It’s a Total SOP Story
Control issues are normal for business owners. If you own a business, you have probably dealt with control issues personally. Wisdom would suggest that as an owner, you need to give up control to scale. Here’s why you absolutely and 100% do NOT need or want to give up control as a business owner. When someone suggests you need to give up control of a business, they’re likely identifying an issue where the owner (you) is acting as a bottleneck. If everything, or nearly everything, needs to run through you, you are a bottleneck, and it is a very serious business problem. Serious enough to argue that until this problem is fixed, you don’t have a business—you merely have a high-paying job. If you’re ok with that, stop reading now and give yourself back some much-needed time to be in your business. For those of you who don’t want this kind of business, please continue with me. The Control Issue If there’s a bottleneck and it’s you as the owner, then this is a control issue. The challenge so many owners face is you don’t want to give up control. The most common mindset being nobody can do it as well as you can. Well again, I’m here to argue that we don’t need to give up control, but I am also going to address the fallacy that nobody can do it as well as you. Imbuing Controls vs. Surrendering Control The real question to ask is this: Does giving up control mean being able to step back and allow the business to run without you? No, it does not. It does not because giving up control suggests surrendering something. Fantastic business owners do not surrender control; they imbue controls. Imbuing controls is different from surrendering control. I’d define imbuing controls as putting people in a position to be able to replicate the work and decisions that you make. It is putting in place the processes and routines required to duplicate the work being done in a business, in a way that allows anyone to step in and succeed. This means stepping back with intention and being deliberate with how we allow our business to be run in our absence. It’s an extension of our control. We accomplish extending control beyond ourselves by writing, documenting, and recording everything. In a sense, it’s the opposite of giving up control. It’s creating the structure to control your business and organization without your active presence. The Role of SOPs If done correctly, you can absolutely create a business where someone else can do it as well as you. How? By giving them the exact playbook to replicate your actions and decision-making. Done well, and you can leverage hires and employees, free up your time and attention onto what is most important to you, and eliminate the challenge of input/output (the challenge that the only way to create more output is more personal input). A lot of business owners will sob about how hard it is to give up control. They’re right. Giving up control is hard. But imbuing controls isn’t a sob story at all—it’s an SOP story. Components of SOPs SOPs or Standard Operating Procedures are HOW we imbue controls into our business. SOPs are simply instructions on how we do our work to achieve the results we want. There are different types of SOPs, but they all share some universals. Output SOPs are all about achieving results, and so the result or output is one of the four ingredients. The output is the end result we want. Procedure This is the type of SOP you’re putting in place. Some SOPs are going to be task-oriented with specific instructions and very clear and defined step-by-step guides on how to accomplish the task at hand. Other SOPs may require less defined actions. Trigger SOPs are put in place to allow anyone to step in and run a job, a system, department, or even an entire business. A trigger is simply the instance in which a decision or task needs to be made. Potential triggers could be a customer inquiry or running low on inventory. The Benefits of Implementing SOPs If, as an owner, we took the time to document each and every trigger our business experiences, we could transform how our business runs. By putting SOPs into place, not only does it create a roadmap for consistent results, it also places us as owners in a position where we can successfully hire someone and have the controls in place for them to be as successful as we are, or perhaps even more so. By implementing SOPs, we can fully delegate to others all while retaining output and controls. If we needed an added benefit beyond removing ‘control issues’ from our dialogue, allowing us to put our time and attention into where we want and solving the input/output dilemma, this is it: creating SOPs greatly enhances the value of a business. The greater the value of your business, the larger of an asset you have at your disposal. Conclusion Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are fundamental tools for business owners who want to maintain control while scaling their operations. By documenting processes and routines, you ensure consistency, efficiency, and quality, making it easier to delegate tasks and focus on strategic growth. Start creating your SOPs today and transform your business into a well-oiled machine that can run smoothly without your constant oversight. If you’re interested in our other services provided through IVOLVE Performance and Development please check out either of the links below: 2 on 1 coaching emphasizing self-management, behavior, public speaking, and accelerated sales and growth. For more information https://www.jbandthedoctor.com/individual-coaching/ Corporate Workshops for your teams: https://www.jbandthedoctor.com/corporate/ If you’re looking for further insight into our Owner Advisory Boards you can find out more here or join us at our next simulated board event. IVOLVE + THRIVE Owner Advisory Boards to help business owners earn more, work less, and enjoy the journey. You can check out more at: www.ivolveandthrive.com
