One of the things we fight in our day jobs as business coaches is the never ending poor advice given to small business owners. Perhaps the biggest offense with this advice is folks talking about business plans. It might sound something like, “All you need is a business plan to get started.” Well intentioned advice. But what does this really mean?
Have you ever seen the movie Rudy? It’s based on a true story of a young man whose biggest desire was to play football for Notre Dame. As with any great story there are many obstacles for our hero to overcome including his limited physical abilities. Perhaps the most challenging obstacle that Rudy and many of us face is the doubters around us who tell us we’re crazy for thinking something is possible or that it can’t be done. It’s often easy to give into this fear of failure and start to doubt ourselves.
One of the biggest challenges and common frustrations of any leader is to get everyone on your team on the same page. Use whatever metaphor you want. Things like “all rowing in the same direction” or “everyone reading from the same hymnal” and hundreds of other cliches. At the end of the day, it comes down to what you focus on as a Leader. Because whatever you focus on is what your team will focus on.
In This Episode One of our favorite topics to discuss over the years on our show is our beloved Cleveland […]
So with all the changes going on in 2020, we are now up against some of the final changes as the year comes to an end. Gone are all the holiday get togethers with friends and family and business associates. And while many of you may be celebrating not having to attend your spouse’s company holiday party, just as many are probably missing out on that white elephant gift! This got us to thinking, what’s everyone doing to celebrate the holidays in their businesses?
We all have doubts. It’s only human. Some of us are just better at hiding those doubts than others. One phrase that is often difficult for business owners to utter is “I don’t know.” There can be a pressure as an owner to know all the answers. Whether that pressure is real or perceived doesn’t matter because you still feel it. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in business for a few weeks or several decades, chances are there are times when you feel like you’re in over your head. So what’s a business owner to do about it?
Well, it’s almost here. 2020 is nearly finished. And there’s promising news on the vaccine front with COVID so things are looking up heading into 2021. But there are several changes we’ve all had to make in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As we head fully into the planning season, the question becomes what changes do you keep from this year going into next year? What changes are happening worldwide that are going to impact you and your business?
We all have lots of things to be thankful for, even in this crazy pandemic COVID year of 2020! Part of the beauty about this time of year is we get the chance to reflect on the year that was as we pull together our plans for the year to come. So our question tonight has to do with how you show your thankfulness to people. Because it’s good to be thankful, but it’s even better to show your thankfulness.
Nothing like burying the answer in the headline! Yes, keep it simple. The best way to get things done is to get started! Get started in pulling together your plan. We have found too many people who are stuck in neutral. This has been exacerbated during this year of the COVID pandemic.
Are you more comfortable asking for permission or forgiveness? Not sure? Do you tend to just do what you think is right and deal with the consequences or do you try to get everyone else on board before doing stuff?