A Little Bit About Me

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With over 18 years of experience in marketing, I know that my marketing efforts should be focused on YOU (my ideal customer), but I’m going to deviate from the norm for a minute and tell you a little bit about ME.

Why, you might ask?

Because I want YOU to see why I might be a good fit in helping you solve your current business systems issues.

 

So, here goes:

  1. I’m whole brained – which means I’m both creative and analytical.
  2. I like things done right, but also done fast – which means we’ll knock out your “to do’s” in weeks, maybe months, but definitely not over a full year.
  3. I rank in the 98% for time and priority management – which means I’ll keep you on task to get things done.
  4. I love variety in my work – which means your issue is a fun challenge for me to solve.
  5. I’m a high “SC” on the disc profile (and low “D”) – which means I’ll bring a calm and systematic approach to your current situation and have the patience to help you work through it.
  6. My Strengthsfinder top 5 are: Achiever, Learner, Intellection, Futuristic and Strategic – which means I can help you with the present as well as plan for the future.

And last, but not least….

  1. I love being helpful – which means seeing you benefit from a tip, tool, strategy, or system that I can share with you brings me joy. The more I can help you, the happier that makes me. 😎

 

So if you’re thinking “I need someone like this on my team” schedule a free discovery call and let’s chat about how I can help you get from stressed to streamlined.

Schedule A Call Now.

P.S. – If you haven’t taken a DISC assessment or read Strengthsfinder, I highly recommend doing so to learn more about your natural style and strengths. Then do the same with your team so you can maximize your effectiveness when working together and use everyone’s natural talents to the fullest. 🙌🏼

Is Your Business Built Like A Rube Goldberg Machine?

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My younger brother and my daughter have always had a special bond. I blame it on their shared traits of being wicked smart and a little bit naughty. 🙃. They’re both great at “solving puzzles” and from a young age, he loved teaching her how to do things and then teaching her new and “more fun” ways to do things.

When he introduced her to Rube Goldberg, I didn’t know who he was or what he was famous for, but once he explained it, it all made sense as to why he chose to impart this particular bit of knowledge.

You see, Rube Goldberg was known for taking something simple and making it as complicated as possible, just for fun.

Need to open a door? Let’s build the most complicated contraption that doesn’t require you to use your hands, but will turn your entryway into a impassible space once you have the door open…. Want to pour yourself a cup of coffee? Let’s set up the pot and the cup and then add levers, pullies, dominoes, etc. to tip the pot and fill the cup without spilling, leaving your kitchen counter cluttered with non-kitchen essentials….

So what does this have to do with your business you might ask? …. (If you’re new to my blog, you’ll learn quickly that I like to tell stories and then connect the dots…..) Many of us have built businesses that operate like Rube Goldberg machines without even realizing it. As our businesses grow organically, which is part of the natural evolution, we often add steps to our processes or new systems to the mix and before we know it a simple process is now overly complicated. In Rube Goldberg’s case, his “complications” are intentional. I’m encouraging you to do the opposite and be intentional about not over-complicating things.

What’s the best way to do this? Take some time each quarter to work ON your business and re-evaluate your current systems and processes. The goal should always be simple, easy, and repeatable. If they’re not, brainstorm with your team on how to modify them and then try, track and tweak as needed until you get It just right.

Think back to being a kid and building a domino chain that would topple with just one tap. You most likely didn’t get it right on the first try, but if you stuck with it until you got the spacing and angles just right so the small push at the start led to a smooth chain reaction with a clean finish it was well worth the effort.

Want more help with looking at your business from a different perspective? Schedule a free discovery call and let’s chat about the areas of your business that could use some simplification.

You Only Have To Do It Once*

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Every time I talk to a busy business owner who says they really need to get their systems and processes in order, but just don’t have the time, my answer is always the same… “I have good news and I have bad news for you… you only have to do it once.”

The good news is, that once in place, most Singular Operating Systems (SOS – also known as Sink or Swim) will stand for years to come and only require tweaking and adjusting as your business evolves and grows. The bad news is, you will have to sit down once and do what I refer to as “the brain dump.”

The truth is, most business owners do have systems and processes, they just happen to keep them all in their heads. Taking the time to sit down, document the way you run the daily operations of your business, and then evaluate if it’s the best way to run your business is not only necessary, but once one the other side very freeing as well.

Here’s my personal story to prove that even those of us who live for and love a good system can dread having to document the process. In our family painting business, we usually hire a college student to help out in the summer months when we’re in our busy season. After a few years in the business and a few summer helpers had come and gone, I finally decided to document ALL of the office procedures and create a manual to use for all future training needs. I’ll be honest, it was not a whole lot of fun, and meant taking extra time document each task as I was completing it. BUT, that following summer when we hired another new office assistant, I used the manual to train her, then asked her to try to follow the procedures on her own, and finally tweaked it so anyone with a brain could come in, sit down at the main desk and figure out enough to answer the phone and carry out our basic office functions without any help.