How to Keep Going When You Don’t Feel Like It
The struggle is real. Sooner or later it will happen. You’ll wake up and the idea of getting started isn’t exciting, it’s downright uncomfortable. Realistically, it’s normal to face days when motivation is at an all-time low. Whether you’re dealing with work pressures, personal setbacks, or just an overall sense of fatigue, pushing through these moments is a challenge that everyone encounters. This struggle is universal, but what sets successful individuals apart is their ability to tap into their grit and resilience. These qualities aren’t just about powering through; they involve smart strategies that help you navigate tough times without burning out. In this blog, we’ll explore some foundational steps to stay motivated and productive, followed by three specific strategies that can help you keep moving forward even on the toughest days. Acknowledge Your Feelings First off, let’s talk about acknowledging your feelings. It’s okay not to feel 100% all the time. Recognize how you’re feeling and understand that it’s normal and neither good nor bad. Once you accept that, you can start working on ways to get back on track. Research shows that recognizing and processing emotions can significantly improve mental well-being and resilience. Our goal isn’t to dismiss our feelings or even to try to divorce ourselves from them. Rather it’s best to acknowledge our emotions and commit to addressing them. It’s also important to remember that it’s on us to recognize when it’s an appropriate time to work through and process our emotions. There are many instances where it’s preferred or even best to delay processing. Just be sure to carve out time for yourself to work through these sooner than later. Break It Down When tasks seem overwhelming, break them down into smaller, more manageable steps. This makes it easier to get started and gives you a sense of accomplishment as you complete each step. The Pomodoro Technique is a great example of this strategy, breaking work into 25-minute intervals with short breaks in between to maintain focus and reduce stress. It’s also helpful to work with a planner and written objectives and goals. If you have a resource where you can turn that already lays out the minimal steps you need to take, it becomes a lot easier to get started. Often, getting started is the most difficult step to take in overcoming motivational lulls. Set Realistic Goals Setting achievable goals is crucial. Don’t try to do everything at once. By setting smaller, realistic goals, you can build momentum and keep moving forward. Effective time management, such as prioritizing tasks and using tools like targeted to-do lists, can enhance productivity and reduce the stress of overwhelming workloads. When we achieve even the smallest of successes it can immediately help shift our perception and our emotions. Sometimes, this is all that is needed to overcome a lack of motivation or feelings of despair, dismay or simple loss of enthusiasm. In addition to the basics, I want to share three specific strategies that I use to keep going when the going gets tough. 1. Step Back and Do Something Different When you’re struggling, sometimes it’s best to step back and do something different that still moves you forward. This could be catching up on notes, updating your CRM, or processing conversations. By doing this, you get a chance to reflect on both positive and negative experiences, helping you to gain perspective and maintain objectivity. This aligns with research showing that shifting tasks can help manage stress and improve overall productivity. For instance, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the thought of making another call, take some time to update your CRM with recent interactions. Not only does this give you a break from the immediate stressor, but it also ensures you’re staying productive. Studies have shown that task-switching can help reduce cognitive load and refresh your mental state, making you more effective in the long run. Redirecting ourselves is a great way to allow us to energize ourselves by taking action on something that is less challenging in the moment and still productive. 2. Lean In and Attack It After facing a setback, lean in and take the next opportunity head-on. Make the next call, have the next meeting, and put yourself in a position to succeed. The past is the past, and each new opportunity is a chance for a different outcome. This approach helps you move beyond the immediate disappointment and focus on new possibilities. Studies have shown that taking immediate action can reduce the negative impact of setbacks and increase resilience. This strategy is particularly effective in sales and business development, where rejection is part of the game. By quickly moving to the next opportunity, you prevent negative experiences from accumulating and weighing you down. Remember, each new interaction is a fresh chance to succeed and the more ‘no’s’ you receive the closer you are to a ‘yes!