Mike Michalowicz's Blog, page 26

The Greatest Leadership Lesson I’ve Learned



The best leadership lesson I have learned as a small business owner is this:

When it comes to leadership, It’s not about me. (I know, shocking, right?)

The real job of a leader is to ensure the organization aligns with what the team is looking to achieve personally with what the company is looking to do. 

If this sounds too fluffy for you, stick with me for a couple minutes. 

A good leader nurtures the team. A good leader empowers the team. A good leader understands the goals and objectives of the employees. Why? Because a good leader knows that the happier and more supported employees are, the more profitable a business will be.

I wasn’t always the supportive leader that I am today. But, I love seeing my employees succeed, and if I can be instrumental in that, I am. Here. For. It. 

This doesn’t mean I have a line of employees outside of my office door waiting to discuss their challenges. It does mean that I, and the president of our company, Kelsey, have implemented several systems and visuals around the office for our colleagues to share their personal and professional goals. In response to their shared goals, we try to align the goals of the company to make space for, or financially support, employees’ goals. (This is also where profit sharing comes in, but that’s a whole other blog.)

So, how do we gather all of this goal alignment intel? Our Q1 meeting is made up mostly of my colleagues and me going over last year’s goals, and the new goals we want to achieve. Yes, we discuss sales and marketing strategies and profitability. But who is making that happen?

The team. 

The humans in your organization are the ones scaling your business. When they have fulfilled lives, your company’s efficiency increases. After all, your team is made up of the people who implement all of your grand plans, right? 

We spend about 10-15 minutes for each team member, discussing how their previous goals went, and what their new ones are. And, in each meeting we have during the week, each person has a turn to report on their professional and personal development. This gives us an opportunity to make suggestions, support them, and help them pivot if needed. 

We walk all of this talk too. When you enter our office you’re basically bombarded with evidence of goals everywhere you look. It kind of acts as one huge mood board. Everyone has their goals written on a poster at their desks. Heck I have a typewriter with my goals on a page sticking out of it. Representation of what we want to achieve and measurement of it is everywhere watch the video for the full monty). It may sound overwhelming at first, but even our most introverted employees are on board because they’ve seen how goal alignment works in their lives. 

Start understanding the goals and objectives that your colleagues have. Not just for the business, but for themselves. Then, you can align your business around their goals to help them meet those goals. It takes nothing away from you or your business. In fact, it will only enhance efficiency and productivity (read: profit).

What are your teams’ intentions for 2022? It’s not too late to find out. Hold a meeting with a personal goals exercise and see how you can align your business and your employees to meet personal and business goals all at once. 

Remember, a good leader marches the path with the team. 

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My Greatest Leadership Lesson



The best leadership lesson I have learned as a small business owner is this:

When it comes to leadership, It’s not about me. (I know, shocking, right?)

The real job of a leader is to ensure the organization aligns with what the team is looking to achieve personally with what the company is looking to do. 

If this sounds too fluffy for you, stick with me for a couple minutes. 

A good leader nurtures the team. A good leader empowers the team. A good leader understands the goals and objectives of the employees. Why? Because a good leader knows that the happier and more supported employees are, the more profitable a business will be.

I wasn’t always the supportive leader that I am today. But, I love seeing my employees succeed, and if I can be instrumental in that, I am. Here. For. It. 

This doesn’t mean I have a line of employees outside of my office door waiting to discuss their challenges. It does mean that I, and the president of our company, Kelsey, have implemented several systems and visuals around the office for our colleagues to share their personal and professional goals. In response to their shared goals, we try to align the goals of the company to make space for, or financially support, employees’ goals. (This is also where profit sharing comes in, but that’s a whole other blog.)

So, how do we gather all of this goal alignment intel? Our Q1 meeting is made up mostly of my colleagues and me going over last year’s goals, and the new goals we want to achieve. Yes, we discuss sales and marketing strategies and profitability. But who is making that happen?

The team. 

The humans in your organization are the ones scaling your business. When they have fulfilled lives, your company’s efficiency increases. After all, your team is made up of the people who implement all of your grand plans, right? 

