Let's kill time.
I need to burn some time.
I can't wait until tomorrow.
Tomorrow will hopefully be a better day.
Time is all we really have. If you're like me, you sometimes take it for granted. Until one day it will all be gone.
Where has the time gone?
Time surely has flown by.
In a whisper, our lives are over.
150 years ago, people existed that none of us know.
Books tell us a story of their lives.
But do we really understand what they went through?
And in 150 years from now, the same will be said of our civilization.
Forgotten in reality. Remembered by youtube footprints.
Isn't it sad to think that youtube might be used as an accurate depiction of our lives?
And even then, youtube will be stored on computer libraries long forgotten by the future masses as they live their lives capturing memories on their futuristic medium.
Ask anyone in their sixties or older about time and they will say something like, "Where did it go?"
Is that what you want for your life?
Wondering where it went...
The only difference between an old man and a young man is his experiences.
Are you working for 40 years. Or are you working for one year and repeating it 40 times?
Time is whispering away, with each repeated experience.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Sunday, June 28, 2015
The best cheapest, most efficient way to advertise a business
Growth in revenues is what we want in business. More revenues means the expenses get taken care of easier and the doors get to stay open.
Here's where most entrepreneurs stumble:
They think that a growth in revenues is determined only by attracting new customers to the product.
Attracting new customers is the hardest and most expensive form of revenue growth.
A new business, with no customers, has no choice to go down this road. That's part of the reason why 80% of businesses fail in the first five years of operations.
An existing business that already has clients isn't forced down that path.
There are three ways to grow sales:
1. Attract new clients
2. Increase frequency of purchase of existing clients.
3. Get existing clients to buy more each visit
Two of the three ways are attributed to existing business.
In my first year of business, sales had to be increased or the doors would be closed. We focused on number 2 and 3, without any outside advertising. Our sales increased by 42%. I heard a similar story of a Burger King franchise who increased his sales by 40% in one year by focussing on cleanliness and customer service.
Could it really be that simple?
So instead of investing valuable marketing dollars towards a yellow pages ad, newspaper ad, TV commercial, radio commercial, or whatever you might think about doing, understand that sales can be easily influenced by your current actions INSIDE your business. Fix your internal stuff and sales will grow.
Then, if you still haven't hit your sales targets, you can advertise.
Advertising speeds up the inevitable.
Don't allow the inevitable to be negative.
Here's where most entrepreneurs stumble:
They think that a growth in revenues is determined only by attracting new customers to the product.
Attracting new customers is the hardest and most expensive form of revenue growth.
A new business, with no customers, has no choice to go down this road. That's part of the reason why 80% of businesses fail in the first five years of operations.
An existing business that already has clients isn't forced down that path.
There are three ways to grow sales:
1. Attract new clients
2. Increase frequency of purchase of existing clients.
3. Get existing clients to buy more each visit
Two of the three ways are attributed to existing business.
In my first year of business, sales had to be increased or the doors would be closed. We focused on number 2 and 3, without any outside advertising. Our sales increased by 42%. I heard a similar story of a Burger King franchise who increased his sales by 40% in one year by focussing on cleanliness and customer service.
Could it really be that simple?
So instead of investing valuable marketing dollars towards a yellow pages ad, newspaper ad, TV commercial, radio commercial, or whatever you might think about doing, understand that sales can be easily influenced by your current actions INSIDE your business. Fix your internal stuff and sales will grow.
Then, if you still haven't hit your sales targets, you can advertise.
Advertising speeds up the inevitable.
Don't allow the inevitable to be negative.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Dealing with employee morale
Ever work for someone who's self interests are greater than her interest in the growth of the team?
It's demotivating. It's poisonous. The negativity vultures start circling, eyeing their prey waiting for the perfect time to pluck out thine eyes.
Don't give into the vultures. You have a choice. You can quit or you can change.
If you actually like your job, quitting is not the right answer.
So change it is.
How do you change?
What you focus on expands. Focussing on your boss's inadequacies will piss you off more.
The only way to go to a positive place is to focus on the positive things about the job.
Ask yourself what you're thankful for with this job.
Ask yourself what you love about this job.
Write it all down.
Ask yourself what you're thankful for with this job.
