Whenever I’m addressing a group that wants me to share my experience I always reinforce the concept of focusing on the only two factors you can control which are your action and your attitude. Often people pull me aside after a talk and want more detail because they feel it can’t be so simple. Although there is a whole lot of ingredients involved in being successful, the overreaching factor is that you have to have staying power, simply put never ever giving up.

Many times we do not give ourselves enough credit for how much power we have over the course of our lives. Often times we blame the cause of our financial struggles, grief, anger and resentment on other people, bosses, spouses or even the government. But the truth is this you cannot control any of those people. The way you see the world isn’t how the world is, it’s the way YOU are. Since any reality can be created through the power of intention, the life you are currently living and the world you are experiencing today is totally a byproduct of your thoughts about life. What has helped me through the years is to believe and act on the thoughts that feel best even if they seem unrealistic or impossible. What I’ve observed from successful people is that they don’t hope or wish themselves into success but rather persistently THINK and ACT their way to success.

What I’m suggesting is hard and achieving success comes with some severe high and lows. The lows will feel very low and just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. There’ll be times when it just keeps getting worse and worse and usually in those times it seems like everyone else around you is getting better and happier and richer. You’ll feel like the only one who hasn’t figured it out yet and that it will never start clicking for you. It will feel like you’re sinking and life sucks and your business isn’t going anywhere. Not to mention that you aren’t getting any younger either! At some point, you think about finally throwing in the towel, and saying “f* all this! The test that all entrepreneurs or anybody looking for a breakthrough are eventually faced with: whether to stick with it or decide to quit. My advice is simply to look at all those great, successful people in your field or businesses that inspired you to start your own and you will undoubtedly discover that when faced with the same struggles as you, they stayed and persevered.

Have staying power and the whole world will open up for you as well.

One of the biggest challenges I face on a daily basis is how to handle fear. There are all kinds of fear out there and as I’ve progressed on my journey of not only an entrepreneur but also that of a human being, I’ve realized that as you grow you begin to overcome your fears. That being said, as long as you keep growing and thus getting out of your comfort zone, then additional fears (even if irrational) appear, especially as entrepreneurs, don’t you find that expansion and growth feel scary? When people ask me how to eliminate fear and how I’m so fearless, I always give the same answer which is I’m scared s&#%less half the time myself and if we aren’t afraid most of the time, we aren’t growing. I consider myself a spiritual person and when I read spiritual texts I read how if you’re living a spiritual life and are a believer in a supreme being then you should have no fear. However, I find the opposite true, if you are living a “spiritual” life, you are probably going to come up against more fears than someone who is just coasting. I often hear that if you have “faith” then you should find happiness all the time, never feel scared and can turn off negative emotions like a light bulb. This is not what having a human experience is all about, in fact if you are stepping out on any worthwhile endeavor in life then you are inviting fear to come because you are stepping outside our comfort zone!

That is in fact where the real courage comes from, when you feel fear and keep going! To not cutting yourself off from your feelings and realizing there is nothing wrong with feeling a down emotion, this is what being a human being is all about, life is a wild exciting roller coaster ride! So instead of trying to always “be positive” accept that life is a series of ups and downs that can’t always be controlled and give what happens an empowering meaning. When we do this we begin to see that it is by facing our fears that we grow. Growth, by definition, means we are constantly expanding beyond our comfort zone. And when we expand beyond our comfort zone the natural experience is FEAR!

This realization was a huge breakthrough for me, the knowledge of this made the physical symptoms that I would experience when I had fear over something happening in business subside. By reminding myself that years ago when I wasn’t living my life’s purpose and being connected to my calling that I prayed that I would have challenges and fears that I now experience as an entrepreneur it helps me cope when the physical manifestation of fear surface. Whenever you’re out of your comfort zone it’s scary for a while but then it slowly turns comfortable and then the cycle begins all over again when you step back out again. By being aware of this pattern and realizing the more you feel this way the more you are truly living and growing, then ultimately you will be rid of fear once and for all.