/ 3. Fill Your Schedule Keep your calendar full. When you have a packed schedule, you don’t have time to dwell on setbacks. Stay focused on the tasks at hand and process any negative experiences outside of your typical working hours. Reflect, journal, or meditate later, but during the day, keep moving forward. This strategy is supported by time management research indicating that a structured schedule helps maintain focus and reduces the likelihood of stress and procrastination. A full schedule means you’re constantly moving from one task to the next, leaving little room for self-doubt, rumination or negative thinking. This doesn’t mean ignoring your feelings; rather, it’s about compartmentalizing them so you can address them at a more appropriate time. So there you have it—three strategies I use as needed to help you keep going when you don’t feel like it. Remember, overcoming motivational challenges is all about acknowledging your feelings, breaking tasks down into manageable steps, and setting realistic goals. Implement these strategies, and you’ll be better equipped to handle those tough days If you’re interested in our other services provided through IVOLVE Performance and Development
Do Masterminds Work?
Masterminds, the secret weapon you need to be more successful in business or just a waste of time, energy and money? For many business owners there is a serious question on what value masterminds bring and can they be quantified. We’ll explain what a mastermind is, and what it should do, illustrate clear and quantifiable ROI on a mastermind, and help you determine if one is right for you. Although masterminds have been around for years, they gained a following after Napoleon Hill released the best-selling book ‘Think and Grow Rich.’ The history of masterminds far precedes Napoleon Hill, however. Nearly every major institution and corporation today has an advisory board in place and we can trace advisory boards back as early as the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe. Evidently, advisory boards must be pretty effective if they have been in practice for such a long time. But, is an advisory board a mastermind, are they effective, and if they are effective, what are they effective for? Let’s start by defining what a mastermind is. Masterminds broadly speaking are a group of people that come together on a consistent basis to provide accountability, help provide support, and hopefully improve decision-making. Masterminds come in many different structures and flavors and no two are exactly alike. This makes masterminds quite broad and somewhat difficult to define more narrowly. However, there are many types of masterminds that are meant to be much more narrow in scope and terms, In particular, you have industry-specific masterminds, masterminds designed for particular business purposes (marketing as an example) and you also have peer advisory groups or owner advisory boards. The difference in each of these styles of masterminds comes down to the nature, intent, and structure of the groups themselves. Oftentimes the intent of the group defines the nature and the structure. For example, masterminds that are intended to improve marketing skills might by nature attract CMOs or marketing agency employees and the structure might be built to include a curriculum on how to implement marketing systems or processes to improve the marketing department in a company. The Owner Advisory Board Due to the fact that there are so many different types of masterminds we’re going to emphasize and focus on the Owner Advisory Board. The Owner Advisory Board is intended to bring together owners of small businesses that are similar in age and stage. In other words, bringing together peers from different businesses with similar complexity and challenges. Owner Advisory Boards naturally attract business owners in the early stages, the stages of sustainability, and the maturity and exit stages of business. As an aside, if you’re interested in the stages of business through the lens of the owner check out our previous blog and newsletter on The Owners Journey. The Owner’s Journey Business owners work through many stages during the time they run a business. For the most successful owners, they’ll take a business from ideation all the way…>> The Owner Advisory Board is designed to help owners address the universal challenges of isolation, overwork, and blind spots. Isolation and mental wellness are serious issues impacting owners and their businesses today. As many as 50% or more of business owners admit to being stressed out over their business and are concerned about the impact it has on the people around them. When it comes to overwork, over ⅓ of all business owners admit to working more than 50 hours a week and ¼ acknowledge they work over 60 hours per week. Putting the work culture aside, productivity has been shown to dramatically drop with anything more than 30-40 hours per week and yet it’s very rare to find owners working 30 hours or less per week. The unknown unknown is of serious concern to the majority of business owners out there. Less than 50% of business owners have a formal degree and large swaths of owners have never had formal education on critical business skills like financial controls and reporting, human resources, management or even sales! These challenges are very real and have consequences that influence the success and sustainability of a business. These challenges help illustrate why so many businesses are prone to failure and 83%, the vast majority of businesses, can never be sold. In order to