Fast forward ten years and that extra time spent creating that manual has saved me (and our company) hours upon hours of time in training new admins every time we’ve hired one. In hindsight, it was one of the best things I ever did with regards to increasing the productivity in the office and adding consistency and repeatability to all of our office procedures.

What would implementing consistent and repeatable systems mean for your business?

– Would it allow you to delegate with less fear?

– Would it allow you to hire or outsource tasks that are not the best use of your time, but still need to be taken care of?

– Would it allow you to take off one of the many hats you’ve been wearing and breathe a little easier?

If you answered YES to any or all of the above, I highly encourage you to set aside some time to get your systems out of your head and onto paper. And if you’d like some help and don’t want to start from scratch, I’ve done the heavy lifting already to get you 85% of the way there. You can learn more about The Full Circle Customer course here and here’s to doing it once, and once and for all.

*Doing it once the right way will lead to optimal results and not having to repeat the process. 👍🏼

Think Like A Customer – Act Like A Business Owner

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While I hate to have to say this out loud, Customer Service seems to be a dying art. With the continued advances in technology and automation, it seems many businesses and industries are attempting to “make things easier” by automating as much as possible. But who is it really easier for? More often than not, it’s easier for the business, but not the customer (and don’t get me started on “convenience fees”…I did all of the work 😝). 

This trend is all the more reason Customer Service should be your primary focus for the coming year. There’s no easier way to elevate your brand and stand out from your competition than to deliver exceptional customer service. And for many of us, isn’t that what we set out to do in the first place?

The trouble, however, often lies with implementation. And the hard truth that we’re usually thinking like a busy business owner and not thinking like a customer. Once we are able to shift our focus, the next question that comes up is How? How do I set up my business so it’s customer focused, but still keep control of the internal processes so it’s manageable for my team?

The short answer – Implement A Singular Operating System.

If you’re reading this blog, you’ve most likely seen “The Customer Circle”, some of you may have seen the detailed version, a few of you may have heard me talk about it in Denver, and now I’m excited to share the launch of my On-Demand course where I’ll take you through it all in full detail.

As busy business owners, we’re all guilty of spending too much time IN our businesses and not enough time ON our businesses. My goal is creating and launching The Full Circle Customer course is to help you carve out 1 hour a week to work ON your business, teach you how to build out systems for consistency and success (you’ll be able to download my notes, tools, and templates as well) and turn the 8-10 hours you spend working through the course into 10x that in time back once you’ve implemented the processes into your business.

If you’d like a preview of what’s included Click here to learn more.

Are You Willing To Change The Rules?

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In life, and in business, rules, guidelines, systems and processes provide the checks and balances we need to live consistently and successfully. However, I find that in both cases, we often get so caught up in “what is” that we struggle with even considering the needed changes that will lead us to “what could be.” So, are you ready for the story behind my most recent “ah ha” moment? 😂

We’ve always had a least one dog, and the rule has always been NO DOGS on the couch in the living room. Joe and Tess, who are both 13, and have been with us for most of their lives, have no problem following this rule. Then came Georgia, who is now 16 months old, fully grown, and also now fully “herself.” She’s been pretty good with the no dogs on the couch rule, until there’s someone outside and she’s compelled to do her job….

Shar Pei’s were originally bred to be guard dogs, so it’s in her DNA to protect the house and her “people” in it. Unfortunately, in order to do this she needs to be able to see out the window, and the only way to do that is from on the couch. Not her fault, and with nowhere else to move it, I was left  with a dilemma as far as my “no dogs rule” goes.

I spent a few weeks trying to “correct” the behavior, but she’s just as stubborn as I am, and doing her job was more important than listening to mom. Then I moved on to other possible solutions, which lead me to a realization… the only real reason I don’t want the dogs on the couch is because I don’t want them to get it dirty.

Solving the real problem quickly became much easier than keeping her off of the couch. And with the holidays just around the corner, I decided to have a little fun and ventured off to the fabric store for a temporary and inexpensive solution. Now we have a fun “holiday couch”, Georgia is happily on guard, and mom can live with it while we keep working on her training.

