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Organizational Development

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

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

Mastermind

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

Self Management

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 To

Top Business Owner Mistakes With Serious Consequences and How to Avoid Them!

Running and operating a business comes with its fair share of ups and downs. Owners today have so much on their plates that it’s not uncommon for mistakes to happen. Much of the mistakes we make in business are minor and have relatively limited consequences. Every now and then, however, we make some serious mistakes that have lasting and severe consequences. These are the mistakes that we need to be laser-focused on avoiding to the best of our abilities. Get this right, avoid these mistakes, and you’re likely looking at significantly accelerated growth, sales, and profits in a business. You’ll likely enjoy the work you do a whole lot more too! Decision Making Fatigue One after another, they don’t stop. As owners, regardless of the size of our business, we need to make a series of decisions every day that can have unimaginable consequences (good and bad!) for our businesses. Whether it’s early on in a small business or in the more mature stages of business with complex issues and multiple employees, our decisions have an impact on the business and the people around us! It should come as no surprise then that one of the biggest hurdles owners need to overcome is the fatigue that comes with decision-making. Decision-making fatigue is a deterioration of the quality of decisions we make. As we make more and more decisions and the stress and mental effort that comes with those decisions it’s common for the quality of our decisions to actually suffer. In other words, we’ll make better decisions when we aren’t tired, stressed, and worn out. There was a study done on parole hearings for inmates. The study looked at the decision-making of the judge on how statistically likely they were to release the prisoners at different times of the day. It was found that first thing in the morning and then shortly after a recess for lunch or a snack were the best times of day to be up for a parole hearing and the most likely times of day that the inmates would be granted parole. There was more than a 6x likelihood of release early in the morning rather than later in the day. It’s fairly clear that the decision-making process by the judges was influenced by the stress and effort of ongoing decision-making. This was corrected with proper rest and nutrition but shortly afterwards the inevitable load from the day again began to influence the decision-making of judges. Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2011/apr/11/judges-lenient-break Imagine for a moment your decision-making determined the quality of life of someone in front of you. You’d likely want to make the best decision possible. As business owners, whether we recognize it consciously or not, many of our decisions will have an oversized impact on the people around us including our employees, partners, and even our own families. Unfortunately, decision-making fatigue is a very real and very common mistake owners make regularly. In today’s culture, especially in the United States, overwork is not merely accepted, it’s lauded. Yet overwork is nearly a guaranteed recipe for compromised decision-making. On the bright side, there are a number of ways we can self-correct for decision-making fatigue that are easy to implement and execute on. Here are a few suggestions you can likely implement today. Take Breaks This should be obvious but it’s worth repeating. If you want to save an enormous amount of time, stress and money, take more small breaks more frequently. Healthy Habits Nourish yourself with healthy foods, enough sleep, exercise and methods to reduce stress. Decision making fatigue is at least partially caused by all of the above factors. By controlling what you can you’ll reduce the impact of poor decisions. Prioritize & Limit It seems like common sense but if continuously being put in a position to make decisions increases decision making fatigue, then we should be prioritizing what decisions are actually important to make and limiting our decisions to those. This should help reduce paralysis by analysis, overthinking and ruminating. It’s very hard to give up control and yet stepping back from too many decisions is an absolute game changer for a business owner. Develop Routines The great thing about routines is they put our brains on autopilot. The less we need to think about something the less willpower it takes. Willpower is a finite resource and when our willpower muscle gets tired our form will struggle. Not into the muscle analogy? The more routine you can develop around recurring decisions the less tired you’ll get and the better decisions you’ll make when it really matters. Dependency and Bottlenecks One of the biggest challenges to accelerated growth and ultimately selling a business for maximum value is owner dependency. We all want to be needed. It’s a natural part of being human. We want to be a part of a community and when we are the literal parent of something whether it’s children or a business it’s very difficult to let go and give up control. When we run our business out of this context it creates a fragile situation in which the business is dependent on the owner for critical operations and decision making. For a business to be run effectively it must be able to survive independent of the owner’s direct involvement. When a business needs to run through the owner it creates bottlenecks to accelerated growth. These bottlenecks might show up in many different ways but they almost always hamper the bottom line and they will certainly reduce and seriously discount the valuation of a business. It’s common for the bottlenecks to show up through roles, responsibilities and especially employees. As a small business owner the business may still be highly dependent on you for certain things such as business development, financial management and customer relationships among others. Now picture this…your business is functioning smoothly and suddenly you’re dealt a blow with a major health issue of your own or someone you are close to. You are pulled away from the

