Creating a Successful and Productive Business

To finish out the month and the year I’m sharing about our business book of the month, and this month I read Adam Savage’s Every Tool’s A Hammer. You probably know Adam from the TV show MythBusters, but he’s also done a ton of work in the entertainment world most people don’t know about from building and creating for commercials, Star Wars and many other different shows and movies, which all stems out of his life-long love of being creative, of figuring out how things are made and replicating some of the really cool and unique movie props, costumes and parts. I know it doesn’t really sound like a business book, but much of being successful is about creativity and passion, both of which Adam is all about.

As any creative person can tell you, one of the biggest challenges is having funding to buy or attain all the tools (physical or digital) and components you need to create with, and funding is also central to the success of a business. One of the first tricks Adam shared is about starting with a cheap version of something. This allows you to check out the tool and see how you really use it and what features you value most, before deciding if you need to upgrade to a more expensive version or if this one will do the job you need it to do just fine. He also suggests that if you’re going to use a tool more than three times per year, it’s worth investing in your own copy.

Second, Adam recognized the importance of practice. In the book he shares about his love of cardboard, which is a cheap stand-in for so many products and allows you to try your your design in the real world and see what does or doesn’t work and what issues you may face when you get to the final version. He also shared frequently about how many iterations of certain projects he did, and with each version it was improved on in one way or another. If you’re not making time to learn, practice and grow, you’re doing a disservice to yourself and your community of employees, team members and customers, and some day the world will probably leave you behind as it moves on and advances.

One of the more challenging lessons for Adam and his creativity was learning the importance of organization and cleanup. Throughout the book he shares of his discovery of the value of lists and how they can contribute to both personal and project success. I’ve shared with you before how much I love lists, both very organized and for the sake of writing stuff down so that you can keep doing what you’re doing in the moment. Organization and lists are both tools that enable you to pass on your process to others so that you don’t have to do every little thing, and they also help keep your business running uniformly, no matter who is following the list. Organizing and lists also help you to be more productive, strategic, and efficient, able to plan ahead and better meet deadlines. Cleaning up both throughout the day as well as specifically at the end of the day allow you to start the next day or project with a clean slate and not return to the frustration of the day before.

Finally, two bits of wisdom directly from Adam: “I take pride in my work, and I have no problem saying, I MADE THAT, but I also believe strongly in publicly sharing that pride with all those who were part of the journey.” I do hope that you’re proud of the business you’ve built, and if not, take 2021 to get it into a shape and run by people that you can be proud of. There will likely be as much change in this coming year as in the year that we’re finishing, so take advantage of that and make sure your business is something that you’re truly proud of. Also, I encourage you to commit to sharing more consistently and frequently about your pride in your team, and their role in building such an awesome business.

“I have always found that to make anything great requires a good idea that is approached with a genuine regard for excellence and honesty.” I do hope that 2021 is a year where we can all come up with lots of good ideas that will help our businesses grow and be successful and our world be better, stronger, happier, safer and smarter, and that we can bring those ideas to life giving it our best effort and being honest about when we need help, how we can help others bring their ideas to life and who helps us get to victory. What will you create in the new year?

Giving Credit

2020 will go down in history as a year few enjoyed. Yes, there were moments to enjoy and moments that were awesome, and in many ways we came together, but there were too many moments of sorrow, tragedy and hurt for this to be anything but a not great year. In years like this we’re not as interested in being given credit where credit is due, because we really don’t want an award for staying home or for helping pass around or further something not good. But generally speaking we really like to get credit for the hard work we do, for being there, for showing up and for adding our creative efforts to the world.

This past month I got an email from an author who shared that one of the big names in the book industry had recognized her new book in a recent Facebook post and how excited, honored and flattered she was that not only did the other author take time to check out her book, but that she took time to recognize it publicly. In the book world the authors are on different ends of the journey, with one being a “name” in the industry who has written many books including many that have gotten serious public recognition, and the newsletter author having only a few and not anywhere near the time in the industry either. It’s a huge gift to this author that the other one took the time to share about the book, and is something that we don’t always think about, whether with regard to leaving a review or passing a good word to someone else about someone we read or worked with.

I also read a blog post recently and wanted to share it in my weekly business newsletter only to find it was published by a business that is run by several people, they don’t list the actual author on the blog post, and I find it’s rare that everyone took part in writing the post. If they all did, then that’s fine and no credit has to be given, but to someone who’s not a regular reader of the blog, it’s not clear if that would be the case and I’m a little disappointed that everyone gets credit for what might be the work of one or two people.

