Entrepreneurs Find Happiness When Can They Take the Initiative

Business owners how much of your time is spent reacting, responding and/or initiating revenue generating activities?  

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If the answer was too much reacting, some responding and very little initiating then I can probably surmise productivity and profitability are negatively impacted.  

When you’re reacting too much...you’re consumed with the day-to-day events attempting to make the sale, make the product and make the delivery to develop a solid business base.  You work hard because the systems and people are not capable without you.  Thus, you’re the limiting factor to your growth.  

Assuming you’re able of responding because you’ve gained experience and productivity to deliver, your time is consumed because it’s labor intensive.  Again, you're limiting growth.

It’s only after you have customers, systems and team delivering can you initiate actions to grow predictably.  At this point, you have choices because you’re earning money and you have control of your time.  In essence, it's only when you can take the initiative are you feeling happy.    

Happiness = Initiative

If you’re feeling too much of your time is spent reacting and responding resulting in stagnated growth then let’s have a conversation on how to gain back the initiative. You deserve it. Let's get started...

Call me at ph: 972 709 6776 or eM: StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com

Blue Bonnets Bring Smiles

Surrounding you and your clients there is beauty.  As I leave my front yard or travel to Burnett, Texas or run with my dogs this time of year has Texas Blue Bonnets blooming, these beauties will make anyone's day brighter.  

Smile...

Which is Harder to Calculate - Acquisition Cost of the Moon or Your Customer?

As a kid during the 1960's I was excited and enthralled when President Kennedy declared there would be a man on the moon before the end of the decade.  By then I wouldn't need my parent's permission to go, either. I eagerly followed all of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs leading up to the moon landing on July 20, 1969. I sought out opportunities to retell the story for science class in reports with information covered by national television, radio, New York Times, National Geographic, Time and Life articles as the subject was too new to have books published. I even continued the pursuit with undergraduate studies. I served in the military and kept my options open.  Eventually, the military allowed me to apply and was screened for the shuttle astronaut program in 1981. I didn't make the cut. 

Since that time, I've soared in the business environment while following the NASA missions.  Last week I heard a telling marketing statistic by David Meerman Scott, co-author of "Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program." "Can you imagine deciding that we’re going to send 12 people to the surface of the moon and it's going to cost 4 percent of the national budget and 2 percent of the national workforce for a decade? So we had to sell it."  Heck, I didn't need to be sold, I bought it.  

Regardless, what he just stated was the acquisition cost to walk on the moon in tangible terms.  Wow, if they can put numbers to that audacious feat why can't most business owners put numbers to what it cost them to acquire a customer?  Or the cost to retain a customer and determine the a customer's lifetime value?

To be fair, I did rocket off an email to the co-authors asking what the lifetime value of walking on the moon was?  I haven't received their number back...

To determine and reduce your customer acquisition and retention cost and increase their lifetime value numbers...Let's talk.  

call ph: 972 709 6776 or em: StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com

What Level Business Do You Operate? And What You Can Do to Move Up

Business Owners – Do you notice the term “take your business to the next level a lot?”

What does that mean?

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It assumes clarity on where you are, where you’re going, as well as, the resources and time to get there.  If you’re like many of the thousands of business owners ActionCOACH has coached over the past 20+ yrs, you'll be interested in these 3 significant findings…

First, we have general agreement that the goal is…

“to create a commercial profitable business that ultimately works without the owner always being there.”  

What was vague were the intermediate levels to achieve this?  Vagueness created reservation, doubt and maybe fear, thus kept you from achieving the critical mass necessary to accelerate you and your business forward.  You end up languishing - taking longer, working harder and incurring too much debt and stress along the way.

Second finding was that most owners believed they really deserved better for the energy, money and time they committed.  Their families especially believes this.

Finally, when asked are they open to accelerating their growth - less stressfully?  Most were initially curious and appropriately skeptical yet eager to know more…

Hi this is Stephen Marino - ActionCOACH - The Worlds #1 Business Coaching Firm.  And for the past 21 years, through numerous boom/bust economic cycles, we’ve successfully coached thousands of business owners.  Specifically coaching owners globally between ~$1 mm to ~$9 mm revenues with 3 to 45 employees…through our 6 levels of business development in dozens of industry segments, with all types of business owner personalities from over 800 offices around the globe.

So we know this path works.  