Ask yourself what you love about this job.
Write it all down.
If you're a team of one, you keep doing this. If there are others on the team, whether you're a supervisor or not, it's your time to lead. Your happiness depends on it. Can't do it? Then you should quit your job. Your happiness also depends on it.
Quitting a job in this way is like running away from a problem. Unfortunately, this problem will resurface at another job someday. Ever notice that life is like a video game. Until you learn how to get past a difficult level, you keep reliving the same old mistakes.
Today, you're going to get past this difficult level. You're gonna go Jedi on them with this mind trick.
Get the team together on Monday morning and lead them to positive change. Ask them to list the five things they love about their jobs, the team, and working with each other. You write down their answers but don't let them write them down.
Every Monday, do it again. At first, some will push back. Keep doing it. It will get harder before it gets easier. Keep referring to each employee's list. Write down the new answers they give. And there will be new answers because they will forget their previous responses if they didn't write them down.
Happiness comes from gratitude. This tactic will force employees to remind themselves why they are grateful for their job and their coworkers.
Focus on gratitude, and what they love about their jobs.
Happiness, gratitude and love will expand.
Happiness, gratitude and love will expand.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Balancing work and family
My kids were both born in the 22 months between my last corporate job and the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey.
My son was born exactly one month before the first restaurant opened. I couldn't be the dad I wanted to be. I wanted to play with my boy. Teach him how to throw a ball. Go skating, play hockey, watch TV. But I was tired.
A full day of work will do that to a person. Adding to the fatigue was the stress of trying to make a dream come true, working with 30 other people who depended on me for their paycheques and all the other individual problems that come from hiring 30 people.
I made a commitment to my business that I would work 6 days per week to make it a success. With Wednesday off, it would eventually become known as Family Day.
Family Day was set up to be the one day where we would do stuff together, not answer the phones, play, go on a day trip. The goal was to just have fun.
People said I was going to burn myself out working 6 days per week. I didn't believe it. I know lots of people who go to a paying job Monday to Friday only to work their butts off on Saturday and Sunday with house chores. Clearly, I neglected the house chores. But I didn't like doing them and I was paid more at work than I was cleaning the garage.
But as the kids got older and started school, balance became more of an issue. Family Day consisted of just me and my wife, while the kids were off to the education factory.
When they were off, I was at work. Eventually, my wife got in the business and she was also working on Sundays. I only saw the kids at nights for a few hours between homework and bedtime. My wife got Saturday with them as she cleaned the house.
I hated it. The only balance we had in our lives started with IM.
I wanted to work.
I liked the work.
But the stresses got too strong. And everything started to bother us.
The marriage was strained.
Relationships with business partners went downhill.
The kids were being cared for by everyone but us.
It felt like our lives were built on a deck of cards, just waiting for the wrong move.
Until one day, we decided to sell everything.
Nothing was more important than us raising our kids. We had them because we wanted a family more than anything else in the world.
And even though I knew that, I kind of forgot about it as I pushed my business interests higher.
Balance does not exist when it comes to work and family.
It's more like a swingset. You push and then you receive, only to push again. While the swing goes up, you can do other things quickly so you can be there to receive the swing as it comes back down. You can ignore pushing the swing a few times as you focus on the other task. Eventually if you don't give it another push, the swing stops.
As we try to survive, provide and nurture, we drive ourselves crazy trying to be all things to all people. High school taught us that we can't do that.
What's sitting on your swing, work or family?
My son was born exactly one month before the first restaurant opened. I couldn't be the dad I wanted to be. I wanted to play with my boy. Teach him how to throw a ball. Go skating, play hockey, watch TV. But I was tired.
A full day of work will do that to a person. Adding to the fatigue was the stress of trying to make a dream come true, working with 30 other people who depended on me for their paycheques and all the other individual problems that come from hiring 30 people.
I made a commitment to my business that I would work 6 days per week to make it a success. With Wednesday off, it would eventually become known as Family Day.
Family Day was set up to be the one day where we would do stuff together, not answer the phones, play, go on a day trip. The goal was to just have fun.