address these challenges Owner Advisory Boards must have certain elements if it is going to be successful. Advisory boards must include a proven process to find the right people, a structure in place to help owners track KPIs and provide positive accountability and lastly must have exceptional support in place. Advisory boards should be highly selective in who they invite onto a board. Board members should be in similar ages and stages of business, should be dealing with items of similar complexity and opportunity and should also have varying strengths to help complement one another. Building out an advisory board with the right people is the most foundational aspect of a successful advisory board and is a full-time job! Not only does the board need to be composed of the right people with complementary skills and strengths, it also needs to have a structure in place that ensures accountability and results. The structure of advisory boards should be held in meetings that are peer feedback-focused. If the board is built of the right people then they are best served with a consistent forum that allows them to support each other and provide critical feedback on challenges and opportunities. This creates a safe space for owners to be very candid about their challenges and receive customized and detailed feedback in a constructive manner. This feedback can and will, when provided by the right people, provide context and perspective to allow owners to step outside of the lens they view the world through and come to better decisions. Support in an advisory board needs to be put in place by the facilitator. Having a board member facilitate a group shifts their role from a member of the
The Self-Awareness Spectrum Turning Vulnerability into Strength
“‘Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” CG Jung Self awareness has been described as the meta skill of the 21st century. Tasha Eurich wrote about this in her book ‘Insight,’ and offers a fascinating perspective into the power of self-awareness. It prompted me to write about the spectrum of self-awareness and how we can take a vulnerability in our business and turn it into a game changing strength. Self-Awareness and why it matters Last week I had the chance to listen to a panel of Private Equity fund managers discuss their approach to running and investing their funds. If you’re unfamiliar with Private Equity, think of it like this: I have a pool of money (hundreds of millions of dollars) that I need to invest into small or medium-sized businesses. My goal is to use this equity infusion to help these businesses grow in value so that when I exit as a partner, we do so for a business worth much more than it was when I invested. My ‘fund’ represents the 8-15 businesses I will invest equity into from the pool of money I have to work with. One of the best takeaways I had from the panel discussion came from what a manager said about good ownership vs a good business. Specifically, he said, ‘I’ll take good ownership over a good business.’ When pressed further he elaborated and said, there’s plenty of good businesses with bad ownership and for us, I’d rather have a bad business with good ownership than a good business with bad ownership. The takeaway being that the quality of ownership is of much higher importance to a business’s valuation today and in the future than the quality of the business itself! It drives home just how important it is for an owner to invest consistently into themselves and not just into their business. One of the best investments into ourselves is into a greater understanding of our own self-awareness making one of the most meaningful skills an owner can have into a strength. What is self-awareness? Self-awareness needs to be broken down into two dimensions: internal and external. Internal self-awareness is an understanding of my own behaviors, reactions, and responses. It’s what most of us think about when we think about self-awareness. External self-awareness is an understanding of how others perceive me. External self-awareness is less well known but an equally critical element of self-awareness for a business owner today. It’s considered a meta skill because it deeply influences a MASSIVE array of business abilities from decision-making to leadership to relationships with employees, customers, constituents, and stakeholders. While we could work on any of these individual skills directly, by investing our time and working on our self-awareness we can work on a skill that underlies all of these other skills, thus leveling up our development exponentially and gaining some real productivity by doing so. As a business owner, self-awareness plays an even greater role when we consider that self-awareness is crucial to understanding our own strengths and weaknesses allowing us to navigate challenging situations adeptly. It plays an integral role in our strategic decision making and it strengthens and empowers the entire organization starting from the leadership team all the way down to the least seasoned employee. When taken together, I’m not sure there are many skills as important as self-awareness for a business owner to develop. Poor self-awareness is a vulnerability One of the great ironies in the world today is that for most of us, we often consider our greatest weaknesses our greatest strengths. In short, we all think we rock at self-awareness. Unfortunately, study after study proves this to be the exact opposite! 