Business

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 through maturation and potentially an exit. It’s common to look at a business through the lens of the business itself and the various stages of a business can be broadly defined as: ideation, marketing, execution, growth, stability, maturity and liquidation or exit. However, it’s less common to look at a business through the lens of the owner’s journey and that’s what we’re going to focus on today because while similar, it is different from the stages of a business. The owner’s journey stages are as follows : Stage 1 – Idea and Inspiration Stage 2 – Planning and Learning Stage 3 – Foundation and Funding Stage 4 – Marketing and Sales Stage 5 – Launch and Daily Management Stage 6 – Growth and Scaling Stage 7 – Sustainability and Adaptation Stage 8 – Exit and Transition Let’s take a closer look at each of these stages STAGE 1 Idea and Inspiration Great businesses begin with great ideas and we often hear owners share a story about their personal discovery of a problem they had to navigate through. Successful navigation of these problems can create viable businesses and is a stimulating time for many owners. Ultimately, one of the greatest challenges during this stage of an owner’s journey is balancing optimism with pragmatism. The clearest sign that you’re ready to move on from this stage? When we commit to turning the vision into a reality. STAGE 2 Planning and Learning You may be able to start a business without planning. However, your odds of success are going to be dramatically lower than if you had planned. We’re confident, that while you may be able to ignore planning (to each their own), you’ll always be learning once you commit to turning your idea into reality. This stage of ownership is often where we’ll build confidence and overcome our doubts and fears about the viability of our ideas. Keep an eye on overwhelm in this stage, as people are very free with advice as you’re still getting up and running. STAGE 3 Foundation and Funding Business fundamentals such as setting up our legal entity, assessing our funding options and implementing the formal arrangement of the business all happen in this stage. Be aware of heightened stress levels as finances are one of the top causes of friction in relationships. This stage also happens to introduce increased work load and potential challenges with managing the business with the rest of our lives. STAGE 4 Marketing and Sales Just because something sounds like an amazing idea and solved a problem we have identified doesn’t mean the market is going to adopt it or feel strongly about it. Businesses thrive when products, services and solutions all address pain points people feel strongly about. Without that emotional response, a business can be dead in the water before the idea really ever gets off the ground. Frustration can go hand in hand with marketing and sales and dealing with rejection is a key challenge for many owners, especially if they don’t already have a strong comfort with sales and messaging. STAGE 5 Launch and Daily Management When you officially launch a product or service, it’s an absolute thrill to see it take off from the ground and to find your early adopters. That thrill can quickly dwindle when we are faced with the grind of the actual day-to-day operations of the business and also have to address consumer feedback. Responding well to tedious activity and to criticism is essential for owners in this stage. STAGE 6 Growth and Scaling One of the greatest bottlenecks and challenges owners of small businesses have is delegating with effectiveness and developing a team to help manage to growth and development of the business. It’s why so many owners never shift out of owner operator into greater roles. During this time, owners are faced with changing the control they exert over the business and allowing for others to begin to take responsibility and accountability for activity that may have originally been yours. Times of transitions like these lead to identity challenges and require great personal growth for owners to learn new skills such as leadership and management. STAGE 7 Sustainability and Adaptation Once our businesses have grown to a certain point, our attention will quite naturally shift to business sustainability and, hopefully, continuity. Additionally, we’ll be tasked with adapting the business to changing markets, environments and consumer wants. In a key inflection point for owners, this is a great time to re-evaluate our personal goals and a natural point for us to consider what the next stages of our own lives and involvement with our business is. If we find that our goals for our lives are not in alignment with what the business demands as owners, it can cause anxiety and uncertainty for many owners. STAGE 8 Exit and Transition Although 80% of businesses are unsellable, our goal is to help every business owner have the opportunity to successfully exit their business. Ultimately, an exit will always happen. It’s simply a question of whether the exit is done with intention or not. Unfortunately, when we allow transitions to occur without planning for them, it can lead to serious repercussions and, as we often see, a business that will be shutting its doors. The exit stage is one of the most difficult in the business owner journey. Exits and transitions require us to process a tremendous amount of emotion around identity, value and face our own expectations of success and failure. Why Does the Owner’s Journey Matter? Chances are the owner’s journey isn’t as carefully analyzed as the stages a business will go through and yet not only are they fundamentally intertwined, the human element to owning a business has a tremendous influence not just on our own well-being but on a business’s health as

Performance

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.