As important as community is and as much as community is about all working together towards one goal and less about who does what, everyone still wants to be recognized. We still want people to know that we are proud of the work we did, we still want to be recognized for the effort we gave (even if it’s just a name on a story, or being told “thank you”), we still rely on other people sharing about us and the work we do, and the world still runs on the individual contributions that each of us bring to the table.

I don’t know what next year will bring (of course I hope it brings better things), but I do know that if we work together and give credit where credit is due, we’ll make progress and be more motivated to make our contribution, even if it seems small and insignificant, because it does matter and it’s when we come together with each of our own gifts and talents that we’re able to make breakthroughs and achieve victories. Who can you recognize today?

What Now?

I think about the disappointment that this year has been for so many of us probably more often than I should. We were really excited to turn the page on the decade and enter into a new one and we were handed this virus, the world shut down, our world changed on so many levels, and we were left holding the bag that we thought would contain lots of great things for 2020 only to realize that there was a hole in the bottom and whatever might have been in there wasn’t any more. That feeling of being let down is kind of what it feels like today, now that the presents have been opened, the special food eaten, the gatherings (virtual and in person) have happened, and Christmas is officially over.

Of course the hope (at least normally) is that Christmas was at least somewhat close to as awesome as you were expecting and now you’ve got great gifts to enjoy and memories to reflect on. But even in the case of a good holiday, there’s still a bit of sadness that it’s done, that there’s no more Christmas music on the radio, people aren’t lighting up their houses anymore, and the holiday cheer and good will among men is gone.

A great line in one of my favorite movie versions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has one of the characters asking something to the effect of that since they’ve eaten the food and sung the carols, what should they do now? “What now?” or “what’s next?” are certainly questions we normally ask this time of year as go past the celebration of Christmas and we look to the end of a calendar year, but they’re also the question we are asking as we have an eye to the end of this pandemic and destruction it has caused hopefully sooner rather than later in the new year.

Of course we can approach this question with the feeling of loss at the forefront, but I think we’d do better to approach it with another Scrooge wisdom in mind: that of his prayer at the end of the story to keep Christmas in his heart all year. Where can we add some magic to our lives? What gifts can we give others that will support them? Who should be part of our lives more that can help us keep Christmas day in and day out? How will we spread hope and good cheer so that the world isn’t such a scary or overwhelming place anymore? Which lessons of Christmas do we need to take forward with us as we plan the next steps of our lives and our contributions to the world? What is next for you?

Best Gifts a Business Can Give

I love the gift giving season. It’s such a special time for everyone, from the kids who love getting presents to the adults who love giving them, to being able to get creative and gift things that show others you know them and love them, to businesses making (hopefully) good money to end the calendar year with. With Christmas hours away, Kwanzaa a little over a day away, and hopefully fond memories of Hanukkah this year, I thought we’d talk about the best gifts a business can give.

The gift of awesome employees. Employees are not only often the face of the business, but they also determine much of the experience a customer has with the business, and whether a person turns from a potential customer into an actual one (or even regular one). Part of having awesome employees on your team has to do with hiring people who are committed to the mission of your company and invested in what you offer. This part has much to do with who they are, if they’re a good fit for your company, and if they’re committed to being a good employee in general. The other part of having awesome employees has to do with how you equip them to do their job. Are they empowered to make the decisions and take the actions 75% or more of customers need them to take without escalating things and have you given them the education to know your business inside and out so they can help the customers? The better you choose, prepare and empower your employees, the better they can do for your customers.

The gift of reliable leadership. Sometimes people are put into leadership positions even if they aren’t really committed to being a leader or capable of leading in the ways that people need them to. One of the best gifts a business can give not only their employees but also their customers and the rest of the world is consistent, responsible, reliable, approachable, actionable, believable, committed, present, wise leadership. No leader is perfect all of the time, but people in leadership positions have a big responsibility towards the future of their company, as well as towards generally using their power and influence making the world a better place. Yes, sometimes that does mean owning up to mistakes, failures, missteps and struggles, but in general if they’re truly doing the work of being a leader, more often than not that means helping the business grow, helping employees make more money and find value in their jobs, and provide their customers with products and services they appreciate.

