Biz Coach Steve

Author: bizcoachsteve

  • 5 WAYS TO BE MORE INFLUENTIAL

    “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”  Ferris Bueller

    The world is moving fast—so you should be, too. Here’s how to inspire movement and influence change.

    The world is moving fast, and the pace of change is only going to keep increasing. It’s challenging us to rethink what we do and how we do it—to rethink how we will operate as leaders into the future. It is challenging us to develop new operating systems for success and to learn to lead movements, to help our teams feel secure enough to think, to innovate, to be curious about new solutions. It’s challenging us to influence change.

    Here are five ways to be more influential:

    1. Build transformational connections.
    Just like your staff, the connections you create are the ones that will decide your success or failure. In our time-deficient world where dreams of change are big and visions of a future are ours to own, making connections has to be about the real and the genuine—about the interplay of a select group of people who are working closely together, strategically creating plans to succeed. This is not about quantity, but like-minded thinkers who understand what you want to achieve. It is here that transformational connections are possible: a select group of people providing quality thinking; creating new perspectives; pushing you further than you could ever go alone; supporting you and taking great pleasure in seeing you succeed. Surround yourself with people who you want to emulate.

    2. Lead out and embrace diversity.
    To lead out—to see the potential in new connections, in the collective intelligence—is part of the art of influence. It’s understanding that by working together, we create opportunity—by respecting the myriad of different abilities of others, by accepting the value in corporate and entrepreneurial viewpoints and by seeing the value in cross-sector relationships. Leading out is facing out—it is leading with rather than leading for; it is to lead toward not away from mutual opportunities for success. Old school thinking, “It’s my way or the highway,” is over.

    3. Beat your own drum.
    Every choice and action we take, every word we speak, has the ability to influence others and their decisions. What does “owning your choices” mean to you? Is it about making X decisions on Y day, or is it about accepting ownership of who you are? Do you own your skills, your flaws, your values and your dreams? Do you own your excuses and your vulnerabilities? Do you own your life, or does it own you? We are all unique individuals put on this earth to shine. Your views are unique to you, your thoughtful voice is your gift, and you matter—you are an integral part of driving change and influencing others.

    4. Kick complacency in the butt.
    You have to be your key competition, so make sure your first competitive audit is always with yourself. Better your end goal, push yourself to do more and to be better. Ask the hard questions: Are you on the path to success, or are you stuck because of critics, or maybe it’s you and your self-doubt? Throw fuel on your own fire and light up the sky.

    5. Speak up and collaborate openly.
    True influence requires one critical thing: for you to speak up. You can influence more if you collaborate openly and willingly, with complete, honest and full disclosure. You have the ability to influence one to one, many to many, more to more—your team, your colleagues, your leaders, your children, your friends, your family. If you don’t speak out, you are not leaning out, being brave, or showing willingness to have courageous conversations and contribute to the collaborative experience. You are not creating the space to gift your knowledge, thoughts, opinions or expertise to others. You are not enabling an opportunity for others to listen, learn and add value.

    One thing is for sure: The world is moving quickly. And if you continue to sit still, then you will inevitably come to an influential standstill. Stand in your spotlight, own your vision and lead out, because it is here that you have the chance to influence more through inspiring, shifting and creating movement around you.

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    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing

    Parts of this article were from Janie Garner.

  • Did you expand your knowledge in 2018?

    What lessons did you learn last year?

    Were they positive lessons? Or negative lessons?

    Fast Company magazine wrote an article regarding their top 30 most productive people and I found some very interesting similarities within ALL of these interesting people.  Here they are (in no particular order):

    • They all get adequate sleep. Anywhere from 6 to 8 hours. If you have not been exposed to the mounds of research showing that sleep is very important for us, then here is a summary. You really need to get at least 6 to 9 hours of good REM sleep per day. Being sleep deprived and proud of it, is not a positive thing.
    • They all have set schedules made in advance. They know before they go to bed what they are doing the next day, then they review it in the morning to stay focused and productive.
    • They all have filters on their email and social media. Having a set routine on when the look and respond to emails as well as setting up filters to avoid the junk improves their productivity. Same with social media. They all stated they do look at social media, but narrowed down which sites they look, for what reason, and only in small doses.  They are not scanning Facebook looking for cool GIFs.
    • Most of them exercise. They do some form of exercise, whether it be yoga, working out, etc. Some of them even told us their food habits, which works well for them.
    • They all read – BOOKS. Yes, real paper books.  Studies have shown we retain and process words better on paper than on a tablet, computer, phone, or any other electronical devise.  So, set some time out of the day and read.

    Speaking of books. I do mix of real paper books along with audio books within my schedule. Do yourself a HUGE favor and stop listening to the talking heads on the radio while you drive and educate yourself with an audio book. As Brian Tracy says, turn your car into a rolling university by listening to books while you drive. In 2018, I have read/listened to 63 books.  Many times, I will be reading one book and listening to another in my car.

