#50for50

50 Tips to Get to $50M

Introduction

I have started, invested in, or played a major role in several companies over the past 30 years. My main focus has been in the Marketing and Lead Generation space, with three companies exceeding $289,000,000 in annual revenue. My current venture, Abstrakt
Marketing Group, has grown by a minimum of 20% for 13 years straight, will surpass
$78,000,000 in 2031, and will grow to at least $100,000,000 by 2025.

All of this is to say, I’ve learned a lot of lessons along the way on managing and growing business. I’ve narrowed down to 50 top tips for business leaders, which I’ve been sharing in my weekly #50for50 segment in The Grow Show podcast.

I’ll continue to edit this guide with those lessons, so check back often and connect with me on LinkedIn if you have any suggested topics or feedback!

Scott Scully

Chief Executive Officer
Abstrakt Marketing Group

Make Team Recognition Mandatory
Give the Gift of High Expectations
Get Your Ass Back in Your Business
Rapid Growth Doesn’t Come Without a Business Growth Formula
Why Quality Should Be a KPI for All Positions
Implement an A-Player Score for Every Team Member
Grow Your Business With Customer Referrals
How Client Success Can Impact More Than Your Retention Rates
Fake It Until You Make It: How to Run Your Small Business Like a Public Company
Why Awards Are a Real Reason to Celebrate
The Playbook for Managers: How to Optimize Your Time and Get the Most Out of Every Day
How Company Culture Leads to Business Success
Branded Gear Elevates Your Brand
Never Miss a MAP
Building An Advisory Board
Every Team Needs A Captain
How To Ensure You (And Your Team) Make The Right Decisions
Promote a Leader From The Leaderboard
Why Best Practice Meetings Are a Best Practice
Build Your Employer Brand
Why SOPs Are The Recipe for Success
How To Hack The Side Hustle Trend
Client Onboarding: The Secret To Long-Term Retention
It Takes Money To Make Money
Eliminate Negativity… Immediately
Enjoy the Ride
Coming soon!

Make Team Recognition Mandatory

As the CEO of a large workforce, I often only hear about employees who are outperforming their departments or performing so poorly that it’s becoming an HR issue. It can be difficult to see the trees through the forest when myself and our leadership team are so engulfed in the day-to-day tasks of business administration. To combat this, we began requiring team members to recognize each other. That’s right—I said require.

The #1 reason most people leave their jobs is a lack of recognition.

– Gallup

In today’s performance-driven workplace, mandated recognition should be the new normal, and that doesn’t mean you have to take the fun out of it, either. On the contrary, putting recognition policies in place creates an environment of appreciation and collaboration, which drives better results and higher productivity. So why not make mandatory employee recognition part of your team culture?

The Benefits of Mandatory Team Recognition

A good manager will recognize their team members for a job well done whether it’s mandatory or not, but making recognition an official policy makes sure there are no gaps in coverage. This doesn’t mean that everyone on the team will be recognized; it means that people will be acknowledged for going above and beyond in areas beyond their A-Player metrics.

We recognize team members who show ambition, who make changes to their approach to better serve their customers, or who have positive attitudes that impact the mindset of their teams, among other things. This approach helps keep morale and motivation high and encourages innovation within teams.

Establishing Mandate Policies

When creating a mandate policy around team recognition, it’s important to set clear guidelines for when and how to recognize team members for their work. These guidelines don’t have to be the same for every team, and it’s good to customize the reward to the individual being recognized. We’ve done everything from offering energy drinks and coffees to creating events for team members and sending them to see their favorite band in concert after a particularly impressive performance.

Using messaging platforms like Slack makes team recognition more effective and transparent in the workplace. Having all the kudos sent through one platform allows everyone to see what others are being recognized for, leading to increased engagement and collaboration between departments. It also lets team members engage with others that they typically wouldn’t be in contact with. For example, our Slack channel allows account managers to see work that the operations team is doing that will benefit their customers but might not have been communicated otherwise. Currently, we’re even working to automate the shout outs that are included in our MAP meetings stored in Salesforce so that they automatically push to Slack. This will make sure that the employees being discussed behind closed doors know they’re being appreciated and can be celebrated across the organization!