The gift of appreciation and recognition. This gift is a little harder to give a name to, but it encompasses things that have to do with how a business treats their customers like respecting them as individuals, offering customers products and services of value and quality, being polite and courteous and working with them whenever possible, communicating important details with them in a timely fashion and respectfully, providing quality customer service, and also rewarding customers for being with them and supporting the work that the business does. Customers have a ton of choices in almost every industry, so if you treat them poorly, it’s highly likely that they’ll go work with one of your competitors instead of giving you a second chance. The cost of treating your customers well is often so negligible compared to potential sales from a customer, it’s mind boggling that more customers don’t make the effort to show a little love and cheer.

So as your business works through this holiday season and beyond into the new year, what gifts are you going to give to your community of leaders, employees, and customers?

Hope at Winter Solstice

Winter officially arrived yesterday. I find it interesting that the official arrival of the season is typically far into the actual season. For example, we’ve had winter temperatures off and on since Halloween, we had snow last week and yet winter only arrived today, not to mention that other parts of the US had snow long before this and usually we do before December too. Spring and Autumn are transition points, while Summer and Winter are true points of change because those are the points in the year that we begin to get more or less sunlight. As much as I dislike winter, the winter solstice means that while yesterday had the least amount of light all year, today and all the days leading up to summer will have increasingly more.

This week much of the thought is about hope. Kids have hope that Santa will come down the chimneys (or whatever other magical ways he gets in), we have hope because we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and we have hope that soon we’ll have more sunlight because we’ve celebrated the winter solstice. Hope is defined as “to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence. To believe, desire, or trust.” Hope is interesting because it buoys you in the short term based on things that may not come to frutition for months or even years yet. Often that’s where our success and victory journeys start: with a dream or idea that we think is attainable and think we should work towards, believing that we can bring it to life.

This year has had many bumps in the road for all of us, we haven’t all had the typical journey that we usually take when workign towards victories or success. But I don’t think the challenges of this year should discourage us or destroy our hope in those victories or success plans. I think we should still believe in them, it just may take a little longer, and a little more work, and maybe the end result will be a little different than what we were expecting. But that’s OK because we can’t ever fully predict where we will end up on our victory or success journeys, what matters most is that you start with a goal in mind, one that you think you can bring to life.

The end of a year and the change of the seasons are both good times for us to reevaluate where we’re at in life and what victory and success journeys we’re on. Maybe all that needs to happen is for us to bring new life to the hope that got us started on the journey in the first place. What hopes and dreams do you have as we finish this year and start a new one?

A Little Holiday Magic

Impossible is a word that’s often floated around during the Christmas holidays: it’s impossible for Jesus to be born through a virgin, it’s impossible for Santa to visit everyone’s houses in one night, it’s impossible for Santa to get into houses that don’t have a chimney, it’s impossible for reindeer to fly, it’s impossible to get certain wished-for gifts. And yet there’s something about the holiday season that makes us believe, even just a little bit, that maybe some, or all of it is possible. Each year it seems like we need some of that holiday magic, and this year is no different.

One of the phrases we’ve used often this year is “I can do this.” We’ve said it to encourage ourselves and motivate ourselves to keep going when the going seems impossible. We haven’t succeeded every time or with everything this year (many of us call it a failure of a year), but I think it has helped us do a better job on the steps we could take, and helped us give our best effort even when we knew it wouldn’t be enough. Going back to the holidays, I’m sure it’s a phrase that was used by all of the people in the Biblical Christmas story when they were given their roles in the story, the validity of which would be questioned throughout history. As much as they trusted God to make everything work out, not only was it surreal to be part of His plan, but being skeptical humans we naturally have some doubts and fears about things that may come to pass, things that we’d really like to work but we’re realistic in knowing that they don’t always.

Maybe Santa isn’t real but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t use a little of his Christmas magic, especially this year, to turn what’s been impossible and give us some hope for good things in the future. I don’t want to go into 2021 with fears of it being a worse year than this was, and I certainly don’t want to encourage the next generation to think that way either. So I’ve unpacked as much Christmas magic as I could, spread as much cheer as I could and have done my best to encourage people to keep moving forward with life, hopes, dreams and plans. Maybe we’re not dreaming big dreams anymore, maybe our dreams are much smaller and shorter term. But what that really means is we’ve got lots of room for some really big magic to come along and surprise us.