In our businesses, the inability to think differently or approach a challenge from a new perspective usually stems from the “we’ve always done it this way” or “that’s always been the rule” thought process. The next time you find yourself facing a new challenge, or someone or something challenging the “rules,” I encourage you to step back, look deeper and determine the true reason behind the rule in the first place. Sometimes they have to stay (like no biting your brother 😂) and sometimes they can be adjusted as your business and team grows. The key lies in remaining open to all of the possibilities, choosing the best option for everyone, and maybe even having a little fun with it if you can. Happy holidays from our family to yours. ❤️

Time Blocking vs. Blocking Time

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This was originally a LinkedIn post, but it felt too valuable not to share here as well… In our effort to get more done each day, we often forget that slowing down can actually be the best way to increase our overall productivity. Here are two techniques I use that help ensure I work smarter, thus increasing the number of tasks I can complete fully and successfully on any given day…

 

I was on a call with a colleague who is also a consultant and needed some help streamlining his work week for increased productivity. I shared a few tips with him, and here’s one that may be worth trying if you feel like your days are getting away from you.

Time-Blocking

Block out time in your schedule weekly (preferably the same day and same time) for key non-client activities. Some things that may fall into this category are invoicing, marketing, sales follow up, paying bills, etc…

By setting aside time each week to handle these items you’ll be doing two things to help increase your productivity.

1. You’ll actually save time by doing all of “one thing” at once instead of bit by bit over the course of the week. The less times you “touch” something, the better.

2. You’ll build “muscle memory” and after a few weeks your brain will automatically kick into gear on that set day and time when it’s time to write a blog, make follow up calls to potential customers, check your collections for the week, etc.

Here’s to working smarter, not harder. 🙌🏼🙌🏾

 

Here’s the second tip:

Blocking Off Time

When it comes to scheduling appointments, especially with business booming right now in the construction industry, it seems like we’re all trying to squeeze in as many per day as possible.

My suggestion, however, is to block out time IN BETWEEN appointments (Zoom or in person) to wrap up with client #1 before moving on to client #2. As both consultants and contractors, when we “hang up”, there are almost always a few follow up to do’s that need to be taken care of to truly close out the meeting.

When you book back to back to back calls, you don’t give yourself the time or space to:

1 – End the call calmly and avoid rushing into the next call (sometimes a few minutes late 😳).

2 – Finish jotting down your final notes and take a breath before moving on to meet with the next client.

Try giving yourself 15 minutes between calls as you’re making new appointments and see how it affects your overall productivity. And pay attention to how being present in the moment, knowing you have a cushion, leads to better conversations and eliminates the stress that comes with rushing from one task to the next. 😎

Big Changes & Little Adjustments

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My daughter got her license a few months ago, and with a dad that’s a bonafide car guy (he buys them, rebuilds them and races them), together their working on “building” her very first dream car. It’s a (used) Jeep Wrangler – 4 door, hard top, all black – just as she requested. 🖤

Once she got the hang of driving it and passed her test (in a Mini Cooper 😂), the first big change was the tires. And when I say big, I mean big. She picked them out, dad swapped them out, and back out onto the road she went.

As she was driving around, turning left and right to navigate the roads and back out of parking spots, she noticed a rubbing sound she hadn’t heard before. So back to dad’s shop she went only to discover the new and much bigger tires were rubbing up against the fenders. So what’s the solution? Lift the car a bit. This was on her wish list as well, and was added sooner rather than later to eliminate the sound and the extra wear on the new tires.

What’s the point of my story you might ask?  If you’ve read more than one of my blogs so far, you’ll notice that I like to tell stories and then “connect the dots.”

When it comes to growing our businesses, it’s often easy to spot the big changes that need to be made to continue to grow and reach our goals. But in the midst of figuring it out, executing and getting everyone on board with the big change, we often forget that big changes almost always require small adjustments.

There are very few things in life that work perfectly out of the box, and we’ve all learned to tweak and adjust things as needed in our day to day life. Somehow though, we seem to forget that similar tweaks are often needed within our businesses. Like the old saying goes “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.”

So the next time you’re considering a big change in your business, be sure to give it time, pay attention to any hiccups you encounter, ask your team for input, and adjust as necessary to reach the best final version – which is very rarely achieved on the first attempt.

What Tools Might You Be Overlooking?

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“Smart business owners use tools.”

I was on a podcast with a handful of other coaches earlier this week and one of them said this in the midst of our conversation. He then went on to give a few obvious examples. Here are a few of my own….

If you’re going to plant a garden, you’re not going to dig the holes by hand… you’d use a shovel.

If you’re going to change a tire, you’re not going lift the car with your hands… you’d use a jack.

If you’re going to paint a house, you’re not going to do it with your hands … you’d use a paint brush.

In “real world” scenarios, we have no issues with picking up a shovel, a jack, a paint brush, etc., but when it comes to “business tools” we are often reluctant to add something new to the mix.