We spend about 10-15 minutes for each team member, discussing how their previous goals went, and what their new ones are. And, in each meeting we have during the week, each person has a turn to report on their profession and personal development. This gives us an opportunity to make suggestions, support them, and help them pivot if needed. 

We walk all of this talk too. When you enter our office you’re basically bombarded with evidence of goals everywhere you look. It kind of acts as one huge mood board. Everyone has their goals written on a poster at their desks. Heck I have a typewriter with my goals on a page sticking out of it. Representation of what we want to achieve and measurement of it is everywhere watch the video for the full monty). It may sound overwhelming at first, but even our most introverted employees are on board because they’ve seen how goal alignment works in their lives. 

Start understanding the goals and objectives that your colleagues have. Not just for the business, but for themselves. Then, you can align your business around their goals to help them meet those goals. It takes nothing away from you or your business. In fact, it will only enhance efficiency and productivity (read: profit).

What are your teams’ intentions for 2022? It’s not too late to find out. Hold a meeting with a personal goals exercise and see how you can align your business and your employees to meet personal and business goals all at once. 

Remember, a good leader marches the path with the team. 

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2 Leadership Myths (That Need to Go)



Once upon a time, there was a small business owner named, oh, say, Mike. Mike was caught in the common trap of thinking that to be an effective leader, he had to accomplish more (and more, and more!) to get more done. If Mike just taught more, created more, worked more to illustrate incredible work ethic, his business would be, well, more.

Not so much. I learned a huge lesson from my early leadership style experience and am going to share it with you. If you follow this, you will get off the hamster wheel and become an exceptionally effective leader in your business.

Here’s the deal: More is not more. Less is more.

I know you’ve been hearing this message from thought leaders. It sounds like a fairy tale. You may think they’re in a different position than you that affords them the luxury of doing less. But I’m here to tell you, it’s tangible for everyone. You just need to transform your leadership.

The most impactful leadership style is not what you think. Reflecting back to my first “real” job, leadership was old school (and not in that cool, old school way). Leadership tactics were intimidating, and instilled fear. The result? Sure, we took our jobs seriously and completed a ton of work (most of which I’m still unsure was effective). Analysts catching a couple hours of sleep under desks was common. I mean, what says commitment more than not leaving the building and working 24/7, am I right?

Did we get our jobs done? Sure. Because we felt our livelihoods were hanging in a very precarious balance based on what we produced, and the mood leadership was in when they received it.

That’s a harsh example. But even now, I know two types of small business leaders. One is the micromanager and uses a bit of intimidation to rule the roost. The other is the leader I have grown to become. A leader who not only does less, but just as importantly leads humans, as a human.

Myth 1: I used to think to be an effective leader I had to speak more, teach more, and give more input. I’ve discovered that what’s truly best for my company is if I speak less, and listen more. As I reflect on my own leadership style, it’s matured and evolved over the years (decades, cough, couch) since I started my own business. I used to think I had to be involved in every aspect of my business to ensure that everything ran the way I envisioned it. I thought if I produced more for my business, faster, I could find time to be with family and do the things that fed my soul.

You see where this is going. I started feeling that small businesses burn out and my employees felt like they were working under a microscope. My business just felt kind of “eh”. I talked, and taught, and was the one everyone came to with questions and looking for solutions. It was intense.

Something clicked along the way. I’m not sure where exactly. I began to listen more to what my employees were saying about their tasks and experience. The more I listened, the more I realized they may have the best solutions to any problems small businesses face because they were the ones in their roles. I decided to become less available and insert myself less in the business. The result? My team became more empowered to help me lead the business.

I invite you to listen more and do less. You can provide faster and more effective guidance when you fully understand what your team needs. Then you can focus on what feeds your mind and soul without getting pulled in several directions. For instance, I’m writing more these days, because I know my team’s got the rest covered.

Myth 2: More time spent in the business equals more money. This one. Ugh. Listen up: A good business is more effective if you do more with less time. Quit hustling. There is a season to hustle. The hustle shouldn’t be your leadership style or method to getting things done. If it is, there are likely inefficiencies in the way you’re running your business.