People said I was going to burn myself out working 6 days per week. I didn't believe it. I know lots of people who go to a paying job Monday to Friday only to work their butts off on Saturday and Sunday with house chores. Clearly, I neglected the house chores. But I didn't like doing them and I was paid more at work than I was cleaning the garage.
But as the kids got older and started school, balance became more of an issue. Family Day consisted of just me and my wife, while the kids were off to the education factory.
When they were off, I was at work. Eventually, my wife got in the business and she was also working on Sundays. I only saw the kids at nights for a few hours between homework and bedtime. My wife got Saturday with them as she cleaned the house.
I hated it. The only balance we had in our lives started with IM.
I wanted to work.
I liked the work.
But the stresses got too strong. And everything started to bother us.
The marriage was strained.
Relationships with business partners went downhill.
The kids were being cared for by everyone but us.
It felt like our lives were built on a deck of cards, just waiting for the wrong move.
Until one day, we decided to sell everything.
Nothing was more important than us raising our kids. We had them because we wanted a family more than anything else in the world.
And even though I knew that, I kind of forgot about it as I pushed my business interests higher.
Balance does not exist when it comes to work and family.
It's more like a swingset. You push and then you receive, only to push again. While the swing goes up, you can do other things quickly so you can be there to receive the swing as it comes back down. You can ignore pushing the swing a few times as you focus on the other task. Eventually if you don't give it another push, the swing stops.
As we try to survive, provide and nurture, we drive ourselves crazy trying to be all things to all people. High school taught us that we can't do that.
What's sitting on your swing, work or family?
Thursday, June 25, 2015
The key to hiring success
Talk to anyone about hiring and they will tell you to hire for attitude not experience.
Although it's a known fact, how many of us actually do it?
Most will say they do. But what they really do is take a small pool of EXPERIENCED candidates and interview them for attitude. They choose the best attitude amongst the experienced short list.
The cost to train an inexperienced employee is high. Yet the cost to replace an entire team decimated by an experienced jerk is obviously much higher.
The restaurant industry is no different. Because restaurants are on the front lines of business warfare, this challenge comes up often. Hire for skill and try to untrain bad habits or hire for attitude and try to train skill. In restaurants, the time required to train skill is short compared to more skilled jobs corporate jobs.
Hiring an employee in a restaurant is a pain in the ass. It's not like the trainers don't have anything else to do. It's not like business likes to pay for the extra cost of training labour. There is no HR department...
Yet hiring is still necessary.
Here are two tips that I learned for hiring success in the restaurant industry.
First of all, get referrals from existing employees. Not only do birds of a feather flock together, but now you have a mentor, a training buddy, a support team for your new employee.
How often have you seen a new employee get plucked to death by the team? A friend won't let this happen to the new recruit. A friend will bring the employee under her wing and protect her from the predators while feeding her advice and tips.
The other phenomenon I witnessed in these scenarios is the creation of study buddies. The friend trains the new recruit off company time, which saves valuable labour costs.
You don't always get enough referrals so you may have to advertise the position or review the pile of resumes in the file. Trying to get through the bullshit that resumes dish out, a decision is made who will be interviewed.
The second tip for hiring is more ninja style.
Hire for attitude. But hire for a specific attitude. Look for someone who has the ability to CARE.
Trying to find an employee who cares can be difficult. Everyone cares about something. Look specifically for someone who has a deep desire to help others.
How do you assess that?
If you're hiring a part-time employee look to university, college or high school kids. More specifically hire students who are studying or wanting to study Education or Nursing.
If you're hiring a fulltime employee, ask them if they had to do it all over again and had to go back to school, what field of study would they take. Again, look for the Education or Nursing answer.
I know it's crazy. I stumbled across this in my third year of business. I never had one bad hire using this methodology. You can end the interview after this simple question. Nothing else will give you more information.
It worked for me and I'll bet it will work for you. Just saying...
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
No longer employable
Entrepreneurs don't make good employees.
Some companies look for entrepreneurial employees. What they really want are employees who are ready, willing and able to take initiative.
Employees who are entrepreneurial are risk takers. They will work hard. But they may not spend a lot of time in the office. They may be networking, shaking hands, and looking for opportunities for both their employer and themselves.
These people are not employable. They seek new challenges. They can't be pegged down. Don't ask them to sit at a desk for 40 hours a week. You'll kill them and more importantly their spirit.
