Two Words Tie it All Together

Two Words Tie it All Together

As a small business owner, you are already well familiar with risk. You face it every single day. You face it with every contract and job you enter into. You have a defined purpose for being a small business owner. You have a business mission/purpose. This serves as a compass to your map. Your map? That’s your business plan. You have that!! Maybe yours is so good that there are some venture capitalists looking to invest. You have everything, but, for some reason, you are not anywhere near as successful as you should be. Why? It comes down to two words, Follow Through.

Follow Through. It’s taught and practiced as a vital part of your golf swing. It’s taught to and practiced by professional basketball players. It’s taught to and used by the most elite teams in the military and all the way down to your basic trainee. Follow Through. Without it, you’re dead in the water.

Goal setting is part of this. Each of us has the big mile stones that we are hoping to hit; however, not many have broken those down into smaller micro-goals. These are the small steps that will add up to each mile. These are easier to take and handle because they are smaller parts. When you spend a week or two completing these small steps you will find that your mile stones are closer than you thought.

This is the essence of Follow Through. Obstacles, issues, problems and such will crop up every day. Sticking to your plan, following through with each phone call, email, letter, and emptying the garbage can by your desk are the ways in which you make this a moment by moment habit.

Completely following through is what is going to make your success happen. Steve Jobs knew this. “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. It is so hard and you pour so much of your life into this thing, there are such rough moments in time that most people give up. And I don't blame them, it's really tough.”

This habit of Follow Through is where the perseverance comes from. By making this a daily and moment by moment habit, yours will stand the better chance of being the one left standing after the other 80% to 90% of the small businesses fall. Everything is meaningless without Follow Through.

Don't Sell, Build

Don't Sell, Build

Build something more important than any building in the world. Build this vitally important and integral item and you will reap the rewards. No mortgage required. No down payment or balloon payments. It costs you nothing to build this but a little time and honesty effort. What is it that I'm on about here? Rapport.

Dictionary.com defines "rapport" as relations, an especially harmonious relationship. Such a relationship will bring you more customers, more sales, more connections or whatever it is you are seeking.

I can guarantee that, if you put the effort into building rapport that you will reap the benefits in spades. Let me tell you some of my personal experience in this endeavor.

Back in 2002 I was a young(er) man and fresh into the world of Naval Intelligence. I got myself assigned to NATO working in the Balkans as a field operator. A field operator is a person who openly goes out to meet with people and gather information.

Based on the number of people seen and met with by each sailor, the amount of usable information that comes in is staggering. We were all taught that we had to become the best friend if everyone we worked or spoke with. By doing that we were assured that some of these people would eventually turn over their own mother to us.

. I learned that in European countries, unlike in America, business first is rude, disrespectful, and the quickest way to illustrate your view of the other person. They were nothing more than your next meal ticket.

What did I do? I would smile genuinely. I shared cigarettes. I drank their liquor with them. We shared jokes and humorous stories and, in some cases, war stories. Building rapport in this manner would take about 30 minutes or more for each meeting. These meetings were scheduled for an hour, nothing more.

How much "work" (information gathering) can two people and an interpreter get in 15 to 30 minutes? Sometimes nothing at all. Sometimes I would be given information about smugglers, crooked police, or a wanted war criminal.

How does this apply to your business's bottom line? Think about the last time you had to go face to face with a salesman. Cheap coat or not, a "salesman" is an annoying for. They're like that one mosquito that finds its way into your bedroom at two in the morning. They're the bits of dirt between your sock and show on a long walk. They're the monkey in the wrench.

I promise you, once you start on your pitch that is how the other person see you. Why? It's quite simple, really, a salesman is only ever focused on the next commission. 

Car. Stereo. TV. B2B. It does not matter. They could have the answers to the biggest questions in the universe; however, if you feel like the person is "selling you something" you shut right down. Your eyes gloss over. Your mind goes back to the golf course, the beach, or even to cleaning out the rain gutters. You are anywhere but there and pay in attention.

Now, think about YOUR approach. Seriously examine what you say and do. How do you come across? 

Not too pretty, huh?

You're likely asking about how to build this rapport. It is easier than you think. 

1. Pay attention to the person your talking to.

2. Listen to them.

3. Allow them to talk to you and with you.

4. Ask open ended questions about who they are and what they do.

Pay attention, share a drink or a joke or just reflexively listen to them. You do this and the connection will build. Do this often enough and people will ask you for what you are not selling, but offering as a friend. 

"How do I listen?" You have certainly, at some point, gone up to a person that you were attracted to and talked with them. Those you dated agreed to do so after you listened to them. Once they know that you are paying attention to them, they are almost ready to ask you for what you have. 

That comes from trust. Trust comes from honestly paying attention to the other person.

That simple. It is not always easy, but it is simple.

Now, go out there, stop selling, and honestly listen. 

Busyness is Not Productive

Busy! Busy! Busy! This is how many people describe their days. Papers piled up on one side of the desk, a phone ringing on the other side, a computer with both emails and files sitting in the middle, and people waiting in line to tap you on the shoulder. Then, there are the issues of things outside of work. Multitasking has been the word of the day for this scenario. Is this productive or is this just too much?