Leadership

Blindspots common to business owners and how to spot them

Blindspots and lack of self-awareness are real issues business owners (and everyone else too) face today. Self-awareness is a not a skill we’re deliberately taught and just because we might consider ourselves introspective, doesn’t mean that we’re actually any good at introspection! Thus, when it comes to our blindspots just trying to be more self-reflecting doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll correctly identify our own blindspots or help improve our self-awareness. In this blog we’ll discuss the blindspots most common to business owners and give you ideas on how you can spot them. Were you aware that we had this free resource? 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! Drum roll please, a list of common blindspots business owners have… Emotional Attachment Emotional attachment is a common blindspot we deal with as business owners. Whether it’s becoming attached to a specific project or an idea, emotional attachment can lead to going down the wrong path or refusing to acknowledge market realities. It’s an easy way for our judgement to be clouded and can be difficult to deal with if we are even able to identify it. Action Bias If we wanted to distill down how people behave we could make the argument that some people have an action default and some people have an inaction default. Yet, it’s likely that many owners have a default towards action. It’s awfully difficult to get a business up and running without having a lean into taking action. Action bias is a blindspot that is common in owners because of this. Action bias means owners will often take action before carefully considering all options – after all, any movement in a direction is better than no movement at all, right? Well, maybe, maybe not. When action bias becomes an issue it can show up in the form of impulsiveness, rash decisions or emotional decisions all of which can cause or contribute to serious business problems. Unfortunately, many owners are unaware of this blindspot and consistently react instead of being more deliberate and responsive. Work-Life Imbalance Business owners commonly struggle with work-life imbalance and yet many times they are unaware of it as a problem. Imbalance can show up in relationships, in our physical, mental and spiritual health and it can show up in the health of our business as well. We don’t believe balance needs to be 50/50 and balance for you may mean something different than balance for me. It’s equally important to understand what balance works for you and when to identify when you’re out of balance. While there are many other common blindspots owners struggle with, you should be able to get a sense of these blindspots and maybe even identify when you have fallen victim to one or more of these. Ultimately, the onus is on us as owners to be able to develop better self-awareness and gird ourselves against the dangers of blindspots. How do we do it then? We suggest not trying to do it on your own. There are many instances where working on our own and independently can lead to amazing results, typically, this is not one of those instances. Self-reflection is incredibly difficult to do on our own and we’re just as likely to exacerbate the problem as we are to mitigate it. For addressing blindspots we strongly recommend working with others and here are our top choices. Feedback Team: Getting honest and transparent feedback is difficult. Those closest to us will always deal with their own biases and those too far removed from us can’t offer truly insightful feedback. Building a team of objectively honest peers or colleagues that can offer feedback is one highly effective way to combat blindspots. Owner Advisory Boards: Blindspots can show up in many different ways, one of the most effective ways to disrupt blindspots is to gain a number of different perspectives. This can help illuminate the unknown and bring more self-awareness to us. If you’re looking for a group of peers to help you with your blindspots we encourage you to check out IVOLVE + THRIVE. We have new boards launching in January of 2024! Find out more information about our Owner Advisory Boards here. owner advisory boards IVOLVE + THRIVE CLARITY + WORTH + FREEDOM Learn more How do you deal with blindspots? 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 Management