I’ve found that a good business is more effective in the utilization of time if you do more with less time. The mentality of “time for money” – that if you work more and more, you’ll make more and more money, is simply not true.

I used to think that to demonstrate the behavior and work ethic that you expect of others, you had to hustle. I thought that if I worked extraordinary hours, I could expect the same of others. In reality, that wasn’t necessary at all.

Here’s a tip on how to do more with less time (and we just did this in my company, so I’m speaking from experience): Have everyone track their time. You too! We used Toggl. Then, run an audit of that time to weed out inefficiencies. I guarantee you will find opportunities to have your colleagues do less, but bring greater results with the less they do. Another tip: Align roles so they are matched to your team’s talents. When people are aligned with what makes them tick, the work will flow more naturally, and take less time.

Remember, your leadership of your small business is mandatory for its success.

You’ve got this!

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Avoid Small Business Burnout – Create a Daily Routine



When was the last day you achieved everything you intended to do on that day?

There are thousands of articles and resources out there for small business owners about increasing productivity. There are almost as many telling us we’re moving too fast, we need to slow down, and to do less to avoid burnout. 

Here’s the deal. You can’t go full speed ahead forever. You also can’t drop everything. Are we talking about finding the holy grail of balance?

After decades of being a small business owner and attempting to balance a workaholic nature and my personal life, I can say I have almost arrived at the sweet spot – that place where I feel I am doing more than enough for my business, and truly enjoying life outside of it. What’s this you say? Work-life balance for a small business owner isn’t a myth after all?

“How Mike, HOW?”, you may ask. It’s eye-rolling-ly simple, but that doesn’t negate the immense impact. You are going to require some major stick-to-it-ness.

Every small business owner needs a daily routine.

If you, as a small business owner, can’t create a routine you can stick to, it’s going to be nearly impossible to follow through on all of the intentions you set for yourself daily. I learned this the (very, very) hard way. Things pop up, you get dragged into impromptu meetings, or your team has questions, you name it. Those intentions to scale your business, make calls, appear on webinars – all the things get jumbled. Then, we have family dinners, work outs, maybe some continuing ed courses (cough, cough) that don’t get attention because we’re working. It’s an easy rut for small business owners to get caught in. One that will leave you burnt out, and with less accomplished.

A daily routine blocks and protects your time. Each block is a time allotment to focus on that one thing. Eventually (talking years, here), I created a daily routine. Once I did – and stuck to it, big, and small goals were accomplished. 

To maintain my daily routine, I use my calendar. I know, I know. So simple. At the same time. I really use it. Ends up, to achieve everything you want to accomplish, even if it’s a nap, it needs to be scheduled – and you have to stay accountable to it. 

I don’t use a task manager, unless you want to call Erin, my scheduling manager, a task manager. Erin is the all time protector of my schedule, and she creates time for not only business tasks, but personal ones as well. 

Each block of time is scheduled for a priority – from workouts, to seeing my parents, to dinners, to business goals. One of my big goals is to carve more time out for creating small business systems and writing books about them. I could easily wake up every morning with that intention, but what would make me accountable?

Sprintapalooza – A prime example of how I have scheduled my time to increase productivity is Sprintapalooza. It’s a group of fellow writers who I join every morning for what we call a writing sprint. Every single weekday I write collectively with other authors and we are writing our books. We created this group to not only have the time available for us to write, but now, we’re accountable to each other. We have to show up, or be the one who doesn’t – who wants that? We log into Zoom, and we all see each other there. We check in every twenty minutes, report if we made progress, and then get back right to work. The results? Every single day, I get an hour of writing in and it never gets put to the side. It has immensely helped the quality and quantity of my writing, and it has had the greatest impact on my productivity and effectiveness as an author.

What is your daily routine that will move you forward? Remember, being a small business owner isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. You must build in blocks of time for your business and personal goals. And let nothing get in your way.