I’ll share how in a coaching relationship we mitigate the time, team, money and systems obstacles that get in the way of predictable increasing profits and productivity.

Here are the 6 levels to your “commercial profitable business what works without you.”

What level business do you operate?

I’ll share the 6 levels, starting with top level 6 – Results because that’s where we want to be and work backwards down to level 1 - Mastery.

Watch for the level that's most descriptive of your current situation.

When I’m finished, you’ll know exactly where you’re starting and how much further it is to the profitable business that works without you.

The top level is Level 6.  It's a RESULTs business.

The business operates “for” the owner, without the owner working “in” the business.

The RESULTs are so stellar you have freedom of choice, lots of dividends, discretionary time and operational capabilities to expand, diversify and/or replicate…

And when the decision to transition from the business comes, you earn the premium valuation.

At Level - 6 Results, you’re feeling great and have lots of options.

Congratulations if this is where you operate.

Otherwise, you may be at a level 5 business…

A Level 5 business is at the Synergy Level with a COO, President or GM conducting the day-to-day business.

At Synergy the Owner/Operator does only what they are genius at…

Sound like you?  Great.

If not, then you may operate at Level 4?

Level 4 is a TEAM Level business – where your team makes decisions in your economic and customer interests.

There is strong leadership, a common goal, rules of the game, action plan, initiative expected and 100% team inclusion and participation.

At Level 4 – Team, business is fun.  You’re surrounded by a high quality team.

Not you, then you may be at Level 3…

Level 3 – business level is at LEVERAGE for maximum productivity and effectiveness.

The routine is systematized and exceptions are humanized.

A vision, mission, values, SMART goals, KPI’s, position agreements, procedures for marketing/sales, operations, admin/log/finance/IT, customer retention and management are all documented.

It's a great feeling knowing that once a sale is made it’ll be delivered on time, spec, budget and wow!

Every time!  

Not at this level then you may be at level 2…

Level 2 – business is at NICHE Level.  It has predictable cash flows generated from marketing and sales.

The customer experience delivered differentiates you from the competition.

You’re not competing on price.  You have a great guarantee.  It’s easy to do business with you.

You’re attracting more and more new customers and retaining your existing customers longer.

You measure and test all strategies for lead generation, conversion rates, number of transactions, average dollar sale, and your margins.

Your marketing machine is generating more leads than you can handle.

You have a predictable rewarding sales process.  

You know your customer acquisition and retention cost and their lifetime value.

Level 2 Niche gives you confidence in your future.

Not at this level, then you may be at level 1…

Level 1 – Business has MASTERY of the fundamentals.

A compelling direction, why you’re in business and control of your money:  a budget, cash flows, break-even, margins and…KPI’s, capability of delivering as promised after the sale and wisely uses the owner/operator’s time.

At this level you experience being God-like as described in Genesis…“And saw that it was good” going from chaos to control.

Which level was most descriptive of where you’re at?

Regardless of where you're starting...Here’s your way to close the gap between your current level and the level you want to be.

It starts with us having a conversation and sharing information about the level business you operate today. We’ll invest time and energy to know each other.  We’ll exchange information on the phone, FedEx, email and web about who I am and ActionCOACH while I gain insights from you about your business.

If we both decide we want to know more we’ll invest another 60 to 90 mins one-on-one for a business diagnostic, with your key decision makers, likely at your business location, to assess solutions and options.

The business diagnostic is a complementary session.

We seek understanding at what level the business is operating at today, your objectives, what’s working and where are the shortcomings. 

Only now we’re ready to assess strategies to move you forward…

And, we’ll even take this discussion to the crucial next step of quantifying the benefit of increasing the number of customers, revenues and profits by working together in a coaching relationship.

How encouraging is that…?

Do we guarantee our work? 

Short answer is “Yes.”

You do your part and I mine. And if in the first 17 weeks you don’t receive at least a benefit greater than the investment in coaching…the next 17 weeks are free.

So you can see why I’m selective about who I coach?

Because you control my reputation which I’ve kept unblemished for 15 years. And that’s all I have.

And professionally, if we both don’t see at least double digit increases in customers, revenues and profits or major freeing up of your time and stresses then we’re not likely to to proceed forward.

There are several coaching options from our flagship one-on-one coaching to group coaching, workshops and seminars, digital and book libraries on the 6 levels.

There’s even a special projects coaching option.