    Here are my top 10 books that I read/listened to in 2018 (no particular order):

    • Essentialism – Greg McKeown. This is a great explanation on how to simplify everything.
    • Outliners – Malcolm Gladwell. Many of us wonder why one person “gets the breaks” while other done.  There is more to this as Malcolm explains.
    • Born to Win – Zig Zigler. Haven’t read this one in a while and really give you the jump start you may need to push ahead and WIN!
    • Find your why – Simon Sinek. Great follow up that now provides a step by step method to Know your Why.
    • Crush It & Crushing It – Gary Vaynerchuk.  Just get off your butt and do it. Find a medium for your message and just get your message out there. These books are for doers and action takers only.
    • Walmart Effect – Charles Fishman. Want to know why Walmart became a juggernaut?  This book shows the pros and cons of dealing with Walmart.  The gallon of pickle story will really make you think about your operation.
    • Measure what matters – John Dorr. Great lesson for business owners to keep focus on the true metrics in their business and ignore the rest.
    • 100 tricks to appear smart – Sara Cooper. Very funny play on how to appear smart.  Hear a lot of these tricks from people.
    • Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill. This is always on my annual reading list and it should be on yours as well.  Reading this book every year, will really keep you on your path for success.  Get into a mastermind group to really get the most out of this book and improve your life.

    No matter what, we all have learned something this past year. If you haven’t learned one or more new things, then make it a plan to learn something new in 2019 and put it into practice to grow your business, or improve your life, maybe to move up in the company you work for, get a new job, mentor someone, share your time by volunteering for an organization that you have no affiliation with.  Just learn something new.

    By continually learning you are growing as a person.  Right now, decide what action you are going to take to learn something new in 2019. Read more real books. Take an educational class. Learn a new computer program. Learn martial arts. Just learn.

    I wish you much learning success in 2019.

    Let me know what were your favorite books that you read/listened to in 2018 and why.

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    Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business

  • Maximize your TIME!

    Your most precious, but grossly under-valued commodities…

    Your Time!

    You see, most of us are taught that you’ve got to work long, hard hours if you want to be a “success”.  As you will soon see, nothing could be further from the truth!

    I’m going to reveal to simple but highly effective systems for working”smarter” not “harder”. If you haven’t figured it out yet,making a lot of money has absolutely nothing to do with how “hard”you work.

    If you have not read Michael Gerber’s book “The E-Myth,” then get a copy and read it NOW. Here is a brief overview on what he says business owners don’t get.

    1. Most Business Owners Are “Technicians” NOT Entrepreneurs.

    Gerber explained that most successful employees’ figure to themselves that they could make far more money if they owned a business rather than working for someone else. So, what they do is go out, start their own business, and create a”job” for themselves.

    Inmost cases, these people end up working harder for themselves with less money to show for it because they now also have a dozen other “jobs” to worry about, and there are no other employees to do them. These business owners are worse off with their own business than they were working for someone else because they never truly understood what it meant to be an”entrepreneur”.

    2. You Must Work “On” Your Business Not “In” Your Business.

    If you truly want to be successful in your own business, you cannot and should not do everything yourself. Your job should be marketing and sales, getting and keeping customers not ordering office supplies, doing your own bookkeeping,answering your own telephones, making copies, faxing, typing, and doing everything else your business requires.

    If all of your time is spent doing administrative “detail” work, you will never have time to focus on the truly important things like marketing,getting new customers, and keeping old customers happy.

    3. You Must Have Predictable “Systems” Set Up for Running Your Business.

    Every single business, no matter how large or small it is, must have a”systematized” way of doing things. Otherwise your business will operate in constant “chaos” which will ultimately lead to customer dissatisfaction, and probably the failure of your business.

    A perfect example of a system is a franchise like McDonalds. Everything is systematized so their customers will have the same exact experience as they have had at any other McDonalds restaurant across the country.

    Virtually every aspect of your existing business can be reduced to a”step-by-step” procedure that is repetitive in nature. Understand that most aspects of business are repetitive in nature, and then set out to put together your own “operation’s manual” which explains how to do every function of your business in step-by-step detail.

    This way, when you start hiring new people, most of your training can be done by handing them your manual and telling them to read it. It will make running and growing your business much easier.

    3. Operation Money-Leverage

    This is the goal of every entrepreneur or business owner should be to literally”leverage” the maximum amount of money out of every minute they spend working.

    Most entrepreneurs have a difficult time differentiating between $8/hr. work and$150/hr. work. In other words, every time you make a copy, send a fax, answer your own phone, order office supplies, do your own telemarketing, or bookkeeping – you are “hiring” yourself to do $8/hr. work.

    4. You’re Costing Yourself A Ton of Money!

    Every hour you spend doing $8/hr. work is a “working” hour you can’t spend doing $150/hr.work. Since most of us work about 8 – 10 hours a day, every hour you waste is money lost that you can never regain.

    There are two types of jobs in every business, I don’t care what type of business a person is in:

    A. Money Dissipaters: These are jobs like administrative work, bookkeeping, running errands, etc. They don’t make the company any money, they cost the company money.  These jobs must be done to run a business, but they do not bring any money into the business, and without sales, these job sare useless.

    B. Money Makers: These are jobs like marketing insurance sales and setting up joint ventures. All these activities bring money into the business. These are the $150/hr. jobs. And if you haven’t figured it out yet…

    These Are the Only Jobs You Should Be Doing!

    You see, the true definition of an entrepreneur is a person who is a “Rainmaker”.You’re the one who “makes things happen”. Your job is marketing,sales, and keeping existing customers happy so they keep re-purchasing from you. All other jobs should be hired out – period!