“Beware the bareness of a busy life.” Socrates said that, clearly, centuries before we had computers, cell phones, project teams, conference calls, and so forth. Still, he was onto something. Studies show that multitasking is not productive. It actually increases your risk of making mistakes. This is not any one person’s fault.

Our brains are wired to do only one thing at a time. Focusing on one thing at a time improves our focus on that one item or task. It also enables us to work both more efficiently and effectively. Essentially, completing more in the same amount of time. A study at Vanderbilt University verified a physical bottle neck in the brain. This is a physical construct of our brains that prevents the brain from doing more than one thing at a time.

One study that was done at Microsoft showed that the overwhelming majority of workers lost up to 15 minutes each time they were asked to multitask. Some of this time was spent shifting the focus from one task to a completely different. This requires getting into a new groove. The results showed that up to 15 minutes per new task was lost.

David Meyer, of the University of Michigan, verified up to 25% drop in efficiency during multitasking.

Your clients deserve better. Rather than scattering yourself, get your day into order.

Urgent Important	Not Urgent Important
Not Important Urgent	Not Urgent Not Important

I have always had the best results using the Four Square model. This model divides tasks into one of four quadrants/categories.

This may be a bit passé, but it works. The method I have employed has me tracking everything I do each day for a week.

Starting Monday morning I break out a watch and a pad of paper. I write down on this pad the time. From there I add the task. Each time I change tasks I log the time at which I change.

By Friday I have a very detailed list of every single thing I do during the day and when. This list goes home with me for analysis.

First, I break all the tasks out by Urgent and Important, Not Urgent and Not Important, Urgent and Not Important, and Not Urgent and Important. These correlate to each of the four portions of the grid above.

It is very simple now. I take the tasks as I have labeled them and list them in each category. The Non-Urgent and Non-Important tasks I just do away with. That is, I make the very conscious and deliberate decision to stop doing these things. They simply are wastes of all my time.

The other category that is a red light category is the Urgent and Important quadrant. The tasks in here are generally those that have become fires. Fires which must be put out immediately. This is where the multitasking we talked about above is being felt the most.

Of the tasks left over are those which must be dealt with before they become fires. These are the Urgent but Not Important and the Important but Not Urgent. These tasks are the ones which are the most important. You must put them into their proper time slots during each day. These are your money makers, as it were.

Some things that fall onto this list may need to be delegated or farmed out. There are plenty of excellent writers out there who can help you with some of these tasks. Writing marketing material, emails, guides, and the list goes on.

Step Out in Strength and Grasp Success

So, you want big things to happen? You expect that you are going to make it big? You believe that, if you just keep doing what you have been doing, you will make it to the Big Time. That you will have your name in lights. Not if you don’t shoot for that.

If you keep doing what you have always done, then you will continue to get what you have always gotten. Small time games have safer odds, yes, but they have the smaller payoffs.

Steve Tobak, author and managing partner at Invisor Consulting, espouses the idea which he wrote about in the article Want Big Things Out of Life? Expect Big Things of Yourself. Navy SEAL and entrepreneur Mark Divine agrees. This can be seen in his book Unbeatable Mind.

Mr. Tobak has outlined five points to lean on while you are stepping up your game for greater success. First, have faith in yourself. If you don’t believe in you, then who will?

Second, find work that you love doing. If you are an entrepreneur and not doing work that you love, why are you doing it?

Third is to focus on being the best. If you are not striving to be the best and not believing that you are the best, how will you ever be “the best?”

The fourth point is that you absolutely must face your fears, overcome them, and persevere. If you are letting fear of failure hold you back then, perhaps, being a cube dweller is more in line with your psyche.

Fifth, always look forward to big challenges. They are coming. This is inevitable. Make it positive.

For Mr. Tobak success is not about the little things. Nor is it about doing little things. Success is about overcoming great challenges. It’s about being and doing something greater than you, or anyone else, has done before. You have to raise your standards and overcome your fear of heights if you are ever going to reach those levels of success.

Mr. Divine brings up the fact that we will all identify with our own thoughts (pg 7). In light of this article, this reality fits with all five points Mr. Tobak talked about. The cycle for this is something you have already heard. Our actions come from our thoughts and beliefs. Our thoughts and beliefs come from our experience. Our actions are based upon our experience. Change your thoughts and beliefs and you will change your actions. You will have better results if you  act under the fact that you are better and deserve better.

Your mind is incredibly powerful. What you rehearse, that is think about all day, is what you will believe. What you believe is what you will achieve. Put greater ideas, expectations, and goals in line for yourself. You can and will exceed them. As you see success happening you will become more confident. Confidence is from our belief in our own capabilities.

You made the choice to be an entrepreneur. This is a bold step. See your success. Rehearse it in your mind always. Believe that you are a success. Do the big and challenging things. Will you win every time? No, nobody does; however, if you are not competing for the bigger prize you will never get it.

Want Big Things Out of Life? Expect Big Things of Yourself.
// Entrepreneur: Latest Articles

Unbeatable Mind, by Mark Divine, SEAL, USN (Retired)