Yesterday we got some very good news at the Wish Group, our own Teri Scott, President of Peoplesource Staffing was honoured with her third straight appearance on Profit Magazines Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs. As I reminisced with her about her climb to 18th on this list we started reflecting back on her career with us since she began back in 2007. We reflected on how she started out on a sales desk and how after growing a branch and then leading an aggressive expansion for the company into the tech region of Kitchener-Waterloo and downtown Toronto we also thought back to the difficult times such as how we got completely blindsided by the great recession of 2008-2009. It was a difficult time for many businesses but staffing is sensitive to the economy and unemployment especially given how quickly the employment rate turned, we were slow to react and as a result had several months of red ink. Not only did we burn through lots of cash, we had to witness first-hand how many of our contract employees and associates were left without work, it seemed as though nobody was going to ever hire again. As we talked about how awful that stretch of what seemed like forever was, we then assessed how many lessons we learned especially in dealing with adversity and not only keeping the business alive but realizing how we would come out stronger if the tide ever started to turn. It’s easier now to relive the memories of that awful breakdown, especially when we look back at the wonderful run we’ve had since coming out of those difficult times and how in 2010 she took on the presidency and then helped lead the Wish Group to seven straight appearances on Profit’s fastest growing companies.

We termed that period a s@#$ storm, or how I prefer to call them a Divine Storm. I characterize these times in our life when we feel like everything is against us and absolutely nothing is going well. It’s in times like these where you question everything and maybe even say something like “Why is this happening to me?”. Although I don’t enjoy going through these times of pain not unlike anybody else, what I’ve come to find however, is that moments like this are powerful opportunities to grow. They can be wake up calls where they don’t usher in the end as it feels like, but rather clearing a space for what’s trying to be born in your life and for what’s ahead. But we tend to interrupt the process and hang on to how it was and fear how it could be and we assume the worst, instead of preparing for a blessing. However, if you like me have reflected on your past breakdowns, you will look back and observe that when you go through a crisis, a hard time or a moment of pain that there is always a breakthrough on the other side.

What’s important to keep in mind while you’re going through the breakdown however (because that’s the experience share you’re waiting for) is to keep in mind that you are not being punished but rather you are being prepared. What no longer serves you is being removed from your life, and new life with bountiful opportunity is coming to you. At first it won’t make sense but soon you will know why things had to be the way they were, until then assume the best and don’t get in the way of a miracle in progress! And keep in mind that just past the breakthrough and inevitable “aha moment” you’ve been searching for, comes redemption! Teri and the whole Wish team is taking some time in soaking in some of that redemption this week and it sure is sweet and yours will be as well so stay strong!

Enjoy your week and feel free to share some of your breakthroughs!

http://www.profitguide.com/w100

Many people will say to you, work smarter not harder. I’d disagree. I think the point here is that every entrepreneur must work hard no matter what but when I say work smart, I’m talking more about ensuring that the hard work is more efficient.

I’ve spoken to a number of seasoned and new entrepreneurs that seem to battle this work smart idea because of other factors like budget, time and resources. Fair enough. But, the one thing I say to them is that like everything else in business, setting up the right tools to enable the company and the team that you’ve assembled is worth the investment of both time and money.

Through working with the various teams here at Wish Group I’ve seen a range of initiatives taken to align with our mantra of working smarter across the board. From Finance to Marketing to Human Resources, finding the right tools to take manual tasks away from valuable resources inevitably will save money at the end of day while providing more productivity overall.

So with that said, and keeping in mind the trap of wanting to do everything yesterday that entrepreneurs must avoid every day, there are some key factors I consider to ensure we continue to work hard and smart.