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5 Steps to Increase Your Profits This Month

When a new year or quarter begins, you likely search for (ALL of the) ways to improve your business. While I believe this exercise of recalibration and reinvigorating your business should be an ongoing process, I want to lend you five ideas to increase your profits. And I believe you can implement these THIS month.

In Fix This Next, I explain how for every business, there is a Business Hierarchy of Needs:

Notice how each level is dependent on the foundation of the level below it, meaning if you don’t have, say, a solid foundation of sales in your business, your profits are going to suffer. However, I want you to be aware of something that you will learn about further when you read Fix This Next. Sales are not always the answer. 

When your business begins to feel unsteady, what’s your first reaction? “Create more cash flow! Now!” Normal. We all do that, even with our personal finances. But by doing this, you’re not viewing your business holistically. What are you doing with that cash after there’s an influx? How are you managing your profit to sustain your business?

Let’s get into some strategies to manage your profit better. And look, you may feel apprehensive to implement these at first. But have I steered you wrong yet? Let’s do this.

Raising prices: Most businesses are terrified to do this because they think it will be complete death to sales. And, that’s just not true. I won’t get into it here, but it is very likely you can increase your prices at least a little bit, probably a lot.

Cutting expenses 10% overnight: Warning, very painful, but very doable. The first 5% is joyous, the last 5% will scare you. But after a few weeks you will adapt and you will wish you did it sooner.

Qualify your opportunities: We are so quick to say yes to work that is low $/hour margin for our businesses. Stop doing that, now, and don’t go back. Establish a minimum threshold of profit a project must achieve to be worthy of the precious resources your business must spend to deliver on it. If this means losing out on work, be happy, and use the time to solve the more difficult problem of finding high margin projects.

Engineer profitable alliances: So often competitive advantage focuses on having a better widget or happier customers. Those are essential elements, but we forget about building great relationships with other businesses and key influencers in our industry. This isn’t a mystery topic either. Yes, some people are natural at this but others need a framework. I’ve built one in Fix This Next if you want to see it.

The right people in and the wrong ones out: If one of your employees calling in sick actually makes you happy, you should have probably fired them a long time ago. One of the greatest profit sucking holes in a business is an employee who doesn’t fit the culture. Notice, I’m not talking about the expense of wages here, and that’s because it is peanuts to the negative ripple effect a bad employee fit has on the productivity of an organization. This is one of the most heart wrenching topics in all of business because nobody enjoys firing someone else, and if you do, you have problems: go get some therapy. Once it’s done, you and your company breathe again because you’ve been used to living with such tremendous weight on your chest.

Ok now for a confession: The above is an excerpt from the lost content of Fix This Next. If you would like to access more lost content, let me know by emailing support@mikemichalowicz.com.

Let’s make it an amazing year!

-Mike

For more business solutions to apply today, check out the free resources page I have created for you which includes systems from each of my books to scale and sustain your business. 

 

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5 New Years Resolutions for Business Owners



 

As a small business owner you’re probably always looking for the next best way to improve your business. With a new year upon us, I’m betting some of you are looking even harder to create New Year Resolutions in your business. But what will serve your company best? What will this year bring, after all.?

Resolution ideas for your business: There isn’t a plan that will work for every small businesses across the board. But, if we have learned anything over the last two years, it’s that your business needs to be strong, agile, and ready for anything. This year I am putting my money where my mouth is and taking some pointers from my books to reboot my business:

