Be a "dad" to your business

I wonder what the card would have said...

Yes, in case you were wondering, this is a Fathers Day themed post today. First off, I want to wish everyone a Happy Fathers Day. I would also like to make a quick T-shirt recommendation for the future:


Because everyone's celebrating their fathers (or at least pretending to ;) ), I will keep this post quite short.

The reason I say you should be a "dad" to your business is that, in a lot of ways, your business is like your child. The younger your child is, the more attention you need to give it to make sure it grows up to be healthy and independent. As such, when you have an embryonic small business, you need to be there for it all the time until it can "walk" by itself.

As a "dad" you want to ensure that your business grows up with your values, but with the ability to be independent. A lot of entrepreneurs sometimes hit a plateau or wall in their growth because they get so consumed in their business, that they cannot start new businesses or just grow their current business beyond tiny increments. (See: "Don't be a helicopter entrepreneur")

At times, just like a child, sometimes you will need to stomp your foot and make tough decisions for your business (i.e. cutting employees, services, etc.). For entrepreneurs, "tough love" is sometimes a necessity to ensure your business' survival.

When you small business grows up to be healthy and strong, make sure to buy yourself a crappy T-shirt ;) Oh, and I know we have women in the audience here. You can be "dads" too, just PLEASE don't overdo it ;)

Happy Fathers Day!

The first step is always the hardest

Floid Factoid: A plane or shuttle burns the most fuel during take off.

If you ask any serious entrepreneur what were some of the most difficult times of his/her venture, it'll usually be "the start-up phase" It can also happen to be the most fun, but it all depends on your mindset and your determination.

From what I've garnered from personal experience and the experience of others, most people become intimidated by the often daunting task of starting a new business. As you may have read in my previous posts, it takes iron determination, a good deal of homework and a passion for what you do. If you were to survey salesmen or entrepreneurs, most of them fail/drop-out in the beginning stages (1st year usually) of their endeavors. Out of those who make it past the initial stages (after 1-2 years or so), very few end up dropping out in the mid to late term. That is why entrepreneurs are a minority. If it was easy, then everyone would be doing it, right? However, that is why the rewards are so great.

Newton's Law of Inertia applies to people too. Objects that are stationary remain stationary, and objects in motion stay in motion unless an external force interferes. When you first start a business, you're going from a stationary state to a state of motion. However, the greatest amount of force exerted is in the initial acceleration phase. As the factoid above mentions, a plane/shuttle burns the most fuel on take-off in order to overcome friction and gravity. If you're in a state of motion, momentum will keep you going. In fact, with momentum, things get a lot easier.

As a future or a current entrepreneur, don't let the daunting tasks in the beginning deter you. Yes, you will have to work hard. Yes, you will have to make sacrifices. Most importantly, you will have to venture into the unknown. However, keep in mind that for every day you work hard now, that is one more day you have earned for yourself in living the life you want in the future. You are making an investment in the present to generate a great return in the future.

Just keep pushing forward. Eventually, momentum will take over.

Whew, looks like I JUST made the post right before 12:00 AM ;) By the way, I'm changing my blog update days to every Sunday and Wednesday. The next blog post will be on Sunday, May 24th.

Don't be a "helicopter entrepreneur"

Chim Chim moderating the message boards from wild humans

One of the reasons why small businesses stay small is because their owner(s) don't take the next critical step. It's very common to see "mom and pops" that, for years, never seem to grow. To the entrepreneur, his/her business is like a child. You want to care for it, make sure it grows, and are deathly afraid of hiring babysitters or allowing it to become more independent.

Most people would be inclined to believe that most businesses fail because there wasn't sufficient demand. While that is true, the opposite is also true. Many businesses out there also fail precisely because there was too much demand and they couldn't keep up. When you can't keep up in running the business you will start to bleed customers very fast, until you eventually end up with something not worth doing anymore or get burnt out.

Listen, you can't grow without help...

There's pills for that!

Huh? Who said that? ;)

On a serious note, unless you empower your business to run itself without you having to be there, it will never reach its full potential. The same goes for children. We also talk about and make fun of "helicopter parents" but the problem is real. There are many "helicopter entrepreneurs" out there.

As an entrepreneur, you need to remember this golden rule:

To grow, you need to automate or delegate. Or do both.

To those of you who are familiar with Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, he lays out a very important principle. To be financially successful and independent, you need to be able to generate PASSIVE income, not linear income. Linear income is pretty much working a job. You exchange one hour of your time for a set amount of money. Passive income means you collect money without even doing anything.

The linear income dilemma is not just restricted to people working a job though. Entrepreneurs can also get stuck in this trap. Take, for example, that you own a design business. It's pretty much a 1 or 2-man show. However, in order to earn any money, you yourself are hired out by the hour by your client. If you want to grow your business, then this model is unsustainable. During this time that you're hired out, you cannot take on any additional work, which means in the grand scheme of things, you are LOSING money. If you are handling paperwork or other administrative/non-value add tasks...again...you are LOSING money.

For all of you out there who are or want to become entrepreneurs, I want you to say this affirmation to yourself:

I am an entrepreneur. I am a LEADER. I am NOT a Manager.

I want you to take this to heart. A leader is not a manager. A leader brings people together to work for a common goal. A leader sets a strategy and vision for the rest of the organization. Managers are there to make sure everyone's doing their part. Do you think the Chairman of a large company knows every little thing that's going on in the company? Nope, not even close. All that matters at the end of the day is the results. Same goes for a General of an army. They don't manage their army, that's the job of their subordinates. They LEAD their army. I can go on and on with more practical examples, but I think you get the point.

So...assuming your business is making money and doing relatively well, it is time to start distancing yourself from day-to-day operations to focus on greater value-add activities. Yes, some people may argue that hiring people or buying new technology costs money. True, but losing time costs even more.

What kind of activities are non-value add you ask? Here are some common ones:

• Paperwork - Things like order invoices, shipping, correspondence, etc.

• Customer service - A lot of times, most situations are easily handled by someone else

• Micro-managing employees (also called "firefighting") - Let a manager do that if you really insist on it, you should only worry about the results

• Accounting (sorry, but it's true) - The more time you spend counting pennies leaves less time for grabbing more

There are many ways to automate or delegate these activities. In fact, way too many to list. There is an abundance of small business software out there that could help automate everything from shipping labels to automatically keeping track of your financials.

To delegate, you should first hire a manager who can run the day-to-day operations of your business. That manager, if they're smart, will then make recommendations on what additional labor needs to be hired in order to make the operation efficient. Think of a manager as the "babysitter". Even with a babysitter, the child knows who to call daddy/mommy. Same goes for your company, everyone still knows you're the owner and the HMFIC (Head Mo'Fugga In Charge)

If you feel your company is not yet ready for a separate non-owner management team, then at least hire the people you need to take care of the non-value add activites of your business. However, give them sufficient independence so that they can grow, and you can focus on growing the business!

The most important activities you need to do as a leader is to bring in new business and set the overall strategy of your company. Focus on passive income. That's how you grow.

Make it your goal to make the only mention of "helicopter entrepreneur" as a reference to you landing your helicopter on the East Side...in that deluxe apartment in the sky.