    Let a $8 – $10 an hour person help you with every aspect of your business other than “Getting and Keeping Customers”.

    For example, if you’re still handwriting names and addresses on your postcards, mailing out the FREE reports, doing your own telemarketing, and filling out the financial aid forms yourself – you are now doing $8/hr. work.

    The only, and I repeat only thing you should be doing is conducting seminars, doing sales presentations, and continually stay on top of your marketing (i.e., making sure postcards are sent out every week, doing 1st, 2nd and 3rd notice mailings,sending out a monthly newsletter, etc.).

    Every other job that you’re currently doing should be off-loaded to someone else who is probably far more capable in that area than you are.

    I’m always asking myself the question, “Can someone else do this job cheaper and more effectively than I can?”  If the answer is”yes”, I immediately pay someone else to do it!

    Every time you start doing $8/hr. jobs, think to yourself…

    “I’m Burning Up $150 Bills Right Now!”

    That should put you in the proper mindset, and make you feel guilty that you’re “costing”yourself hundreds of dollars.

    This is the “secret” to money-leverage and making a fortune in your business.

    It’s not working “harder” that makes you rich, it’s working “smarter”.

    So, the next time you hear someone say, “I work so hard, I should be a millionaire by now!”- ask them if they have employees, or if they have an “operation’s manual” for running their business.

    I’ll bet you the farm these people don’t know how to delegate or differentiate between $8/hr. and$150/hr. work!

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    Steve Feld, MBA is a certified business coach that provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. He has owned and operated 6 businesses and operated 3 large corporations with Fortune 500 Companies. #bizcoachstevef

  • START 2019 OFF RIGHT 14-DAY GOAL SETTING

    “Any road will get you there, if you don’t know where you are going,” – Lewis Carroll

    ”A goal without a plan is just a wish” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    As they say,a goal with a plan is just a dream. Do you often find yourself daydreaming of having something-whether that’s brand new car, increasing your monthly income-personal and for your business, but then never working towards that goal?  That’s because you don’t have a plan of action.

    This 14-Day Goal Setting exercise is for anyone who is looking to achieve a specific goal in their personal and professional life, no matter how big or small. If you’re unsure of how to go about starting on a path to achieving your goals, then this exercise is for you.

    By completing this exercise, you’ll gain clarity into exactly what you want to achieve in every area of your life and determine a clear-cut plan for how to achieve those goals. We will be focusing on your BUSINESS goals. Of course, you can apply this exercise to your personal life as well.

    The 14-Day Goal setting exercise outlines exactly what you need to do during each day of the challenge to be successful. We want you to set yourself up for a fantastic 2019 and take your business to the next level and beyond. Over the course of the next year we will be expanding on your business goals and provide you with some more information that you can use to achieve your 2019 business goals.

    Day 1 -THINK: Think about your business as it is now and write down the things that are most important to you for your business.  I.E. What do you want your revenue to be at the end of 2019? How many new customer do you want to have every month?

    Day 2 -IMAGINE: Imagine that you could wave a magic wand and make your business perfect in all areas.What would it look like? I.E. Having a team that is all on the same page,working effectively to grow your business.

    Day 3 –WRITE IT DOWN:  Using your thoughts from Day 2, write down each goal you’d like to achieve in your ideal business. Make your description clear and detailed in every sense. I.E. You need to make X number of call a day to close Y number of clients that equal Z number of revenue per quarter, per month, per week, or per day.

    Day 4 –DECIDE UPON YOUR MAJOR DEFINITE PURPOSE: Ask yourself: If I could achieve any business goal on this list within the next 2 weeks, which one goal would have the greatest positive impact on my business? I.E. Upgrade the computer system to streamline the sales process.

    Day 5 –SET A DEADLINE:  Think of a reasonable date for you to achieve your goal. If your goal is big enough, set sub-deadlines. I.E. Will upgrade the computer system on X day and test it out on Y day, everyone will be on the new system on Z day.

    Day 6 –IDENTIFY ANY OBSTACLES: Identify any potential obstacles that you will have to overcome to achieve your goal. Determine how to overcome each of them.  I.E. Getting the IT department to install and upgrade the system. Find an outside IT firm that can do the job within the next couple of days.

    Day 7 –IDENTIFY THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS YOU’LL NEED: What one skill, if you developed and did it consistently, in an excellent fashion, would help you the most to achieve your most important goal? I.E. If you are not well versed in accounting, speak to your CPA or take a basic accounting class so you can understand your numbers to make better decisions within your business.

    Day 8 –MAKE A LIST: Make a list of everything (each and every step) you will have to do to achieve your goal.  I.E. Just start a list of each step that needs to be taken to move your business from where it is now to the goal. 

    Day 9 –ORGANIZE YOUR LIST INTO A PLAN: Organize your list into a series of steps from the beginning all the way through to the completion of your goal. I.E. If you need to make 10 calls a day, then your list should be made the day before on who to call with their contact information the day before, why you are calling, even have your call script ready to go.

    Day 10 –WRITE YOUR PLAN DOWN IN AN AGENDA: Write down each phase of your plan in your agenda all the way through completion of your goal. Plan each day, week and month in advance.  I.E. Block time in the day to make the calls,then put the result of that call in your sales tracker.