Time Management Is Key

Seems like a no brainer. Manage your time to ensure you get the job done efficiently. But, this is something I work on with our teams every day. With Sales for example, we have a set number of calls that are expected to be made. This allows them to plan the rest of their day and also ensure they have the time to speak to current clients. With Marketing, we set weekly schedules for communications meaning the entire team has access to content and project calendars well in advance of the deployment or launch dates. With meetings, a clear agenda takes only a minute to get through but sets the tone for the next thirty to sixty minutes to help keep everyone on track and more importantly to ensure we close with actual actionable points.

Training And Mentoring

This one is the easiest to forget about, but I would argue that it is the one thing that sets the tone for working hard and harder or working hard and smarter. The worse situation is where resources simply don’t understand how to complete a task and there is no one there to show them how. This leads to a few things. One, wasted productivity as they try and learn what they need to do on their own but fall short of expectations. Or two, eventual turn over (costing you even more time, money and frustration) because they are frustrated at not being able to perform at their jobs. Take the time and clearly set out the expectations of your teams and then, ensure that you have someone train and mentor throughout the time that they are with your organization.

Complete the Puzzle

Again, this one is something I find a lot of business owners falling prey to. Wanting to do a number of things but not really taking a step back to understand the costs and benefits behind them. In order to work smart you need to have a very clear picture of what you want. From there, build out the rational and prioritize so you have something to measure against and plan for. Finally, when you’re sharing this with your team, help them get behind it by explaining it thoroughly. In doing so, you’ll then be able to enable and motivate them to work hard to get the clearly defined job done!

Have a great week.

Frank.

Firstly, congratulations to the @Raptors for their fighting victory on Sunday night. As I sat and watched them play throughout the series there was one reoccurring theme in all conversations, and that was around finding the right team.

While sports casters, critics and fans continued to express their frustrations with the all-stars not bringing their A Game each night, it became more apparent to me as a business owner how critical it is to have the right key players in place to lead the team to victory.

This is something business owners continuously deal with as part of day to day operations. With intense competition in the global job market, budgetary constraints and changing business direction there are always reasons to see great talent come and go but one thing remains constant-the business owner is the coach and needs to create and maintain a strong team no matter what.

Easier said than done, I know! But like any other aspect of running a successful business, the right planning and process can help direct hiring and retention of the team members you need in place to succeed.

Know What You Need

The first step to assembling your all-star team is to clearly identify exactly what you’re looking for. Do you need a junior to basically help run with direction that will be provided? Do you need a leader to start taking work off of your plate? Is industry experience a must or a nice to have? What are the must haves, nice to haves and don’t need to haves that you’ll be covering off in your job posting and interview process. You wouldn’t start a business without a plan, so bringing new talent on board without a blue print doesn’t make much sense does it?

Winner on Paper and In Person

While most of the qualification process is done based on resumes and cover letters that come in the door, the actual interview process involves much more than just what appears on paper. Finding the right team member not only involves finding someone that can do the job but also someone that can do so as part of the team that you are building. Corporate culture is a key aspect of any successful business and trying to squeeze a square into a circle will lead to failure. You know what your culture involves and the job of the coach is to make sure that the new team members clearly understand and can adapt to it. Whether it be structural, entrepreneurial, fast paced, technical or collaborative make sure that your star players are in line with the game plan!

Set Clear Expectations

A third tip is to make the expectations of each team member’s role clear to them and to the rest of the team. Ensuring that this is in place will help to one, give each person a very clear road map of where they are heading. Two, ensure that you’re not wasting resources by doubling up on responsibilities. And three, that you as the coach know if there are any holes in the overall requirements for your business to succeed.

Once you have your teams in place remember to engage, motivate and continue to coach. You’re the one with the vision for your business and communicating that along with the right level of momentum will give you the team work you need to win!

Have a great week.

Frank.

It’s something that many businesses take for granted but as a business owner in today’s market place, it simply is not something that can be ignored-blogging.

It remains a common theme in discussions with new business owners as well as with colleagues that have established a presence in their markets. The number one reason most people are not taking advantage of this cost free content marketing tool is that they don’t believe it will generate that which is most important to them. Leads.