Overcoming Resistance to Change

You may encounter some resistance from those who feel uncomfortable with mandatory employee recognition policies, especially if your organization is accustomed to more informal processes. To combat this resistance, emphasize how this policy can actually benefit both individual employees as well as the whole organization by incentivizing hard work and rewarding top performers accordingly. There are no downsides to making sure everyone has an opportunity to recognize each other’s accomplishments publicly—it ultimately just leads to a more appreciative company culture overall.

When employees believe they will be recognized, they are 2.7x more likely to be highly engaged.

– Quantum Workplace

Mandating employee recognition in your organization can have tremendous benefits when it comes to increasing engagement and productivity among your teams. By establishing clear guidelines for when and how individuals should be recognized alongside using tools like Slack, you’ll be able to make sure every hard working member of your team gets the appreciation they deserve while setting up an environment conducive to creativity and collaboration.

Stream Season 2, Episode 1 of The Grow Show to find out more!

Give the Gift of High Expectations

TLDR: Accountability isn’t about punishing people or making someone feel bad; instead, it’s about setting up conditions for success by providing high standards that challenge individuals and help them reach their potential.

Business leaders are often reluctant to hold their team members accountable because they worry it’ll lead to them quitting. We understand that you don’t want to risk losing a team member, especially with the cost and time associated with replacing them. That may lead you and your leadership team to avoid confrontations and not push your team members enough. But accountability isn’t about punishing people; it’s about setting high expectations that challenge employees and help them reach their potential.

How to Approach Conversations on Accountability

Leaders need to understand that accountability isn’t a “me vs you” situation, but rather an opportunity to show a commitment to developing that team member. By challenging individuals and holding them accountable in a positive and fair manner, you give them the gift of high expectations.

Here’s an example of how to do this: “Jeff, you’re doing a solid job. You can keep doing what you’re doing and always have a place here in this or a similar role. Or, I can push you, give you the gift of high expectations and hold you to what I think you’re capable of. And, one day you could be running a division/department/team, what would you rather have?”

Accountability works best when leaders set up the right environment and conditions for it. This means creating an atmosphere where employees feel valued, appreciated, and heard. It also includes creating a level playing field.

Set Clear Performance Expectations

Your employees should have clear expectations on performance and know how they will be measured (hopefully through an easy to use A-Player Score). When you have clear insight into your team’s activity, you can be more honest in discussing their performance and provide constructive feedback without feeling like you’re being too critical. You also have to make sure that employees have access to the resources they need to succeed – from training materials to coaching support – so they can meet their goals and are consistently improving.

High expectations can help create successful companies. For example, Amazon is known for its high standards and rigorous performance management process, which has helped them become one of the world’s most successful businesses. Similarly, Google has a culture of accountability where individual performance is measured against company goals on a regular basis, and people are rewarded for meeting those goals with bonuses or promotions.

Accountability and Recognition Go Hand in Hand

Giving the gift of high expectations requires more than just holding people accountable; it also involves creating an environment where employees are recognized for their efforts. Employees feel supported as they work towards achieving their goals and mandating recognition helps improve morale and motivate employees without any sort of threats or punishments. It’s important to recognize success when it happens and encourage everyone in your team by celebrating small wins along the way, so everyone feels motivated to reach their full potential.

Stream Season 2, Episode 2 of The Grow Show to find out more about how you can give your team members the gift of high expectations that will lead them towards success!

Get Your Ass Back in Your Business

Being a manager is like having a superpower; you have the ability to inspire, motivate, and grow people. But the reality is that most of us fall into the trap of getting stuck in our offices with our heads buried in spreadsheets, tasks, and emails. It’s time to get back out there and work IN THE BUSINESS.

Let me tell you why this is important, and how it worked for me when I set aside all my duties and managed a team of 7 SDRs. Spoiler alert: despite what the “work on the business, not in the business” crowd says … we continued growing, we didn’t miss any existential threats, and our year-over-year growth streak continued.

I’ll admit that thinking of missing my weekly meetings and letting my direct reports function with less oversight was scary at first. Thankfully, I realized there was immense value in diving into the day-to-day activity and expectations of a specific department. What made this experience truly valuable was managing a team of SDRs.

It had been years since I directly managed a sales team, but it taught me how to delegate tasks effectively, provide feedback constructively, and set goals that were challenging but achievable. Taking on this role allowed me to build relationships with employees I typically wouldn’t have worked so closely with.