Eliminate overwork by setting boundaries

Overwork is pervasive and often ignored for the sake of achieving our business goals as owners. It’s incumbent upon us to recognize overwork and minimize it. If we fail to, we and our business can suffer devastating consequences. Too often we have seen examples of owners and professionals working themselves into poor health and ultimately causing more problems than if they had simply managed to overwork better. In this blog article we’ll discuss how we can use boundary setting to help eliminate overwork and some of its nasty consequences. Will overwork get to you? 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 begin by taking a closer look at boundary setting. The importance of boundaries When you read or hear the term boundaries you may default to thinking about boundaries in a certain way. Yet there are a number of different types of boundaries to enforce in the workplace. These could be physical, emotional or even time-based. In all likelihood, we should have clear boundaries set for each of these subsets, especially as owners. If we fail to establish clear boundaries it’s almost certain to lead to overwork among other consequences. As with everything, excellence in business commonly falls into the realm of communication. To establish these boundaries we need to communicate their importance and where they fall. Doing any less it’s tantamount to accepting the result of overwork as an owner. Likewise, by setting boundaries we can insulate ourselves from potential issues with our employees, our clients and even our personal relationships that can also be impacted. Clear boundaries also help develop and maintain trust as they provide a consistency we can come to expect and need to exemplify as leaders and owners. Practical ways to implement boundaries Implementing boundaries must begin with self-awareness. Specifically, when addressing overwork it’s critical to identify what boundaries you need to establish in order to protect against overwork. Are those boundaries emotional? Do they come in the form of time-sucks? Identifying what boundaries need to be set to protect against burnout and overwork are really recognizing signs of our own personal limitations and making sure that we respect those ourselves, first. Once we identify our personal limitations, communicating these boundaries becomes essential. We recommend having open and honest conversations with constituents, up-front, about boundaries. Let people know not just what the boundaries are, but why you’re implementing them and what the consequences of breaking those boundaries are. The last step to implementation is enforcement. Often, this comes down to us enforcing our boundaries on ourselves and not on others. Most of the time it’s more difficult to enforce on ourselves than others anyways and respecting our limitations is a sign of maturity that ownership mandates. Make sure to hold your boundaries as important as you would hold another person’s boundaries and you’ll be starting in a good spot! When you fail It’s a given that there will be instances you fail to uphold your boundaries. Whether it’s a self-created failure, a violation of a boundary from another or a change in what boundaries are in place – this will happen from time to time. A couple of keys to remember here. Do not feel shame or guilt at establishing and enforcing boundaries. Boundaries are essential to protect against overwork and a slew of serious consequences that can and will derail your life and business. If you’re feeling shame or concern by establishing boundaries, remind yourself of why you needed to in the first place! When others violate your boundaries you can reaffirm them positively without creating more conflict. Reiterate the importance of the boundaries to them and communicate the need for boundaries. Remember as well that your boundaries can and should change. We are not static nor should our boundaries be. As our business matures and we develop its common to see a change in what boundaries we need and want to implement. Consider the boundaries that you set on a semi-regular basis to protect yourself from setting boundaries that are no longer necessary or beneficial to you or your business. If you’re looking for more help with boundaries consider our IVOLVE + THRIVE owner advisory boards. For mature business owners, these boards are constructed to address isolation, overwork, and blindspots so owners can lead with exceptional clarity, worth, and freedom. You can learn more about IVOLVE + THRIVE here. Owner Advisory BoardsOur powerful and exclusive Owner Advisory Boards, unprecedented access to world-class coaching, and data-driven strategy sessions offer a transformative journey for today’s leaders. Greater Clarity. Amplified Worth.Unmatched Freedom. Previous slide Next slide IVOLVE + THRIVE CONNECT NOW How do you set boundaries? 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.

Leadership

Signs that isolation is impacting your business

Isolation for business owners means constantly carrying the weight of making the most important decisions for your business. It means decision making without outside perspective and input and it means often dealing with feelings of loneliness. Isolation can have serious consequences on business owners and is an important challenge many owners need to overcome. Here are some signs that you may be dealing with the impact of isolation on your business. Concerned about 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! Isolation: the most common signs One of the most common signs of isolation will be difficulty in decision making. Knowing that the decisions we make as owners can have enormous consequences on our businesses, our lives and our employees makes many decisions feel critical. If you begin to struggle with making decisions you may be feeling the impact of isolation. Overthinking and ruminating are two clear indications that you may be dealing with isolation. Another common sign of isolation is burnout and emotional exhaustion. Chances are you started your business with some level of excitement and engagement. If you feel like that has eroded or disappeared entirely it may be due to emotional exhaustion. When we don’t feel we have a support system and are constantly dealing with stress and pressure we can see a serious drop in enthusiasm for our business. Feeling emotionally drained where you used to be excited is a symptom of emotional exhaustion. The last sign of isolation to keep an eye out for is increased stress and anxiety. Although this can be difficult to identify and may be symptoms of many different challenges it’s important to stay self-aware as business owners. Chronic stress and anxiety are signs that isolation may be wreaking havoc on your business and elevating the challenges of an already difficult situation. If isolation is a challenge you’re dealing with today check out our owner advisory boards! You can learn more here! owner advisory boards IVOLVE + THRIVE CLARITY + WORTH + FREEDOM Learn more How do you deal with isolation? 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.