Choosing to be a Legacy Leader

This year we’ve lost quite a few leaders, people who made a big impact on the US and other parts of the world as well, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Tony Hsieh and John Lewis, not to mention the hundreds and thousands of others who have died this year both from the virus and other causes. I was reading a blog post the other day about someone else we lost a few years ago in December: the legendary Nelson Mandela. In the post they shared this incredible statement: “Following decades of international outcry and sanctions, Mandela was freed in 1990. He emerged from jail prepared to lead talks with his jailers.” What an incredible statement that makes about who Mandela was both as a person and as a leader.

Everyone makes mistakes and has bad days, from the largest companies that serve millions if not billions (as seen by the Google outage this week) to the smallest mom-and-pop shops. The issues and mistakes range from links that don’t work in emails or social posts, incorrect product shipments, poor shipment packaging and service outages, to rude (or downright nasty) employees, unsanitary stores and not delivering on the promised (purchased) services. Obviously some of those are easier to address than others, and some are less trust-destroying than others.

This year just about every business and leader was tested, either because they had a significant decrease in their sales (i.e. travel and entertainment industries) or because they had such an increase they could not keep up with demand (i.e. paper goods and medical industries). And because the challenges were so great to everyone, there was some level of acceptance towards understanding that it was likely that there might be delays or limits or mistakes made. So for there to be companies and leaders that stood out as having failed or made mistakes that are above and beyond a reasonable level is both amazing and sad, the worst being those who never responded to any customer or media requests or comments, never did anything, and never showed any sign of regret or understanding. Where are the leaders in those companies?

Even if you can’t (or won’t) provide an explanation for the failure or mistake, even if you can’t promise it won’t happen again, even if you don’t really plan to change or fix anything (shame on you!), you still should show your people that you hear what they’re saying and, if their comments are correct, you should apologize. So what does this have to do with where we started this blog post? Simply that each and every day we’re given the choice of what kind of leader we want to be and how we’re going to lead. We can’t compare our one year battle with this virus to Nelson Mandela’s 27 years in prison, but it makes a pretty powerful statement that he was able to come out of one of the toughest prisons in the world and work with those who hurt him in order to help create a better future for others (something he accomplished since he was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993).

One last thought: our goal shouldn’t be about criticizing each other or being inconsiderate of each other, but about trying to live up to the legacy of leadership that people like Nelson Mandela, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Tony Hsieh, John Lewis and countless other leaders have shown us is possible even through very difficult times. It’s not about being perfect, but about learning, growing, working together, choosing to take the high road whenever we can, and committing to do even just a little better each day. What motivates or inspires you to be a legacy leader?

Figuring Stuff Out

Confidence isn’t a word that we’ve used a lot this year. It’s not been a year that’s provided us a lot of opportunities to be certain in which direction we’re going, if things are going to work out or what the next steps will be. I do try to plan whenever possible, I like having strategies and outlines and plans, however general, about the direction I’m going or things that need doing. But this year we’ve been able to plan a day or maybe a week in advance if we’re lucky, and we can’t be very confident about those plans or necessarily how well they’ll work out because things are changing so fast and they’re so unpredictable.

But even when our lives are filled with unpredictability and uncertainty we’re still expected to pay bills, take care of our homes and families, stay healthy, eat well, and do our jobs, with or without a plan. Which, as we’ve learned this year, can be pretty frustrating and challenging. I read a great quote the other day from Brendon Burchard that really encouraged me about our ability to get things done and to be the strong and capable people we are: “Confidence is the belief in one’s ability to figure things out.”

This bit of wisdom actually lines up really well with what I was reading in our business book of the month this morning and brings us to our success secret for today: some of the smartest people are those who are really good at thinking successfully and productively on their feet. Part of successfully thinking on your feet does have to do with past experiences and believing with some degree of certainty that things will go a certain way (i.e. gravity, fire burns up not down, buoyancy etc.), but much of it has to do with being able to quickly evaluate your options, pick the best one and immediately get going on producing it. This ability to figure things out also is something that has contributed to the fact that we’re still here and many other species aren’t.

So if you’re feeling a little down today and not confident about your ability to really get through this challenge that we’ve been facing as a world, some of us for almost a year now, I want to encourage you and tell you that I have faith in you to get creative, really think about your options and find a way to make things work as best you can. You don’t always have to hit a home run, sometimes just not striking out is a good contribution to a victory. What will you choose to figure out today?