It also gave me an opportunity to reconnect with our customers and understand their needs beyond what surveys and reports could tell us. No amount of data or analytics can replace direct conversations with customers, and through those conversations, I was able to better recognize opportunities for improvement in our processes.

Here are some of the easy ways you can implement this within your business:

Go through implementation/onboarding like you’re a new client
Jump on a sales call or 2 (close a deal while you’re at it!)
Take customer service calls
Listen to client meetings and coach account managers
Sit in on / run training sessions
Audit some new hire interviews

I’m passionate about urging business leaders, directors, CEOs, and entrepreneurs alike to take time away from their typical duties and get their ass back into their business. This could mean anything from facilitating customer conversations on the frontlines or managing a special project team like I did—just don’t forget to be proactive in your approach!

Working IN the business is essential for recognizing areas of improvement, understanding customer needs better, and connecting more closely with your team members, all factors that help accelerate growth and success.

Get more insight into my time on “The Pirates” and hear from my co-hosts about growth strategies and sales hacks in Season 2, Episode 3 of The Grow Show Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Q1UPya.

Rapid Growth Doesn’t Come Without a Business Growth Formula

As any entrepreneur knows, rapid growth doesn’t come without diligent budgeting and a well-thought-out plan. Your business goals must be tangible, measurable, achievable, and relevant to be successful. But how do you make sure your budgeting process is sound? The answer lies in the Business Growth Formula – a simple equation that helps you identify exactly how much revenue growth you need to reach your goals.

How the Business Growth Formula Works

With this formula, you can easily calculate the number of sales pitches it will take to get there.

Here’s how it works:

Your desired revenue in 2023 – your final revenue in 2022 = 2023 desired growth
2023 desired growth + customer attrition = new sales required to hit goal
New sales required / average selling price = new customers required to hit goal
New customers required to hit goal / close rate = new sales pitches required to hit goal

Here’s an example:

$5,000,000 (2023 desired revenue) – $3,500,000 (2022 actual revenue) = $1,500,000 (2023 desired growth)
$1,500,000 (2023 desired growth) + $250,000 (customer loss) = $1,750,000 (new sales required to hit goal)
$1,750,000 (new sales required to hit goal) / $50,000 (average selling price) = 35 (new customers)
35 (new customers) / 10% (close rate) = 350 new sales meetings required to hit growth goal

A Simple Equation for Success

Using this formula is a great way to start the budgeting process and build measurable and achievable goals for rapid growth. By understanding customer attrition, average selling price and close rate—key factors that influence business development—you can accurately identify the amount of revenue growth you need and how many sales pitches must be held to get there.

The Business Growth Formula can help ensure that your company reaches its maximum potential in terms of growth and profit! Hear more about how to implement this with your business, get valuable sales and business growth insights from my co-hosts, and more with Season 2, Episode 4 of The Grow Show.

Why Quality Should Be a KPI for All Positions

Watching your business grow is such an exciting and rewarding process. But with the thrill of expansion comes the challenge of maintaining quality standards across departments and making sure that new hires understand and live up to your company’s core values. Without quality checks in place and enforced, businesses risk sacrificing their hard-earned reputation, not to mention customer loyalty, just for the sake of growth. Quality is not a cost—it’s an essential KPI.

While the goal should be to fill new positions quickly, you need to make sure it’s done in a way that upholds standards across the board. Legacy employees who already understand and abide by your company’s mission can help keep this process on track, but as you hire more people from outside the organization who may not understand existing standards, it becomes increasingly important for leadership to implement quality checks and a corresponding process.

For starters, managers should take time to review and discuss job descriptions prior to making an offer in order to make sure incoming employees understand exactly what is expected of them. Also consider investing in technologies such as software-based credential checkers, which can help both employers and potential hires verify qualifications for certain jobs. We like to think that we have an agreement with our employees where they agree to perform certain activities and we agree to certain payment and administrative terms. Both parties can track progress and compare goals, which helps us see which employees are going above and beyond and which (if any) are cutting corners.