Here’s the kicker though, tools are actually designed to make tasks easier… once you’ve learned how to use them properly, of course. By passing up on taking the time to learn how to use a new tool that could potentially save you an exponential amount of time and effort over the next few months or years, you’re basically saying “I’m going to keep digging my holes by hand because I don’t want to stop and learn how to use a shovel.”

So here’s the million dollar question …. well, two actually

In what area(s) of your business are you struggling with efficiency, consistency, or both?

What tools might be available to help you address the issue and make the process smoother, easier and more consistent?

They’re out there, you just have to be willing to take the time to identify the areas of your business that would benefit from the addition of a tool and then find the right one for the task at hand.

The Truth About Checklists

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I’m not sure when or why or how, but I feel like somewhere along the line checklists got a bad rap and are being used less and less these days. Maybe it’s a generational thing, or coincides with all of the technology and apps at our finger tips, but whatever the reason, I’m all about bringing them back…. and here’s WHY.

As busy business owners or managers or doers, delegation is critical to our continued growth and success, but many of us shy away from delegation out of fear.

What’s the most common fear when delegating a task?

That it will not be completed correctly and/or meet our expectations (or those of our other employees and customers).

And what’s the biggest fear of the person you’re delegating this task to?

That it will not be completed correctly and/or meet our expectations (or those of our other employees and customers).

So what’s the solution? … A simple checklist.

Do you know what happens when you give someone a clear and concise checklist for a task or assignment that needs to be completed? You eliminate their stress and your stress from the delegation process. Following a conversation that includes the what, why and how, they now have a tool to reference to make sure they don’t miss anything and complete the task as expected.

 

And what happens when they have to do the task again? While repetition does build “muscle memory”, having the checklist on hand also ensures that they can double check the process without having to come back to you and ask you to be sure each and every time they have to repeat it.

 

And what happens when you hire a new employee that will also need to learn how to complete this task? Either you can start with the checklist and train them yourself or you can have the person you originally delegated the task to teach others how to correctly complete it as well. I’d call that a win-win-win for a business owner looking to work ON their business more and IN their business less.

 

So what tasks in a contracting business might benefit from a simple and concise checklist? Here’s a short list to get you started….including the WHY (which is critical for understanding and buy in).

  • Job Sequencing Checklist – so everyone involved knows their part and the process is completed in an order that makes sense
  • Job Start Checklist – so your Crew Leader can ensure that things get off to a smooth start with each and every project
  • End of Day Checklist – so your Crews can be sure to wrap up each day consistently (clean and neat) and deliver an exceptional customer experience
  • Job Completion Checklist – to ensure nothing was missed or left behind, and the customer is fully satisfied with the finished result
  • Hiring Checklist – to ensure that you’re gathering all of the information you need through the interview and on-boarding process (download my free checklist here)
  • Skills Checklist – to measure the growth and progress of your employees as they “climb the ladder”
  • New Project Intake Form – this isn’t a traditional checklist, but you should have a script for answering the phone and gathering all of the information you need for new leads

What would you add to the list to make your daily operations run more smoothly? I’d love to hear from you and maybe even create a custom checklist together to eliminate some of your daily operational stressors. 🙌🏼🙌🏾

The Morning Clear Out – Conquering Your Inbox – Part One

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You know those people that have 321 unread emails and 73 unopened text messages on their phone? I’m not one of them. 😂 I’m the person that needs to have zero emails in my inbox when I leave my desk for the day and as few messages as possible still showing up on my phone when I finally call it a night.

So how do I manage to pull this off you might ask? I’ve established a consistent routine that I use daily to keep my inbox (and my brain) from getting overloaded. And to avoid overloading your brain with too much information all at once, I’m breaking it into three parts. Here’s part 1:

The Morning Clear Out

After feeding and walking my dogs, I sit down for my own breakfast and clear out all of my inboxes on my iPhone.

#1 – Delete – Most junk mail comes through late at night or early in the morning, and clearing it out on my phone gives me the opportunity to delete a whole slew of messages without ever having to actually open them. I love the Edit – Select feature on my iPhone that allows me to tag the emails I don’t need to open and then Trash them in one fell swoop. 👍🏼

#2 – Forward – If the email came to you, but could or should be handled by someone else in your office, forward it along with a quick note and now it’s off of your to do list.

#3 – Quick Reply – Answer any emails that only require a short reply and now they’re off of your to do list as well.

#4 – Save for Later – Anything that will require a longer reply or where checking/gathering additional information is necessary should be saved for when you do get to your desk. However, now that you’ve seen it, you know what’s left in your inbox and will need your attention before the end of the day.

This clear out shouldn’t take more than 3-5 minutes to complete, and now you can relax and enjoy the rest of your breakfast.

In part two I share my strategy for keeping your inbox under control through the course of your workday, click here once you’ve conquered part one and established a morning routine that works well for you to move onto part two.