Refresh your marketing plan – So. Much. News. And commercials. And noise. And static. If your community sees the same old visuals and messaging from you, they will likely ignore it. To that end, we’ve been rebranding. Yup. You know from Get Different , that before you even think about creating sales, you need to create the kind of attention that attracts your prospects to you in a millisecond. Updates to your logo, communication, materials, website, offering, pricing – it’s all part of it. You don’t have to make major changes, but look at how you can make each aspect of your branding better, and different, than all the rest to ensure you receive the best prospect attraction to ultimately scale your business.Delegate more – Let it go, let it go…When you have a small business, it’s easy to get caught up on the micro-details of the day to day tasks. Alert! Trap! You’re wasting potential and valuable time in your business if you’re not delegating. You cannot grow your business if you don’t let go of the aspects of it that can easily be handled by a team member. Maybe there is business knowledge that you have, which no one else in your company does. Then share it! Knowledge sharing is the ultimate way to empower those you share it with. It may take a little time, but in the long run, you’ll save time and your business will run efficiently. Take a look at what you can do to create systems, eliminate linchpins and redundancies in your business. We had our entire team create a systems board for their jobs, videos and all. Now, we can all refer to those boards if someone is out. Our company will never be “stuck” when it comes to delegation. Not sure where to start? Clockwork is your go to for delegation in your business. Nurture your business relationships – Weed out your best clients. If you read The Pumpkin Plan , you know that I no longer waste time chasing ALL the customers. This will work for you too. Identify what you do best, and grow your company by doing that. Then, determine which customers add the most value, and provide them with the best opportunities for their sustained growth. Lastly, nurture! Once you figure out who your best customers are, blow their minds with care. Discover their unfulfilled needs, innovate to make their wishes come true, and over deliver on every single promise. Order, order! Look at the systems in your business. Are they working? Just because you’ve done something one way since the inception of your business, doesn’t mean you have to continue on the same path. It also doesn’t mean your way is the prime example of efficiency. In Fix This Next , I outline how sales, profit, impact and your legacy all hinge on how you create order in your business. If you don’t have systems for the execution of workflow better than anyone else, than you are going to be…everyone else. Sell better than anyone. Deliver better than anyone. Make that impact and legacy you imagined when you started your small business. Just remember that to get those real deal results (not the temporary fixes), that order in your business is what creates the sustainability of it all. Join a mastermind group – Isolation. That’s a recurring theme for small business owners. Sometimes it feels like you’re the only one with your specific set of challenges. If only there were other people in the same boat you could speak openly about those challenges with in a confidential and helpful space…See where this is going? If there is one thing I want you to do this year, it’s to seek out a mastermind group. Our current culture is creating extra isolation. An opportunity to rectify that and connect with like minded business owners is golden. Look into a mastermind that is the right fit for you. I know it will serve you and your business well.

A friendly reminder! If you want your business resolution to stick, you will need to be you have good habits in place. Look at what you’ve been doing, and see if there are any behavioral intercepts that need to be added in order to be truly successful in realizing your New Year’s resolutions.

I am so honored to be on this journey of small business ownership with you, and hope to serve you well. Here’s to a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

-Mike

PS – Just so you know this wasn’t one big commercial, visit HERE for free, immediate resources, graphics, and worksheets.

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5 Easy Ways to Update Your Brand



When the new year starts, there are resolutions flying around and we tend to explore ways to hit that refresh button. How about applying that to your business, too? Where would you start? 

You want to stand out and be recognizable in your field. With all of the marketing messages being flung our way, we have become a society who reverts to visual messages. One thing you can consider is to refresh your business by updating your marketing strategies, starting with your brand. 

No need to reinvent the wheel to update your brand. For example, we’re making updates to our marketing by creating new style and branding guides for my business. This guide will keep our marketing cohesive, reestablish our mission, and represent our company culture.

5 ways to update your brand:

Update your logo – Did you create your logo when you began your business? Does your logo still represent your brand? Does it look tired. Does it even catch your eye anymore? It’s a quick fix. You can use similar colors, change the design, or tagline. Update your business resources – For each book, mastermind, webinar, you name it, I have some kind of worksheet, chart or graph. Let’s face it, if you’ve watched me present on Zoom, you’ve seen my chicken scratch on a legal pad. Any resources like this are getting a face lift. Having visually streamlined resources make them more user friendly.Marketing and branding style guides – You likely keep certain colors and fonts on your site and materials, but you can get tired of looking at the same old thing. You want those visuals to pop and attract, not make people roll their eyes. To keep it cohesive, make sure you have a singular place to refer to, like a style guide for images and graphics.What’s your tagline? Like your logo, you probably created your tagline when you started your business. You don’t have to pivot your mission (unless you want to), but dig deeper to see if you can improve the language in your tagline to immediately let your prospects know what you’re offering. Consistency is key – Be in social media, your website or your marketing materials, make sure that all of your branding matches. Sounds simple, but it’s easy to veer off the path. When your brand is consistent, you keep your audience engaged, rather than distracted by inconsistent visuals.