    Day 11 –DETERMINE YOUR SUPPORT SYSTEM: Make a list of every person in your life that you will have to work with or work around to achieve your goal. I.E. Contact your CPA to have them explain your numbers. Contact an IT company to upgrade your system. ETC.

    Day 12 –MAKE YOUR GOAL PUBLIC: Tell others what goal you intend to achieve and by when, especially those in your support system.  I.E. Get a Score mentor and tell them your goals along with the result you want with the date you are going to accomplish the goal. Join a master mind group.

    Day 13 –PRACTICE VISUALIZATION OF YOUR GOAL:  Create clear, vivid,exciting, emotional pictures of your goals as if they were already a reality.  I.E. Visualize yourself, your business after you achieved your goals. What does your business look like? How does that make you feel?

    Day 14 –DO YOUR FIRST TASK:  The hardest part is starting. On the last day of this exercise, complete the first task you’ve outlined for yourself and get started on the path of success.  I.E.JUST DO IT!! You first task may not be perfect, SO WHAT?  Just do it! Do not put this off and start taking action TODAY.

    By following this 14-Day goal setting challenge it will get you to develop your 2019 business goals. Be as descriptive as possible with realistic deadlines. Get the people in place to help you achieve your goals.

    Every month we will give you more information to keep you moving forward in your business,but you need to know where you want your business to go to before anything else. An archer needs to know where the bull’s-eye is on the target before they pull the string back and fire an arrow.  Start today to be successful in 2019.

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    Steve Feld, MBA is a certified business coach that provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives.He has owned and operated 6 businesses and operated 3 large corporations with Fortune 500 Companies and assisted hundreds of business owners achieve their business goals. #bizcoachstevef

  • Ready to Grow in 2019? Plan to tell a story, and tell it well!

    Have you ever considered that one of your primary roles as the owner of the business is lead storyteller? That beyond what you know and what you can do, there’s a more essential role that only you can fill? It’s time to stretch yourself in a different way and TELL YOUR STORY.

    Start by thinking back to this year-2018. If you had to choose a word or short phrase – something that captured the best of 2018 was about for your business, what would it be?  Was it a year of ‘growth,’ or ‘stabilizing our systems,’ or ‘innovation,’ or‘expansion?’  Even if you had a down year in terms of profits or revenues, can you find a positive thread, or a big decision you made and stood behind, that ran through it that you could build on this year?

    Finding a theme for 2018, and every year, can be very powerful. Just imagine if you knew what that word was in advance – on January 1 last year – and you talked with your team about what it meant, how it connected your long-term and short-term business goals, and could use it as a conversation starter to talk to everyone in the company about what the year was going to be like for them?

    Your people want to hear the truth. Sure, they’d prefer it was an optimistic truth, but it has to be the real truth…

    One of the most common errors business owners make is assuming that the only thing employees want to hear is that the company is growing rapidly. It’s just not true. Your people want to hear the truth. Sure,they’d prefer it was an optimistic truth, but it must be the real truth, because they already know what’s true on the front lines of the business, often times more clearly than you do.

    Take a few minutes to look at your organization from an outside point of view. Just sit and write down all the positives and negatives that occurred this year and wait until you can find that one word or phrase that captures what this year is all about. Maybe as you do, you’ll see that 2018 is a year of ‘stabilizing our finances’ and 2019 is really the year of ‘initial expansion?’ Whatever it is for you is fine, just make sure it’s the most true and real one you can find.

    Now, once you’ve got it, you’re going to make a really big deal of it. I mean a REALLY BIG DEAL. Schedule a company meeting, whether you have 100 employees or one. Tell them about the process you went through to figure out this next year’s theme. Tell them a (true) story about what you now realize 2018 was about. Show them how much you care about not just today’s results but the journey that your business is on – no matter how difficult or over whelming it might seem on any given day.

    “Team, this year was about                              , and here’s why:                              . Next year is about _______________ and here’s why: _______________”

    You’ll be amazed what happens when everyone – but especially your key managers – can feel how this year will lead to the next one. You aren’t selling anyone on anything, you’re just giving them an experience of what it will feel like when the business is that much healthier than it is today.And the pain – the gap – is what will motivate everyone to get there, including you. It’s what will inform and enliven all of your conversations about the specific strategies and tactics you’ve come up with and will keep coming back to throughout the year. And whenever you get stuck, all you’ll have to remember is that one word.

    So, what is that one word that describes your businesses 2018?

    What is that one word that will describe your business in 2019?

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    Steve Feld, MBA is a certified business coach that provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives.He has owned and operated 6 businesses and operated 3 large corporations with Fortune 500 Companies and assisted hundreds of business owners achieve their business goals. #bizcoachstevef

  • STRATEGIC LIFE PLAN

    So…
     
    Think about where you were 5 years ago.
     
    Seems like only yesterday,right?
     
    Are you where you’d thought you’d be 5 years later, when you looked forward back then?
     
    Are you leading the life you envisioned?
     
    Do you have the income,lifestyle, freedom, health, relationships, poise and skills you thought you would have by now?
     
    If you don’t like your answers to those questions, then guess what?  You now get another chance to look forward to the next 5 years.  What are you going to do differently?