Learn more about our B2B Lead Generation KPIs here:

For whatever the position or task is, share EXACTLY what “right” looks like. You cannot hold people to a standard that they do not know. You must show people exactly what is expected of them.
Develop a universal audit that works for every position. You can customize these later, but if you spend too much time customizing up front, you risk analysis paralysis. Get a universal audit out quickly. A “1 to 5” scale works fine.
Mandate that all people managers audit every employee at some frequency. Employees will think this is micromanagement, but they’re wrong. This process was designed to help them get better. If you can do it from a resource perspective, best to try and do these weekly.
In their MAPS (one-on-one meetings), have the managers review the audits with their team members. Have them focus not on everything the team member can improve, but focus on one or two items. During your next one on one, start with reviewing the items you suggested the employee work on from the last audit.
Don’t let this slip. This is the #1 thing team members will want to de-prioritize when things are going really well or really poorly. As a leader you must fight the urge to “back-burner” the quality check. If you do, quality will erode and standards will decline.

It is essential that business leaders start viewing quality control as a KPI rather than a cost of growth. At its core, having high standards helps protect customer loyalty — something no business owner would want to sacrifice for the sake of expansion alone. Not only do customers expect these standards when engaging with your company, but they also make sure your enterprise continues running smoothly even as it scales up operations.

From legacy employees to new hires, every individual within an organization contributes to its success or failure depending on how well they live up to those standards set by the business leader themselves. Quality should be embedded into all aspects of corporate culture; from recruitment processes to customer service policies and beyond. Ultimately, when companies strive for excellence at every level, they’re much more likely to achieve long-term success, no matter how quickly they’re growing! Find out more and hear additional sales and business growth best practices in Season 2, Episode 5 of The Grow Show.

Implement an A-Player Score for Every Team Member

When it comes to success in the workplace, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. That’s why successful teams need to have a way to measure performance and motivation on an individual basis. That’s where the A-Player Score comes in. By combining a number of variables into one score, managers can track daily performance, and leaders throughout the company can provide transparency into their individual and team activity.

The first step in implementing an A-Player Score is to identify the variables that will be used. Variables should be objective and measurable on a daily basis. Common variables might include the number of dials made, audits completed, invoices sent, or other company-specific tasks. The number of variables used can vary, but a good rule of thumb is 3 to 5.

Once the variables have been identified, managers need to establish systems for tracking progress on each variable every day to determine success or failure. This system should be clear and concise so that team members understand exactly what they need to do to achieve their goals.

The next step is to set expectations for team members so they know how their performance will be evaluated against their A-Player score throughout the day, week, and month. It’s important that these expectations are clearly communicated and that any changes or adjustments are communicated as well. This will make sure everyone has access to the same information and can work together toward achieving shared goals.

For example, let’s say that in one day, a salesperson needs to do the following four things:

Make 5 prospecting calls
Hold 1 sales meeting
Follow up with 2 prospects
Have all deal information updated in the CRM

Let’s say each activity is weighted evenly (25% each) and that the salesperson completes 3 of the 4 activities but doesn’t have all of their deal information updated in Salesforce. In this simple example, they would have an A-Player Score of 75%. Now, imagine if you had a score for each salesperson, the sales team as a whole, or the sales and sales enablement departments combined. You could use this data to see gaps in performance, room for efficiency, and which employees are going above and beyond the minimum expectations.

Ultimately, success isn’t just about reaching targets—it’s also about celebrating wins when individual scores reach or exceed predetermined goals set for them at the start of each period (day/week/month). Celebrating wins boosts morale and encourages team engagement; it also sends a message that hard work pays off and reinforces positive behavior within the organization.

Implementing an A-Player Score can help boost morale and increase productivity across any team or organization. By providing an objective way to measure performance and motivation on an individual level, leaders can create a culture of transparency and accountability that leads to greater success overall.

While I hope this simple breakdown was helpful, there’s a lot more that goes into the A-Player Score. The above just scratches the surface. Check out Season 2, Episode 6 of The Grow Show for more information on A-Player metrics and even more valuable insights from my co-hosts.

Grow Your Business With Customer Referrals

In far too many organizations, customer referrals are a reactive tactic when sales are down. They’re relegated to a bullet point in some sales leaders’ plan to improve performance. The plan is approved, the team jogs (not runs) at securing referrals for a couple weeks and then … referrals get shelved until the next fire drill.

Why create a consistent process for generating referral sales?