85% of us believe that we are self-aware, yet conversely, only 10-15% of us are. Why is it that so many of us think we’re self aware when we aren’t? It’s because it’s very difficult to know ourselves! Funny enough if you thought the answer were simply to be introspective, guess what? Those that spend more time on introspection tend to be even less self-aware than others. This is largely in part due to the fact that we have never been taught how to properly be introspective and we end up using confirmation bias to end up with the wrong conclusions steering us even further off track than if we had never put the time and energy into trying to become more self-aware. Poor self-awareness shows up as a vulnerability in businesses in many obvious ways and some less obvious ways as well. One of the more obvious ways it may influence us is through overconfidence or via self doubt. We have all met someone that is confident when they should not be. To be clear, I’m not discussing self-efficacy (the belief that I have capacity to do something), I’m discussing confidence (the belief that I can do something). Imagine being confident at playing tennis at a high level having never picked up a racket, yet some people really do believe they can compete with professionals or even amateurs with thousands of hours of practice racked up. An owner with overconfidence will jump into action without properly weighing their true ability to accomplish what they have set out to do. Likewise we have all met someone who expresses self doubt and deals with imposter syndrome even when they have proven to be more than capable and effective at the work that they do. People struggling with this may have symptoms they struggle with like overthinking and paralysis by analysis. In both instances, whether it’s overconfidence or self doubt, we can point the finger at poor internal self-awareness as a common culprit. Self-awareness can also be a vulnerability less obviously. Blindspots are common and often derive from poor self-awareness. One blindspot many people and owners have is misunderstanding how they come off to other people. An owner stretched for time, for example,
How putting people first leads to business growth
All businesses bloom when you’re solving a problem for other people. This is the heart of every successful business. Yet there are many instances where putting people first becomes a part of the very culture of a business and it can often come with startling results. In this blog article we’ll explore how putting people first can lead to amazing business growth and results. Before we strap in for the weekly blog topic, we put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our free gift to you. Access it here! Let’s review some examples of businesses putting people first and how it resulted in amazing business success. Costco When you think Costco chances are you think about the hotdogs, free samples, or loads of pallets before you think of the people. How do they sell those hotdogs for so cheap? However, Costco is well known for its loyalty to its employees and putting people first and it’s made a tremendous difference in their results. Costco not only promotes and develops from within but over 90% of its employees have benefits and are paid well above many other large box store employees. The results are clear as well. Costco not only has higher employee retention rates than their competitors but they also have twice the sales per employee than competitors like Sam’s Club. This has resulted in stunning growth for Costco over the years and is a great example of how putting people first can pay off. Patagonia Known for their great outdoors gear you might not realize how much emphasis Patagonia puts on their employees. Patagonia is so well respected for their employee benefits and putting their employees first that it has appeared on the 100 Best Companies to Work For list by Fortune 6 times! Employee turnover happens to be one of the most expensive challenges businesses face today and Patagonia shows clear results here by having 100% (yes, you read that right) of employees return from maternity leave. Talk about an impressive result! Wegmans If Patagonia impressed you, stand back for Wegmans. Wegmans showed up on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list 22 consecutive years showing tremendous consistency and upholding a strong reputation as an excellent employer. Wegmans doesn’t just stop at employee satisfaction as they are very well known for extremely high customer satisfaction as well. Wegmans has been growing for over 104 years and has shown tremendous success when it enters new markets such as North Carolina or by the fact that its food services alone accounts for nearly 10% of its almost $10 billion in sales. Putting people first is essential for a business. Making it a part of the culture can lead to even greater results. How do you put people first? Let us know your thoughts, you can email us at info@jbandthedoctor.com! If you’re looking for an outside perspective on how best to put people first then take a look at our brand new mastermind and owner advisory boards launching in January of 2024! IVOLVE + THRIVE is a next-level advisory board to help you combat isolation, overwork, and blindspots. If you’re dealing with these challenges as a small business owner, we are here to help! owner advisory boards IVOLVE + THRIVE CLARITY + WORTH + FREEDOM Learn more Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your soft skills to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.