Now we’re in a position to make an informed decision on whether working together is mutually beneficial.

I can determine whether I can help you and you can determine if coaching is right for you.

Now you know what it means to take your business to the next level. Let’s get started…

Call me at ph:972 709 6776 or

eM: StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com
It’s that simple. 

For those that say you’ll think about it… 

Think about this…

If you continue working harder and longer, are you likely get any special heroic recognition from your banker, your spouse, your accountant, your kids or your attorney by running your business through back-breaking work and long hours…?

Do you have every right to expect and achieve your goals as fast and least stressfully as possible?

Finally, as you reflect on these questions can you think of any good reason to operate a business in Texas and lack the knowhow, accountability and motivation to move to the next level?

Let’s get started…

Your business coach…
Stephen D. Marino

Master License Partner - OneCo

Ph: 972 709 6776

Em: StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com

Recruiting for Competitive Advantage - The 16 Cylinders of High Performance

Business Owners - what's your guidance on recruiting and retaining people to out perform your competition?  

A 6 cylinder car engine is powerful enough for most transportation purposes, but is that really high performance?  Not compared to the 16 cylinders of a Bugatti Veyron - the fastest street-legal production car in the world.  Who is the human equivalent of that?

Most owners accept 6 cylinder employees - adequate for the job.  3 cylinders are for the body – someone who turns up, occupies the seat, covers the job description skills.  The next 3 cylinders are for the mind.  Mind encompasses education, experience and training – all those things that are proudly stated on resume.  Yet we've often recruited someone who seemed to have the right background, experience and educational levels, and then found that they didn’t really rise to the challenge.

The missing 10 cylinders come from heart and spirit.  The 5 cylinders of heart are about commitment, initiative and emotional involvement with a role.  The 5 cylinders of spirit are about vision, inspiration and having a “higher purpose”.  What are the implications of looking at human performance this way?

Firstly, at 10 of 16 cylinders, heart and spirit are more important than mind and body.  It follows that selecting people should be more about finding the right attitude than training and experience. You can train new skills relatively easily, but it is very difficult to correct the wrong attitude.  But too many employers define the necessary training and experience of desirable candidates that they narrow the field of selection unnecessarily.  We tend to hire for skills and experience and fire for attitude and lack of commitment.

Secondly, while you can find people with heart and spirit if you look for it, you won’t retain those valuable qualities if you don’t respect and nurture them.  People will switch off, and retain those qualities for friends and family, or they’ll just leave you.  Such people need to be led, not just managed.  They need to find a higher purpose at work than just turning up for the pay, whatever that might be.  Some organizations find it easy to offer the higher purpose that helps people unleash all 16 cylinders – in different ways social services, religious, health care, teaching, military and social enterprises can do it.  It is more of a challenge for profit making enterprises, but it’s not impossible.  Today the coolest job are going to high tech vs investment banking or medical doctors for the interesting and meaningful work.

Thirdly, be very clear that leadership is a 16 cylinder activity, while management may just be a 6 cylinder one.  Only 16 cylinder people make great leaders.

Fourthly, what does the employment market value the most?  It usually values the mind element the most, even though mind – education, qualifications, sector experience.  So if you recruit people with the right heart and spirit, treat them right and have systems in place to deal with any initial lack of experience, they may actually cost you lower salaries.

Finally, it is not impossible to train heart and spirit.  Organizations that acknowledge their importance, who want team members to bring emotional commitment, passion and a sense of real responsibility to the job and use it positively, who cherish and acknowledge those qualities and which don’t only reward knowledge, logic and technical skills, will develop the heart and spirit of those working for them.  But it has to be genuine or it is likely to be counter-productive – how many people have you met who are working on organizations that espouse high ideals but who are entirely disillusioned by their own reality?  Who are the 16 Cylinder people in your organization?  For that matter, how many cylinders are you firing on yourself?

How do you find and develop these people?  Can you develop a recruitment process that allows existing team members to show their own emotional commitment to their jobs?  Can you use behavioral profiling or even emotional intelligence analysis better to understand those areas?  Can you define what 16 cylinder performance looks like in someone’s job description and contract?

At ActionCOACH we believe you can - let's have a conversation that'll allow you to recruit for competitive advantage and have your team members operate at the 16 cylinder performance level...

Let's get started.  Call me at ph:  972 709 6776 eM:  StephenMarino@ActionCOACH.com