    A Goal vs. A Promise
    It makes a big difference if you turn your goals into promises.  That’s because most of us have set goals and know of other people that have set goals and didn’t fulfill them.  Our mind tends to see goals as something to strive for, something to aim at…but if we don’t “hit the target”, it’s fine because “we’re not the first or the last that have set goals and didn’t achieve them.”
     
    On the other hand, when we promise someone that we’re going to do something,our mind goes to work for us and we do everything that’s in our power to fulfill that promise because we don’t like to feel the pain, shame or embarrassment of letting somebody down.  Our integrity is such that a promise means more to us than setting a goal.
     
    Therefore, instead of saying, “Honey, I know that we have not been spending enough quality time alone, lately… so, I’m going to try (or my goal is) to take you out on a romantic date twice a month”, tell her instead, “Honey, I promise that from now on, I’m going to take you out on a date twice a month.”
     
    The Power of Accountability Partners
    Commitment is doing the thing you said you were going to do, long after the mood you said it in has left you.
     
    The pressures of life will not come to an end just because you have decided to begin setting real goals for yourself.  It has been my experience that those who have the most success with accomplishing their personal and business goals are those who had 2 or more Accountability Partners (not within the same household) that also have set goals and are also utilizing the power of an accountability partner.
     
    Some benefits of utilizing Accountability Partners include:

    • Assistance in organizing ideas, thoughts, and tasks into specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic goals
    • Assistance in prioritizing an effective and consistent plan
    • Ensuring accountability for task follow through
    • Mentoring through difficulties and indecisiveness
    • Sharing advice, personal knowledge and experience
    • Follow up on your success

    During your search for appropriate Accountability Partners, keep in mind that the right person should be someone who will challenge, engage and evoke a sense of accomplishment in you.  Confidence, creativity and strength are all traits that will be useful to you.  Also consider choosing an Accountability Partner who you trust to keep confidence as you may get into financial and personal discussions that are confidential in nature.
     
    Promise yourself and your Accountability Partners that you will become a better person by following all the ground rules you set between yourselves to achieve your ultimate vision of your life. 

    Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life
    Unlocking your full potential for Wealth, Success, and Achievement
     
    Your THOUGHTS, your WORDS, and your ACTIONS,  are building blocks to creating the life that you want!
     
    Doing the same things over and over expecting different results is insanity.  The only way to get different results is to change what we do.  The process of change begins in our minds.  Our thoughts help shape and create our circumstances in life.  “As A Man Thinketh, So Is He.”  When we change our thinking, we change our lives.
     
    What does it mean to change?  Change = to transform or convert.
     
    When we find ourselves stuck in a rut or not quite where we want to be in life,it is time for change.  Old habits, old thoughts, and old ways of thinking must go.  We literally must cleanse our minds of negativity, scars,conditioning, and mental blocks.
     
    Living Your Dream is a continuous process of training and transforming our minds to achieve optimal living.  There are many ways to begin the process of changing the way we think.
     
    What we feed our minds affect how and what we think.  When we bombard the mind with negative images, fears, bad news, violence, pain, and suffering etc…our mind responds by conjuring up matching thoughts.  When we feed our minds with positive images, good news, peace, happiness, and prosperity …our mind responds accordingly.
     
    Our mind will produce thoughts based on the information we provide it with.  The thoughts that our mind produces set a wheel of events in motion.  Thoughts are creative and whatever thoughts we find ourselves preoccupied with always manifest in our lives.
     
    What you do with your life is up to you.  Life is what you make it. You have everything you need to create life, destroy life, improve life, and touch the lives of others.  For every cause there is an effect. Every life represents a mission, a purpose, a cause.  What will be the effect of your LIFE?

    What does your next 5 years look like to you?

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    Steve Feld, MBA is a certified business coach that provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. He has owned and operated 6 businesses and operated 3 large corporations with Fortune 500 Companies and assisted hundreds of business owners achieve their business goals. #bizcoachstevef

  • When should I review my business plan?

    Many of you put a lot of time and effort into creating a business plan for your new business and now it sits on a shelf or in a drawer collecting dust.  Maybe you had an executive business plan that you used to entice potential investors, or a managerial business plan to pitch your business to investors, or the full operational business plan that is your true business blueprint and map to show you the way to achieve your business goals.

    No matter which type of business plan you created, you should ALWAYS review it on an annual basis at a minimum. Publication such as Entrepreneur, Forbes, Inc and many more recommend that you conduct a thorough update on your business plan at least once annually.

    Many businesses review their annual business plan every month to make sure they are staying on the path they laid out for the business and to make the necessary adjustments along the way.

    Apple has their business plans out to the mid-2020, but they update their plans every 90 days.  This way they can be adaptable to the market trends, technology, consumer behavior, regulations, and much more.

    Updating your business plan regularly can help you to ensure that you and your partners or co-owners are on the same page if there are multiple owners of your company.

    When major changes occur at your company or in your industry, this is also a good time to update your business plan. Your plan needs to reflect the current situation and it needs to be relevant within the current business landscape that you are operating in. If something major has changed, it is essential that you make an update to your business plan to accommodate that shift.