Innovation in business: is it really necessary?
When it comes to innovation in business it’s often a buzzword that’s thrown around along with descriptors such as critical, necessary, crucial etc. Yet, there is an argument to be made that innovation in business is not always necessary and in fact could be damaging! In this blog we’ll take a look at innovation in business and explore whether innovation is really necessary, or not. Do you need to innovate? We put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our free gift to you. Access it here! Let’s explore when innovation is helpful and then we can explore when it’s not. Top instances innovation is helpful Innovation can be helpful for a wide range of reasons and can be a key component of long-term business success. However, there are two important drivers of innovation that are more important than the others. Long Term Survival Disruption is very real and it can completely resurface how businesses operate and we have seen plenty of examples of how very established business models failure is traced back to innovation and disruption; blockbuster & netflix, taxi’s and uber are just a couple of recent examples. Innovation can be essential for long-term survival in business today. Competitive Advantage Fast paced industries and businesses often require innovation to create a competitive advantage. It’s why we often see tech companies working furiously to develop new and innovative approaches to existing products and problems. Innovation is often a necessity to create competitive advantages today in these types of industries. Top instances innovation is unnecessary and (potentially) damaging For every business and industry where innovation is essential, there are other businesses and industries where innovation can hurt more than it helps. Here are two types of businesses where innovation may hurt more than it helps. Stable Market There are plenty of businesses and products where innovation simply isn’t all that necessary. Something as simple as the paper towel or toilet paper are great examples of stable markets that need and require little to no innovation. In fact, trying something new here is as liable to cost money as it is to make money. Risk With change comes risk and we do a disservice if we don’t consider that innovation can carry some serious risk. There are a number of examples where companies try to innovate and fail badly. Those innovation failures can lead to serious business losses and potentially catastrophic business consequences. The verdict: is innovation necessary? As the Doc likes to say with all things, it depends. There are businesses and industries where innovation is essential and there are circumstances that require businesses to innovate or fail. There are also plenty of instances where it doesn’t make sense for a business to innovate especially if the market is stable and lucrative. Ultimately the decision to innovate shouldn’t be automatic and, as with all decisions, it should be made carefully and with all due diligence. Does your business require innovation? Let us know your thoughts, you can email us at info@jbandthedoctor.com! Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your soft skills to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.
