leaders engage and empower their people. Tweet this!

Great leaders act as coaches and mentors,

There is this great saying I once heard and it goes something like this:

“When I talk to managers, I get the feeling that they are important but when I talk to leaders I get the feeling that I am important”

True leaders, have your back, they create an environment of trust and they won’t be throwing you under the bus.

And lastly, true leaders take all the blame and give away all the credit.

A study by Leadership IQ showed that individuals who are engaged with leaders for 6 or more hours a week are

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

I don’t know about you, but I’ll take an inspired, engaged, motivated and innovative staff over the alternative, any day.

So are you a leader?

Copyright © Greg Weatherdon

If you found this helpful, Tweet, Like or tell a friend.

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.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

ORDER HERE

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