    Keeping your business plan updated is vital because no company can succeed unless it stays current with the times and unless it evolves. The goals that you have for your organization will be different when you first get started than the goals you have once your organization is already underway. You want your plan to reflect the latest goals that you hope your company will accomplish so you have clear and measurable objectives to work towards.

    Keeping your plans updated also allows you to adjust to any changes in the law or market conditions that could affect profitability; helps you to identify new competitors and new potential sources of business; and allows you to see how your company is progressing with enhancing profitability over time.

    Business plans are living documents and need to be revisited every so often to ensure they are still relevant. In this way you can continue to use and benefit from the strategies and tactics.

    You probably prepared the original business plan yourself, since you were likely the only employee. If you have now grown and added staff, try to involve them so there is buy-in. That way, when it is time to implement the plan, your staff will be on-board, and the activities will go smoother.

    To recap on why you should review and update your business plan at least one time every year:

    • External and events can trigger the need to update your business plan (consumer trends, competition, regulations, suppliers, market, etc.).
    • Internal events have changed (employee growth, new products, systems/processes, etc.). You are not the same company that you were a year ago.
    • Updating your business plan is more focused and fun than the writing the original one.
    • Involve staff in the updating process-watch how this helps your business.
    • It is never too late to create a business plan-start now if you haven’t already.

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    Steve Feld provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the foundations of business to get positive growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. #bizcoachstevef

  • The 10 Essentials of Operational Planning-Part 2

    Is your organization’s strategy delivering on its promises?

    For most organizations, the answer is “no”. Too many plans end up full of content that is cerebral and fluff, ultimately adding little or no value to the organization. That is why companies are failing in strategy execution.

    Operational planning may not be the sexiest part of corporate strategic planning, but it is very important. Most organizations do not even have strategy. Given its importance, understanding how to do operational planning and making sure it gets done is well worth the time and effort.

    It’s not that operational planning is that complex to carry out, but there is some art to doing it well and it does require finesse. In short, operational planning requires a different skill set and discipline than its counterpart – strategic planning. The biggest difference is that we must adjust our thinking to the day-to-day business operations and consider all the constraints, inhibitors and accelerators that must be evaluated and factored into tactical planning. The discipline required is a mix of strategic planning with good old-fashioned program and project management.

    Businesses are not getting the full value they should from their strategic planning efforts. Most have only, themselves to blame and they know it. Clearly, strategic plans without follow-through will collect dust and never be executed as intended.

    This is the second part of this series and these last 4 essential operational planning steps will dramatically improve strategy execution in any organization.

    1. Define Metrics and Measurements

    Metrics and measurements can apply to two groups:

    • Measurements and metrics related to strategic goal effectiveness (plan performance)
    • Measurements and metrics related to managing execution of the strategic plan (execution performance)

    Measuring Plan Performance:

    As with the development of strategy, the relationship of strategic goals to metrics and measures can be tricky. For instance, a strategy might have a strategic goal related to “increasing productivity by X% over X quarters” and another related to “increasing profitability by X% over X quarters”. Setting the wrong metrics might help accomplish one goal, but simultaneously compromise the other. How? Assume the following:

    • Volume metrics for production are encouraging managers to seek higher labor productivity
    • The contribution of labor to profitability is 10%
    • The contribution of materials to profitability is 60%

    In this case, a 10% increase in labor productivity will create a decrease in material management efficiency – as inventory levels must increase to address the volume change. That could easily translate to a materials efficiency decrease of 2% or more to support the 10% labor efficiency increase. Give the profit contribution assumptions above, the net result is as follows:

    • a 10% labor productivity improvement times 10% profit contribution equals a 1% profitability increase
    • a 2% materials productivity decrease times 60% profit contribution equals a 1.2% profitability decrease

    As you can see, net profitability actually decreases when high volume production is encouraged by metrics misalignment – compromising the strategic goal of “increasing profitability by X% over X quarters”.

    Care must be taken to set metrics that actually drive the desired behaviors, and do not risk undermine the intent of the strategy.

    Measuring Execution Performance:

    Operational planning is all about reality, accountability and execution, so estimating work effort and time-to-complete correctly is important to get right up front. To estimate effort as accurately as possible, past metrics are essential to help answer questions such as:

    • How well can resource horsepower be utilized?
    • How much resource horsepower is at our disposal?
    • What is the expected productivity of their horsepower?

    With realistic time frames and accountabilities in place, measuring execution performance is much simpler and managing the strategic portfolio can be accomplished effectively at each organizational level.

    1. Plan Change Management

    Implementing corporate strategy is dependent upon the energy, dedication, hard work and faith of the organization’s employees. Motivating employees to act decisively in the face of uncertainty is a challenge where many an organization have failed miserably. Employees are often starved of adequate information related to strategy. Quite often, employees one or two levels down from the CEO have little knowledge about the strategy or what they can do to help with its successful execution.

    In order to convince employees that change is necessary, the organization’s leadership must communicate about the strategy and develop a sense of urgency around the need for a shift. The urgency becomes the catalyst for change that is needed for employees to rally behind.  It becomes the “cause”.

    The sense of urgency must be real. Change management is never to be about deception.  Effective change requires an open and honest dialogue between leadership, management and employees so that each person in the organization understands the change imperative – whether it is changes in competitive marketplace conditions or an economic downturn. You must let your staff feel that they are part of the process in helping the change come to fruition.