Self Confidence and Self Efficacy: Why it’s so important for your business success
Belief in yourself is incredibly important in the hyper-competitive business environment that exists today. Business growth and success is never linear and self-confidence is essential to help support the grit and resiliency necessary to overcome challenges and obstacles. Self-efficacy, the belief in our ability to accomplish specific tasks is equally as important. Today, more than ever, we are equipped with tools to help enhance our self-efficacy and improve our odds of success. In our blog we’ll discuss why it’s so important to have self-confidence and self-efficacy to achieve business success. Believe in yourself and prepare! We put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our free gift to you. Access it here! So how are self-confidence and self-efficacy different? 1. General vs Acute Self-confidence is general in scope and self-efficacy is specific. I can be self-confident and have overall belief in my abilities and yet still lack self-efficacy when it comes to…managing other people, for example. Self-efficacy is specific to a goal or a task, self-confident is much broader in it’s scope. 2. Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Both self-confidence and self-efficacy could be considered intrinsic, as in, they are derived from internal sources such as previous success. In fact, self-confidence is often attributed to previous person success. Self-efficacy on the other hand can and often stems from external or extrinsic sources such as persuasion, other’s successes and our current mental states and mindsets whether or not they are influenced by the environment around us. For example, the backup quarterback that steps into a game in the 4th quarter and wins a game may be doing so due to the environment and support of his team around him IE: self-efficacy. 3. Behavior Setting We don’t necessarily set high goals or work harder due to self-confidence, but we likely will be due to self-efficacy. With great self-confidence we’re more likely to be brave and try something new. With self-efficacy we’re much more likely to set higher goals, work harder and be quicker to overcome adversity. So why are they both important to business success today? Find me a successful business lacking failure…and then find me a successful business that doesn’t have the resiliency and grit to overcome challenges, obstacles, and adversity. You need both to survive in today’s business world. It’s not enough to simply be just self-confident or have strong self-efficacy. We need to have a healthy balance of each to ensure the greatest odds of success! Also read: How to find and grow your confidence Tips To Build C onfidence Quickly How do you display self-efficacy? Let us know at info@jbandthedoctor.com Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your soft skills to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.
3 Ways you can use AI right now to enhance your business
AI is here to stay and to ignore it is the same as burying our heads in the sand. Technology moves fast, but AI feels like it’s moving at a lightning pace compared to traditional technology. In the last 6-8 months we’ve seen AI explode into the mainstream and it’s just getting started. The beautiful thing about AI is because it’s changing so quickly nobody is a true expert at this point. With that in mind, here are 3 ways you can immediately start to use AI to enhance your business. No artificial sweeteners added! We put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our gift to you and you can access it right here. Access it here If you’re wondering when and where you should be implementing AI here are 3 ideas you can run with right now that will help save you time, leverage your skills and increase your productivity. 1. Get the starting points down AI makes plenty of mistakes and I’d never trust it (at this stage) to fully execute on something creative, but it can absolutely give you a starting framework or outline to work with. It can also help you generate additional ideas or consider avenues you didn’t think of in the first place. If you’re writing blogs, newsletters or creating any sort of content, it’s a no brainer to use AI to help facilitate the starting points at the very least! This is going to save you serious time in your business. 2. Connect other websites and apps AI can now – if you’re paying – hook to other websites and apps allowing AI’s like ChatGPT to do more than just answer queries. AI can now search the web and assist you in scheduling. If you’re not already using a virtual assistant, congratulations, for about $20 a month you can begin outsourcing some of the work you’d otherwise be doing. Oh, and if you’re not impressed by the connections to other websites yet, just give it a week or two! What will connecting to other apps ultimately lead to? You guessed it, enormous leverage and more time to focus on what you most enjoy doing. 3. Write code and troubleshoot programs If you don’t consider yourself a techy and have never in your life thought about code, well here’s a bit of a truth bomb…you don’t need to be anymore. AI has taken the need to be tech savvy and made coding and app development something that ANYONE can get their hands on. Not only will this be a game changer for reducing the cost of developing apps and websites, it’s going to completely change how everyday people interact with technology moving forward! AI is changing every day, or so it seems. Whatever benefits and challenges it faces today, have no doubt that it will be improving on these very rapidly. If you want to get ahead and one up a tremendous amount of people and competitors, this is a rare opportunity to do so! What’s your experience with AI been? Let us know your thoughts, you can email us at info@jbandthedoctor.com! Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your soft skills to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.