The Dark Side of the Christmas Stories

It has always fascinated me that the Christmas stories include so much struggle and not-good stuff in them. Who really wants to talk about it being too dark to see to deliver gifts or that it’s entirely possible coal will be what’s delivered to your stocking? Shouldn’t it be a much better and easier journey for the Holy Son of God Jesus to enter the world rather than having Joseph not want to be part of the journey, having to journey far from home at the time of birth and giving birth in a less-than-ideal location? None of that brings light to my eyes, or the eyes of any kid. Instead, it makes people scared that Christmas might not happen.

I’m all about a good story, and I understand that most hero stories have some challenge in them as well as an awesome ending, which is true for the large percentage of Christmas stories (except for those who actually receive coal of course). So yes, it’s absolutely normal and how stories usually go, but with something this important, it just sometimes feels like it shouldn’t have had to go that way. And that’s where we arrived countless times with this year: do we really have to go through all of this challenge and what is the chance on getting a miracle and really awesome ending? I’m sure many of us would accept a lackluster or abrupt ending to this story as long as it was a definite ending at this point.

Yet, the Christmas stories are those that keep giving. The more I reflected on how frustrating it was that neither story is all magic, the more I appreciated how much easier it made it to believe in and relate to them, especially in this year, not to mention that we’ve been able to relate every year since they were first shared/happened. If even the most magical happenings and stories include some serious challenges and struggles, it’s not so hard to believe that our normal lives would include them as well. That doesn’t mean I necessarily want or invite in more challenges, I’d definitely take a Christmas miracle, especially this year.

Again, none of this makes up for or helps change the challenges and dissatisfaction we have with how this holiday season will go for many of us, but I hope it gives us and our kids the courage to keep going. And maybe we can find a little of Santa’s creative spirit that led him to Rudolph to apply to our lives and situation this year.

The Sad Story of Empty Holiday Shelves

One of the biggest challenges we businesses have been affected by this year has been inventory, which of course means our customers have been affected by those challenges as well. It’s frustrating being on both sides of this equation because of course we want to make sales and would love to have product to fulfill the demand, but it’s not like we can snap our fingers and make product appear or if we can’t get the product from the seller to us or if somewhere in the chain there’s a breakdown (i.e. the bottles to put cleaning solution in aren’t available), we can’t get it to the customers. We also have to be more careful than usual about buying too much inventory because many customers simply can’t buy as they have in years past because of the challenges this year and we don’t want to be left holding the very-seasonally-specific holiday merchandise.

But it’s incredibly frustrating from a customer perspective to see the same stuff out of stock everywhere, to not be able to get basic essentials, to see in-stock dates showing January, and to not see the usual large variety of items. So when people turn to alternatives or even just try to make sense of what’s available, you add on top of stock issues the businesses who don’t respond to questions or queries or issues. And then there’s the very typical missing shipments or delayed shipments of stuff that is so frequent this time of year with everyone buying and sending stuff on top of the issues we’ve already had with shipping this year. Which brings us to an unhappy end to a very difficult year.

But here’s my issue with it being December 10 and there being almost no holiday stuff left on the shelves: since October industry leaders have been predicting that lots of people will really dig into Christmas (and all the other December holidays) and turn to the traditions that have sustained them in years past. It’s what I’ve been saying in my newsletters and to customers since early November as well: extend the Christmas holidays (and spending) as much as possible. People may not have lots of extra income to go overboard, but they’re certainly digging into the holiday cheer in droves and for an extended time.

I hate going to stores or going online and seeing that they’re already almost out of the Christmas and other holiday stuff. It’s still 15 days to Christmas (Hanukkah began tonight), so tons of businesses are missing out on holiday shoppers who would be happy to pick up an extra string or two of lights in their preferred color, are looking for a special toy or gift, or are looking for their favorite ingredients for their holiday cooking and baking traditions and none of it is available. Hindsight is 20/20, but I would have planned for a significant inventory (maybe even normal quantities) to be delivered for Black Friday weekend, knowing that I had all of Black Friday shopping weekend plus the next month to sell all the holiday inventory. Sure, if you’ve got a lot still in the week of Christmas you can drop the price a bit, but I think it’s always better to buy more than to not have enough.

And for those of us who sell services and not products and don’t have an inventory question but rather a time or capability question, in this time of giving and thinking of others, I would suggest offering smaller sized packages so you can help more people as well as out of consideration for their time and any financial challenge they may be experiencing this year.

This year has been pretty difficult for many people, so my encouragement to you is to do whatever you can to keep the shelves stocked, help your fellow humans out, and help bring some holiday cheer to ring out the year as well as can be done in this year that’s been so very different.