Making your account managers and customer success managers responsible for generating and selling their own referrals can help to offset their churn, improve their customer retention, and provide them with an additional career path. Adding another bucket of revenue outside of the sales team should be a no-brainer but most companies don’t implement this.

Referring customers is a great way to increase sales and close more deals. Not only do referrals typically close faster, but they also often lead to higher customer satisfaction and retention rates in the long term. This is why account managers and customer success managers are perfect people to generate and sell referrals. By leveraging their existing relationships with customers, they can create new leads, promote products or services that would benefit customers, and ultimately drive business growth.

An added benefit is that training your account management team on the sales process allows you to scout out future sales people and gives those employees an additional career path if they find that sales is their passion. This training can mimic what you already have developed but will need to be broken into smaller chunks and reiterated often for people whose main focus is customer retention and engagement.

In addition to helping generate new leads, making your account managers responsible for generating their own referrals can help offset high churn rates. Most customers who have had positive experiences with an account manager will be more likely to stay on board longer if they feel their feedback is valued or that they’re being rewarded in some way. Offering incentives such as referral bonuses provides added motivation for current customers to spread the word about your product or service, resulting in more satisfied customers overall and higher retention rates from existing accounts. The sales should impact your account manager’s retention rates so if their retention is down, they can add activity around referrals in addition to their save plans.

We even wrote a blog to help you learn how you can generate more customer referrals.

All in all, taking advantage of customer referral strategies can be a great way to grow your business sustainably over time. Plus, it’s an easy strategy to implement! By having your account managers generate their own referrals, you can close deals faster while still providing a break for less experienced sellers. You’ll create an additional pipeline outside of the traditional sales team structure and gain more loyal customers who are willing to stay on board longer due to incentives like referral bonuses, which ultimately helps your bottom line. So what are you waiting for? Start tapping into the power of customer referrals today!

Want to learn more about account managers selling? Stream Season 2, Episode 7 of The Grow Show to hear more from me and get additional insights from my co-hosts.

How Client Success Can Impact More Than Your Retention Rates

When it comes to marketing and sales, client success stories are often the best way to demonstrate your value and expertise. But what if you’re missing out on the real potential of these stories? From boosting sales presentations to inspiring team members, there’s plenty of hidden value in client success stories that can be leveraged to create a more successful business. Let’s explore how client success stories can help you make a bigger impact than ever before.

Client success stories are essential for any successful marketing strategy. Whether you’re trying to reach new customers or gain the trust of current clients, these stories can show potential buyers what you can do and why they should choose you. Client success stories also make a great addition to any website, as they provide visitors with an inside look at what it’s like to be a customer of your business.

When it comes to sales presentations, client success stories are invaluable tools. Instead of using technical data or jargon-filled explanations in your pitch, try using real-life examples from past customers who faced similar problems and were able to benefit from your product or service. Not only will this help potential customers relate more easily to your solution, but it can also make the whole presentation much more engaging and memorable. Client success stories can also be useful for motivating and inspiring an internal team. When team members see successful experiences from other clients, it shows them that you believe in what you’re doing and that there’s something real behind your product or service. This can help build their confidence in the company and drive them to work even harder for its success.

It’s clear that client success stories have a range of uses beyond simply boosting customer retention rates — though they do excel at that too! To ensure that these stories have a lasting impact on your business, make sure you invest time and resources into developing high-quality case studies that accurately reflect your company’s successes. And don’t forget to use them not just for marketing purposes but also for inspiring the team and winning over current clients. By leveraging client success stories in this way, you can make sure your business is always making strides towards its goals both big and small.

For more on this topic, stream Season 2, Episode 8 of The Grow Show.

Fake It Until You Make It: How to Run Your Small Business Like a Public Company

It’s no surprise that many private companies struggle to find the balance between ambition and accountability. After all, when you’re a small business, it’s hard to mimic the same results-based process of public companies. But if you want to continue growing your business and reaching higher goals, establish expectations and hold yourself accountable—just like the CEOs of public companies do. Here are some tips on how to fake it until you make it by creating an environment of accountability in your small business.

The first step is to set your goals and make them public. Publicizing your small business’s goals creates a sense of urgency and responsibility among executives. It also serves as a benchmark for progress and keeps you honest about reaching the stated objectives. We do this during our quarterly company-wide “vision meetings” so the whole company can track our progress on meeting goals. We celebrate milestones and shout out individuals who are making significant progress and if we’re behind on goals, and we communicate the plans we have to get back on track.