The Problems with Short Term Thinking and Why We Need a Long Term Perspective
Business is a great balance between short term need and long-term vision. Between resource allocation like time and money and the desire and need for immediate cash flow it’s easy to get drawn into short-term thinking and natural for us to struggle with maintaining a long term perspective. There are a number of significant problems that arise when we get too focused on short-term thinking and these make it incredibly important to keep a long term perspective for the health of ourselves and our businesses. Don’t fall prey to short-term thinking and risk your business! We put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our free gift to you. Access it here! Let’s explore just a couple of the challenges with short-term thinking and the missed opportunities this can create when we fail to maintain a long-term perspective. 1. Resource Allocation When we have a limited amount of time, money, and energy it can be extremely difficult to make the best decisions around our resources. Our long-term vision is often at risk due to short-term needs. When we focus too much on the short-term it means we may unintentionally veer away from our long-term objectives. Every small step without the long-term in mind can lead to drastically different results than we anticipate. What happens when we allocate resources purely with the short-term in mind? We end up with a long-term result that is not what we wanted and I’ve never met someone who enjoyed running a business they didn’t want to run! 2. Missed Opportunities There are serious consequences to having a short-term focus in our decision making. One of the greatest impacts is lost opportunity for innovation and extreme growth. We can look at any number of businesses that failed to keep an eye on the long-term – Toys R’ Us and Blockbuster are just two great examples. In fact, one of the greatest challenges large companies have today is ensuring their continued success for generations…IE keeping their eye on the long term opportunities and innovation! We need a long-term perspective to remain sustainable, resilient, and forward thinking. If all of our focus is on the short-term it will put us in a position of constant reaction instead of deliberate and intentional action. Maintaining a long-term perspective is essential for the health of our business and our professional careers. How do you balance short-term and long-term decision making? Let us know your thoughts, you can email us at info@jbandthedoctor.com! Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your soft skills to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.
Going all In!!
Have you ever heard the saying that if you ask two doctors for their opinion, you’ll get 3 opinions? When it comes to business advice, this saying is as true as they come. The truth is, nobody has the same journey as you and what worked for someone else may work for you or it may not. There are some instances where it makes a ton of sense for you to put all your eggs in one basket. This approach is called ‘Going all in,’ and in this blog we’ll discuss who it can benefit and why. 6 Methods To Make Sure Your Business Doesn’t Fail Before we bet it all on black, did you know that 70% of businesses will fail? We put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our free gift to you and you can access it right here. Who should consider going all in Not everyone should go all in. Going all in is going to be a huge mistake for people dealing with very high anxiety or for many of us who may have responsibilities that extend beyond our own self. However, there are certain people that will respond really well to going all in. I’ve identified a couple of instances where going all in can serve you really well. You have nothing to lose. Single, no kids, young in your career. This is a great type of person to go all in. This is not a one size fits all, there are many people who can afford to go all in, but the more of these boxes you check, the lower your overall risk is relative to the potential benefits. I can afford it Going all in is great if you have assets, income, experience and a support system. The more of these you have, the greater your chance of being able to bounce back from failure. Going all in means putting everything into an endeavor. The more you can put into something the greater your opportunity to succeed. There are a number of reasons it can be beneficial to go all in and we’ll focus on our top two for today. 1. Going all in puts your back against the wall and leaves you with no way to retreat. It’s amazing the occasion we can rise up to if we have no choice. Going all in can put you in a position to bring out your very best. No retreat, no surrender! 2. Going all in is a commitment. Commitments are hard to keep up. Going all in forces you to keep your commitment. You can’t make excuses when you go all in. External factors will keep you on your course and hold you to your commitment. So are you the type of person that could benefit from going all in? Let us know in our private Facebook community, the EML! You can join here! Join our community Do you need figuring out the best strategy for your situation? Our unique 2 on 1 coaching marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your time, sales, and confidence, to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.