Quite the contrary is what I end up explaining during these discussions. Statistics show the ever growing importance of blogging, especially for B2B environments in order to generate leads as well as serve a number of other important corporate objectives.

I have been diligent in ensuring a consistent blog post week after week and have seen steady growth come from it. Taking a look through Google Analytics (a great tracking tool) it’s easy to see where traffic is coming from and the blog post is one of those key drivers. Now, as a business owner how can you dispute a CPL of $0?

Aside from the lead generation specifically, having a strong blog can also help to increase organic search. As I’m sure many of you are aware, the percentages of customers self-educating before making a purchase decision continues to increase year after year and they’re doing this with search engines.

Finally, blogging creates a sense of trust as well as authority amongst your target market. Along with content that you’re sharing on the corporate site, having a personal blog from the CEO, VPs or Managers that speak specifically to aspects of the industry that you’re in begin to create a story in the market and ensure readers that you and your company is the expert in the field and therefore, the best choice for their purchase.

Creating a blog may sound intimidating but trust me, once you’ve got a few under your belt, it’s no longer a thought!

Although there are a number of best practices with regards to writing an effective blog which I’m sure your Marketing or Content Teams can take you through, this eBook from HubSpot does a great job of highlighting some key points. In addition, I have found that these three key tips for me are a must.

1. Keep the title clear and concise.
2. Offer a value add to your readers that they can use in their day to day operations, life or learning.
3. Be consistent with your posts.

Good luck and have a great week.

Frank.

Being a sales professional first and an entrepreneur second, I find myself sharing a lot of insight and experiences for best practices with our team at Wish Group. At our weekly huddle last week, the topic of conversation found its way to the feeling of taking action with no results and how to try and overcome this, especially within a sales role.

From experience I can say, that this is perhaps the most frustrating aspect of not only sales but business overall. It’s one thing to not be motivated or to be plain lazy and simply not put in the work to attain the results however, when you are doing what you love, and you are committed to put in the time, and it still feels like nothing is working it can be a really big gut check.

When working with my leaders or sales people in the past, after a bit of questioning what I usually found was that they weren’t really “taking all the right steps”.  For example, as a leader if you decide to do daily huddles with your team only once in a while or even a couple of times a week, or as a sales professional only attends meetings a couple of times a week, you simply aren’t dedicated to your craft.  It’s something that must happen every day, simple as that, no shortcuts.

The difference between those who meet their goals and see results and those that are not is that is that the first group has learned how to battle that inner critic I’ve mentioned on many occasions known as resistance.

Bottom line is there are two types of workers, amateurs and professionals.  Amateurs work when they feel like it, let resistance get them down and come up with all kinds of excuses about why they can’t actually be on the phones, in meetings or close deals.

Pros, on the other hand, work and attend everything every day, no matter how they are feeling. They are in a conscious effort to rise above resistance and are determined to conquer this force that holds us back.  So inevitably when I compare the leaders and sales associates that are having success versus those who aren’t, it always comes down to the fact that even though they think they were doing all the right things, they almost always violate the rules of being a pro.

There’s this idea that we can only prospect or do the difficult work when inspired and that a moment will magically come when it all falls into place. This line of thinking is perhaps the greatest dream killer of them all.  Living your dreams is earned every single day as we conquer resistance and overcome fear, but have to earn it.

So, in your life – where are you being an amateur and not a pro?

Ask yourself what new schedule you need to create to ensure you are showing up every day and stick to it as that’s the secret to long term consistent success!

Thanks and have a powerful week everybody!

For the past few years I have been able to spend my winters in Florida. More important than being able to escape the winter weather and being able to work from the beach, I get to step away from the business to reflect and actually work on the business as opposed to working in it.
I’m finally able to have quiet time to catch up on ideas and strategies that tend to be pushed to the back burner when I’m in the hustle and bustle back at the office.