Your brand is your company’s first impression, so make sure it portrays your business accurately.

Wishing you massive success this year.

-Mike

For the best marketing strategies to get you noticed in an instant, Get Different here.

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Profit First Videobook



 

Heading into the new year, you may want to reboot a few things in your business. Been there! To help you, I just wanted to remind you that Profit First is now in videobook format…a new, documentary-like production created by the Emmy award-winning team at LIT Videobooks. In just over an hour, watch the core concepts of the Profit First System come to life.

I’ll guide you through how your business can maximize profitability, crush debilitating debt, and ultimately lead you to financial freedom. It’s 60% off for a limited time to celebrate launch…watch it in full exclusively HERE.

If you can’t find the time to read the book cover-to-cover, consider yourself a visual learner, or just want a Profit First refresher, this videobook is for you. Check out the trailer here.

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How to Give in Your Business Without Hurting it



It’s the season of giving. As I contemplated what areas I want to be generous in, I had a realization. 

There’s a right way and a wrong way to give in your business.

The wrong way to give in your business may be surprising. When you want to help your customers and clients in need, you tend to give deals and discounts. And hey, it’s kind to create offers so people can afford your product. However, as you give, acquiesce, and relent in hopes to serve better, you ultimately diminish your ability to sustain your business. 

Oftentimes business owners turn to discount pricing to help customers afford something, or market a new product to them, so you create deals. This is ok if it’s a flash deal, but not long term because it ultimately devalues your offering and infringes upon your cash flow. And, in the long run, it doesn’t increase acquisition. You may think you can upcharge later, but by discounting, you may already hurt the value of your offering. 

But wait! Before you go full Ebenezer Scrooge, know that it’s good to give, and you should. Just give the right way. Instead of long term discounts or deals, allocate time or a chunk of your offering as a complete, free giveaway. Make it a true charity. 

Say you have a time based business. Perhaps take an hour or two every Friday for your customers in need, and give that time for free. The rest of the week, fill your time with necessary billable rates so you can sustain your business. If you are product based, allocate a small percentage of products as giveaways, and charge your usual rate the rest of the time. 

Follow these guidelines for giving in your business. This way, you can be a true contributor, and not at the expense of your company. 

****

For actionable marketing strategies, check out Get Different, and turn your prospects into lifelong customers.

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Pricing to Sustain Your Business



 

Profit. It’s the only way you can sustain your business. One of the best ways to ensure you’re creating that profit is through pricing correctly. 

Here are three pricing strategies that I have found work for my business, and for yours.

Pricing itself – The greatest form of marketing, the one that’s most overlooked? Pricing. Your marketing is inherent to your pricing. Pricing equals a perceived value. For example, say you see a product for five dollars, and then a similar one for fifty. Which one will you think is more valuable? I’m not advising you to overcharge for your offerings, and if you’re pricing on the low end, consider if your product is really serving anyone. An additional tip? Don’t fall into the trap of pricing the same as your competitors. Really evaluate your product or offering and decide what it’s worth.

Perceived value – This is also part of pricing. When people spend more on something, they value it more. People who invest more, are more invested in the outcome. Price accordingly to really increase your client engagement. You will notice that clients who pay more are better clients and customers because they are more invested in the outcome. To note: You still have to ensure the value to your client is higher than the cost so you are serving them fairly.

Pricing translates to permanence – Your business can’t serve your clients and customers if it’s not around. You need to sustain it! Price in a way that you can sustain your business, and your lifestyle, comfortably. This way you can continue to serve them and fulfill their needs. 

The world needs you! Consider reevaluating your pricing structure to ensure the sustainability of your business. 

PS. For a deeper dive into the sustainability of your business, check out the Sales and Profit chapters in Fix This Next. You can get the resources here.

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