    The change program must be treated as any other large initiative. It must be managed and measured to know if goals are being reached or might be in danger of being missed. Governance of such a program through a PMO or planning office is the most effective way to administer the long-term transformation.

    1. Governance

    Plan governance is the essential “follow-through ingredient” to set the wheels in motion for strategy execution. Organizational performance indicators and metrics help provide the ability to control and manage, as they signal the need for evaluation and analysis early when corrections to implementation tactics can be made more easily with fewer cost implications.

    Plan governance, whether implemented as a formal Plan Management Office or administered through a less formalized committee structure, should be responsible for the functions of selecting, managing and measuring of everything entering or within the plan portfolio.  The plan portfolio is the overall macroscopic view of all programs (related groupings of initiatives) and projects within initiatives that are involved with strategy implementation.

    With proper management controls in place, this approach allows those closest to the action to respond quickly and appropriately when it is needed – always operating within predefined spheres of control and in concert with the strategic goals. The goals are well known and understood by empowered employees, as their direct managers will have effectively communicated these goals to them, accompanied by the expectations for how they can directly contribute – allowing them to embrace the vision and fully participate in the tactical execution.

    1. Sustain / Rejuvenate

    As a function of the ongoing management of the plan portfolio, plan governance also involves refreshing the strategic and supporting operational plans to reflect changes because of completing plan goals and taking on new ones.  A plan governance structure allows for strategic and operational planning to become much more actively managed and based on a shorter time horizon.  Shorter time horizons for plans lead to more focus on execution and results in better outcomes.  As we’ve discussed in previous articles, a rolling 12-month plan that is refreshed quarterly is best suited for achieving optimal results in execution.

    Summary

    Even companies that do a reasonable job at defining strategy and performing high-level strategic planning tend to struggle with operational planning. The overall strategic plan must be thought of as a portfolio to be managed. The strategic plan portfolio represents the overall macroscopic view of all programs and initiatives involved with strategy implementation.

    During the operational planning stage of strategic planning, initiatives get defined that support the strategy’s outcomes. Those initiatives can then be broken down into bite-size projects so that they can be estimated, understood, and eventually – managed. To manage the overall strategic plan, however, we must have some different views of the work to be completed in order to successfully manage it. Grouping projects into programs provides a big-picture way of tracking, managing, and reporting on the tens, hundreds, or in the most extreme cases – thousands of projects that can arise from a corporate strategic plan.  Projects can be grouped into programs in terms of how they support the overarching strategy and goals or along budgetary lines. The overall group of programs is the portfolio. Plan governance then becomes the vehicle to manage the plan portfolio and ensure the of operational initiatives with plan goals and track progress of plan-supporting strategic initiatives through effective oversight at the corporate and operational levels.

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    Steve Feld, MBA is a certified business coach that provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. He has owned and operated 6 businesses and operated 3 large corporations with Fortune 500 Companies.

  • The 10 Essentials of Operational Planning-Part 1

    Is your organization’s strategy delivering on its promises?

    For most organizations, the answer is “no”. Too many plans end up full of content that is cerebral and fluff, ultimately adding little or no value to the organization. That is why companies are failing in strategy execution.
    Operational planning may not be the sexiest part of corporate strategic planning, but it is very important. Most organizations do not even have strategy. Given its importance, understanding how to do operational planning and making sure it gets done is well worth the time and effort.

    It’s not that operational planning is that complex to carry out, but there is some art to doing it well and it does require finesse. In short, operational planning requires a different skill set and discipline than its counterpart – strategic planning. The biggest difference is that we must adjust our thinking to the day-to-day business operations and consider all the constraints, inhibitors and accelerators that must be evaluated and factored into tactical planning. The discipline required is a mix of strategic planning with good old-fashioned program and project management.

    Businesses are not getting the full value they should from their strategic planning efforts. Most have only, themselves to blame and they know it. Clearly, strategic plans without follow-through will collect dust and never be executed as intended.

    If followed, these 10 essential operational planning steps will dramatically improve strategy execution in any organization. This is Part 1 of a 2-Part series and will show the first 6 steps.

    1. Define the Strategic Portfolio

    The work behind executing a corporate strategic plan lies in the goals that must be achieved. Each of those goals must be understood in terms of the various initiatives the goals really represent. This is a way to understand the work to be done in real terms that apply to business operations.

    2. Translate Goals Down into Major Programs
    Translating goals into major initiatives is the beginning of operational plan development, accomplished by mapping the goals laid out in the strategy to chunks of work. The next step though is to bundle or group initiatives into goal-aligned programs. This exercise makes the work to be accomplished easier to understand, manage and track.

    3. Map Programs to Organizational Structure
    With grouping of initiatives into programs completed, the question becomes, “How do initiatives impact the organization?” Profit and Loss accountabilities, organizational structures and resource control must all be understood as they relate to the strategy programs. Where will resources need to be shared? How will program funding effect budgets across the organization’s structure? This step requires an understanding of organization, its culture and budget controls.

    4. Define Accountabilities for Programs
    Accountability also must be clear in terms of expected timeframes. For accountability to exist, all who are affected by the plan must understand what is to be accomplished and within what timeframe. After all, it is impossible to hold people accountable for accomplishing a key outcome if there is no basis to measure. Similarly, if an objective that is not bound by time or if the team has unlimited time to complete it, the goal can never be complete, or its progress evaluated.