I’ve noticed this past season perhaps because the weather has been off, that I’ve spent a lot of time watching television. I’m usually opposed to watching as I feel it’s generally a time waster, however I’ve recently enjoyed television as it’s changed for the better in the last decade, the new episodic writing style creating a long movie over many seasons is pure genius. I’m definitely a House of Cards junkie, loving Billions and got so hooked on Friday Night Lights, not to mention business specific reality shows like Shark Tank and The Profit.

Watching Coach Taylor motivate his players to constantly stay focused on the process of development while maintaining his integrity at all costs, or watching how Frank Underwood is constantly side stepping disaster while keeping up with a rigorous schedule inspires me greatly. Beyond getting some tips on how to lead and inspire my teams, I take refuge in the realization that I’m not alone in what feels like a constant battle to maintain growth, both personally and in business. And although I can watch Mark Cuban make an investment in some random business or feel like I’m a multi-billionaire investor who is being pursued by the US Government after watching Billions, I’m reminded that it’s not real, and ultimately I’m watching somebody else’s story. I’m reminded of the idea of Spiritual Entertainment, where we read the books, blogs, and watch shows that make us feel that we have made progress but actually we haven’t.

You can read a book and have a temporary “aha moment.”, or attend a seminar and get inspired to do more and achieve more but what counts are the actions that we take afterwards. Too often these emotions and reaffirmations aren’t backed up with courageous action. At the end of the day, we must act. Take the learning, grow from it and then apply that knowledge.

Tap Into Your Knowledge Pool

What knowledge do you already have that you aren’t using? What if you didn’t need another book or blog? What if you didn’t attend another sales huddle, seminar or take another training course? What if what you needed at this point of your career was simply to act to make a change?

Keep Learning

I always say I prefer ignorance on fire over knowledge on ice. I’ve seen so many inexperienced people who put in the action even if they didn’t really know what they were doing and have a positive attitude to learn and grow and ultimately achieve tremendous success. With the access to knowledge available in today’s market, that last piece of the puzzle required to turn your learning into an actionable step is just a few key strokes away.

Stay Humble

Contrary to those that are willing to take the time to learn a little bit more are those who had the knowledge but simply weren’t willing to put in the action. There are many reasons for this. Most of the time ego got in the way, (I’ve seen so many fortunes lost due to ego) and like I wrote last week, people that gain knowledge and have some success, if aren’t careful can start to believe their own hype and tend to start resting on their past successes. Well history has taught us all too often especially when using sports teams as examples what happens to champions who stop doing what they did to initially become champions, they become chumps, and fast!

Don’t let that happen to you, you already know what you need to do.

Have a great week and remember to take action.

Frank.

One of the most important realizations that I constantly struggle to remind myself of is the fact that everything that happens to us in life is a lesson and a blessing.

This can be challenging because there is nothing but the feeling of helplessness when things seem out of control. More difficult than dealing with the actual issue is trying to understand why they happened. This is particularly hard for me to cope with especially here at The Wish Group where the atmosphere is genuinely to help all of our stakeholders excel in their endeavours.

What I have come to realize is that the bigger the dream, or purpose the easier it can become for entrepreneurs to essentially self-sabotage their own success.

Through research and speaking with others on this topic I’ve realized that before being able to make any major progress, there comes a point where we come up against our internal resistance. This physiological response understandably aims to maintain a status quo which makes us feel safe, however it is also what causes us to be stuck, resist growth and thus fall short of meeting our full potential.

There are a few patterns that one can fall into, all of which lead down the path to self-sabotage. One of these is taking the results of your efforts personally. If you tried a certain strategy and it didn’t work out its vital not to decide that you are a failure and give up the attempt to try again. Outcomes are just outcomes and they will change with new action. Don’t decide that an outcome you produced is the result of you being a bad or unworthy person. Instead take this as an opportunity to learn and correct going forward.