Don't ask them to work bank hours. They may start working at 5 am to go golfing at noon with some prospective clients only to be seen two days later. They may be gone for days, knocking down doors of new clients.
Be clear on the goals in the beginning. If not, the entrepreneurial employee will set his own goals, which will probably not be in line with corporate objectives.
An entrepreneurial employee will disrupt. If the current systems don't work for him, he will change them. He will do whatever it takes to find success.
Don't allow the disruption, and he'll suffocate. Real entrepreneurs don't work for money. They work for fun, the thrill, the fight, the challenge. Money comes because they are so damned good at it.
Piss him off and he won't think about quitting. He'll pick up his stuff and leave. He's a spoiled brat that way.
You will never, ever, ever be able to control these people. So you have two choices: don't hire them or hire them and get out of the way.
Some companies look for entrepreneurial employees. What they really want are employees who are ready, willing and able to take initiative.
Employees who are entrepreneurial are risk takers. They will work hard. But they may not spend a lot of time in the office. They may be networking, shaking hands, and looking for opportunities for both their employer and themselves.
These people are not employable. They seek new challenges. They can't be pegged down. Don't ask them to sit at a desk for 40 hours a week. You'll kill them and more importantly their spirit.
Don't ask them to work bank hours. They may start working at 5 am to go golfing at noon with some prospective clients only to be seen two days later. They may be gone for days, knocking down doors of new clients.
Be clear on the goals in the beginning. If not, the entrepreneurial employee will set his own goals, which will probably not be in line with corporate objectives.
An entrepreneurial employee will disrupt. If the current systems don't work for him, he will change them. He will do whatever it takes to find success.
Don't allow the disruption, and he'll suffocate. Real entrepreneurs don't work for money. They work for fun, the thrill, the fight, the challenge. Money comes because they are so damned good at it.
Piss him off and he won't think about quitting. He'll pick up his stuff and leave. He's a spoiled brat that way.
You will never, ever, ever be able to control these people. So you have two choices: don't hire them or hire them and get out of the way.
Monday, June 22, 2015
The most powerful form of marketing
No one will question this. A friend talking about a new product, getting excited, will sell us on the idea that we should buy that same product a million times faster than some 30 second television commercial.
Word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing that exists.
It's also the slowest to achieve any substantial results.
A friend recently asked me about the power of referrals. His idea is to create WOM marketing for his new business. But he wants it to happen fast, which is like asking an elephant to tiptoe gently (impossible).
He has a business that he wants to pay a referral fee to customers who generate new business for him.
Here was my response.
Word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing that exists.
It's also the slowest to achieve any substantial results.
A friend recently asked me about the power of referrals. His idea is to create WOM marketing for his new business. But he wants it to happen fast, which is like asking an elephant to tiptoe gently (impossible).
He has a business that he wants to pay a referral fee to customers who generate new business for him.
Here was my response.
Money will motivate some people to give you a referral. Agreed that profit margins are good enough to afford referral fees. However keep in mind that most will gladly refer for free if you do a good job with an amazing guarantee. The reason most people don’t refer companies to their friends isn’t because they aren’t paid. It's their friendship credibility that's at stake if the friend has a bad experience with the referred company. To most, credibility is way more important to them than a few bucks.
Think about the other side of the equation. If I’ve been referred to your business by a friend in which I spend a significant amount of money. It doesn't matter if I like the product or not, if I found out that the friend made money in converting me to your client, it makes me feel used.
To combat that, you can make a better deal - an insider’s deal or a friend’s and family deal.
Offer this instead:
If a client knows anyone else who might also like the product, not only could you give a referral fee, but you could also give the referred customer a percentage friend and family discount. Now everyone wins and no one will feel taken advantage of by a friend.
Remember, the deflector shields will be up. How do they come down? When we are able to help others. A pay it forward discount to our friends will be seen as helping others and not taking advantage of a client's personal network.
Social Media is a form of Word of Mouth marketing. It can speed up things significantly. But the credibility factor will remain. Most won't share in fear of hurting their own social standing. They will protect their network, and their credibility unless they know without a doubt that you won't let them or their friends down.
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