    5. Break Programs Down into Projects
    Operational planning is all about reality and execution, so estimating work effort and time-to-complete correctly for chunks of work is important. Programs are large and too unwieldy to be estimated and managed without breaking down the effort into smaller chucks, in this case, projects. Project-sized chunks of work can be more easily estimated, resourced and managed.

    Projects that have been identified can now be planned for at the detailed level, including: timeframes, human resource requirements, technology requirements and in many cases, dependency on other projects or programs (groups of projects). Careful attention to detail at this level can help avoid collisions with other projects down the line. Even then, there may be inter-dependencies between these groupings of initiatives and shortages of resources where overlaps exist. Tactical planning must delineate to the maximum extent possible the timelines, dependency relationships, resource allocations and costs relative to the allocated budgets across operational areas to avoid as many collisions and conflicts as possible.

    6. Define Accountabilities for Projects
    Common wisdom tells us that achieving strategic planning and management goals requires an actionable plan that considers the people required to bring the plan to fruition. A plan is worthless without the staff accountability to bring that plan to life.

    Sounds simple enough – yet, in practice both components (plan and people) have intricacies and uncertainties that must be carefully managed. People, in particular, must have accountability to accomplish the individual tasks that are required to achieve the overarching organizational goals. Projects that have been identified earlier in the process must be planned for at the detailed level. Operational planning is tactical and must assign accountabilities at the project level and delineate to the maximum extent possible the timelines, dependency relationships, resource allocations and costs relative to the allocated budgets across operational areas to avoid as many collisions and conflicts as possible.

    For accountability to exist, the team and all who are affected by the plan must understand what is to be accomplished and within what time frame. After all, it is impossible to hold people accountable for accomplishing a key outcome if there no basis to measure. Similarly, an objective that is not bound by time can never be considered to be complete or have insufficient progress because the team working on it has unlimited time in which to complete it.

    #bizcoachstevef

  • Sharpen your Sales Techniques

    Sales is the lifeblood that drives business.  There are no jobs unless someone brings the business through the door.   Career success often depends on your ability to sell a product, a service or an idea.  Even if you are the accountant for the business- you’re in sales. If you engage with vendors or customers – then you are in sales. Everyone in the company must realize they are in sales whether their titles state that or not. No matter what field you’re in, you’ll sell better by remembering these key pieces of sales wisdom:

     

    Satisfy the customer:  There’s a meat counter in the supermarket in my neighborhood.  There are always three or four clerks waiting on customers.  But one of the clerks always has customers waiting for him even if one of the other clerks isn’t busy.

    One day I asked him the reason for his popularity.  He said: “The other clerks always put more meat on the scale and then take some away to arrive at what the customer ordered.  I always put less on the scale and then add to it.  It makes all the difference.”

     

    A sales person tells, a good sales person explains, and a great sales person demonstrates: A company was selling unbreakable mirror glass and had a sales contest.  At the awards banquet they asked the #1 sales rep what his secret was.  He explained that he had the factory cut him several four-by-four squares of the mirror glass.  When he went out on calls he would put one of the squares on the customer’s desk and then take out a hammer and try to smash it.  It wouldn’t break – and the impressed customer was sold.

     

    Sell what’s on the truck:  Years ago, in New York City an Italian fruit vendor was teaching his son the basics of salesmanship.

    “Don’t tell people we are out of peaches,” the father said patiently, “ask them to buy some of our very fresh plums.  Sell what’s on the truck.”

    Many of today’s salespeople could take the same advice.  Don’t spend a lot of time complaining about the current state of the product line or describing products you can’t deliver right away.  Sell what’s on the truck – and your customers will be well served with the quality products you can deliver to them right now.

     

    Get in front of prospects:  Every sale starts with a prospect – a potential customer with an interest in what you’ve got to sell.  Identify those who need what you’re offering.  Find out where they are so you can target your sales efforts effectively.

     

    Profile your buyers:  Your product should fill a defined need.  Analyze the kind of people who might benefit from what you’ve got to offer so you can tailor your pitch to them.  Do they already use something similar?  Do they need to be educated about what you can do for them?

     

    Get into the customer’s mind:  You have to tailor your approach to match individual buyers.  Once you’ve targeted specific prospects, spend some time getting to know their personal priorities and professional preferences, and what they’re looking for when they consider products like yours.  You’ll do a better job of selling to them if you focus on satisfying their requirements instead of yours.

     

    Know when and how to ask for the sale:  Author Murray Raphel offers these words of wisdom: “A ‘closing’ . . . defeats your primary goal in selling: the lifetime value of the customer.  You don’t ‘close’ the sale.  You ‘open’ relationships.  Isn’t the end of the first sale really the beginning of the next sale to the same customer?”

     

    Ask for the order:  I can’t believe how many sales people do everything right, but then they fail to ask for the order.  Often that’s the most important part of the process.

    The famous automobile pioneer Henry Ford was once asked by an insurance agent whom he had known for many years why he never got any of Ford’s business.

    “You never asked me,” Ford replied.

     

    What sales techniques are you going to sharpen today to move your business forward?

     

    #bizcoachstevef