Conversely, if you decide that you are better than others because of a good outcome that you created, then you put yourself on the path of destruction because you are feeding a false sense of your ego and you will be humbled by life. I see this with sales professionals all the time, especially when I contrast people starting out in their careers who give up when a certain strategy doesn’t work and those that are veterans who feel they are better than others and then start to stumble as a result.

Another common pattern is micro managing your teams in efforts to try and control all outcomes. This of course is another reaction to trying and staying safe. The problem with trying to do this is that other, more critical aspects of the business that require your actual input and efforts are left by the wayside. There is only so much time in a day and focusing your time on growing, enriching and nurturing your business, clients, products or services will ensure a much lower level of self-sabotage overall.

A third common form of self-sabotage is over promising and under delivering. As a small business, you may find yourself stretching resources to try and take on any and all forms of business that knocks on the door or answers your calling however, in essence what you’re going to end up doing is failing along the way and inevitably sabotage the business that you’ve worked so hard to build. I always suggest that businesses have a strong plan in place, the team behind the plan to ensure execution and then work to provide quality over quantity. As you move to the next phase of your business plan, quantity will come and by then you’ll have the experience in place to handle it.

Keep in mind to try and not take outcomes personally, whether good or bad, but rather see everything that happens as a lesson and a blessing for your growth and benefit. Remember, you are not what happens to you, or the outcomes that you create. You are experiencing life to learn lessons, grow and become more by giving back and improving the lives of others.
Have a great week.

Frank.

Regardless of if you’re running a business of your own, coaching a team or are testing out a new relationship, there is always the threat of moving to a state of complacency.

Every person, team and organization needs to guard against the disease of complacency. It can be very subtle in the early stages and even go unnoticed and it happens when you start to believe your prior successes are going to ensure that you will have success in the future.

You see it happen with championship sports teams all the time, they are consistent in their pursuit of greatness, laser focused on their goal of winning and once they drink the champagne from the cup, they often don’t even qualify for the playoffs in the following season.

Bill Walsh, one of the greatest football coaches of all time, would often say that he feared success-not failure for this exact reason. We see it in business too. Far too often somebody who steps up and strives to reach a goal and is recognized for a quarterly award, wins a new account, makes a placement or has a great quarter all of a sudden feels that they can have success just by showing up. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

The secret is to consistently look forward instead of resting on our laurels while competitors are doing everything in their power to overtake your customers and potential sales.

It is on the business owner to ensure that they keep the team moving forward at all times, leaving no room for complacency to make its home.

Stay Motivated

There are a number of great ways to keep your teams motivated based on their roles at the organization. Change your rewards and recognition programs so that the same people aren’t consistently winning by revisiting criteria. Also think about challenging your stars at a different level to keep them off the complacency wagon.

Evaluate and Adjust

While many companies still adopt the yearly review mentality, I would argue that a strong entrepreneurial organization should be evaluating daily, weekly or monthly at the longest. Taking the time to see how individuals are progressing at different stages provides a real snapshot of operations. If someone is starting to slack because they don’t feel like they have to work hard enough you’ll be able to address a few things from evaluations. One, you’ll be able to identify potentially de-motivated employees that are likely great at what they do but need to now be challenged to be even better. Two, you’ll show your team that you’re invested in their personal growth and want to continue to motivate them to excel at their careers. Three, you’ll be able to identify those that are becoming complacent and take the steps required to realign. Waiting until year end is simply too late.

Coaching

This is one of the hardest things to do in an entrepreneurial organization, mainly because everyone is always working to catch deadlines at every turn!

If you’re vested in keeping your workforce positive, challenged, energized and motivated however, then coaching is something you need to make the time for. While I’m not suggesting you personally coach everyone in the company, your business leaders should be coached by you and in turn coach those underneath them. Fostering this environment will leave little room for those that are on their way to complacency.

When you focus on the process instead of the destination, you make your desire to be great your number one priority. What you want is consistent improvement, consistent coaching and most importantly a consistent desire to be great.

Have a great week.

Frank.