Next, it’s important to create a partnership team or internal board that holds the CEO accountable for meeting these objectives. This team should meet quarterly at a minimum. The idea is to have someone in the organization who has the authority to challenge ideas and hold people accountable if they are not living up to expectations.

You should also find outside parties who can provide constructive feedback on your progress toward meeting goals. This could be in the form of bankers, lawyers, or even other entrepreneurs who understand the challenges of running a small business. Having external advisors provides true accountability and more diverse opinions and solutions.

Finally, one of the most effective methods of holding yourself accountable is by forming an executive leadership team where no one is immune from taking ownership of results. A well-structured team allows each person’s strengths to shine through while holding themselves and others responsible for their actions. When everyone is held equally accountable for their performance, all members work together as a cohesive unit, driving growth within the company more effectively than any single leader could accomplish alone.

Small businesses need to create systems of accountability similar to those found in larger, publicly traded companies if they want to reach their ambitious goals. Whether it’s announcing targets publicly or bringing in outsiders for objective feedback, fostering an environment where each person owns up to their mistakes and successes helps set the foundation for sustainable success over time—all without having to go public!

For more on this topic, stream Season 2, Episode 9 of The Grow Show.

Why Awards Are a Real Reason to Celebrate

Here’s our secret to winning these awards so YOU can do the same. Awards are incredibly important for small business owners and their success. Winning awards builds credibility, differentiates your business from the competition, and boosts morale within the company. It also helps attract new talent and new business.

Best Business Awards states small businesses that win awards can see a 63% increase in income and a 39% increase in sales.

Dedicated Resource

Award submission needs to be someone’s job (or at worst, an important part of someone’s job). And, the budget needs to come from sales or marketing. Yes, there are implications for talent acquisition; but this is a revenue-generating activity and it should be treated as such. The KPI for the owner of this initiative is AWARDS WON. They will tell you this is out of their control, but it’s not. It is within their control and I would highly discourage any other KPI for this role.

Know and Segment

There are so many awards out there. You truly have no idea how many exist. It’s shocking. It’s a worthwhile exercise to identify the awards available given your type of business. Once you’ve identified the total potential, you should segment these awards by level of competition and effort. This will be important in a subsequent step.

Buy-In

You need the entire organization to understand how important these awards are. They need to know that if they want more GREAT team members and/or more GREAT clients, awards are critical. On average, prospects are reading 7+ pieces on companies they are meeting with before the sales meeting. Potential employees are doing the same. You need the buy-in because a lot of these awards come with surveys. And, you’re going to need the team to go out of their way to fill out surveys or work on submissions if you want to win.

You Don’t Need an Oscar

The reality is that some awards are more prestigious than others. The further reality is that having some awards that are less “prestigious” is a lot better than having none at all. Long story short, don’t spend all of your time working on super prestigious and super highly competitive awards. Have some balance. Apply for some “Oscars” and some “MTV Movie Awards.” 😂

Celebration

There has to be a regular cadence of celebrating the awards the company wins. I recommend quarterly. You should display the number of awards the company won in the previous quarter, and you should also have a cumulative running total. It’ll shock you when you hear team members talking about these totals to their colleagues, to their client, to their prospects, or to their friends.

Winning awards can be beneficial for businesses looking to grow their sales numbers and increase their incomes by up to 63%. If you put in the effort to apply for these programs and make sure all your documents are accurate and up-to-date then your chances of success will skyrocket. So get applying today!

For more on this topic, stream Season 2, Episode 10 of The Grow Show.

The Playbook for Managers

How to Optimize Your Time and Get the Most Out of Every Day

Are you a manager feeling overwhelmed and stretched too thin? If so, you’re not alone. Recent studies have found that the average manager spends three hours a day on interruptions, which means up to 80% of their time is being spent on things that are not the most important for the organization. That’s why we developed the playbook for managers. It’s a simple system that helps busy professionals optimize their time and get the most out of every day. With our playbooks, you can finally take control of your day and make sure all of your tasks are completed efficiently and effectively.

Use this link to access our playbook examples and build-your-own schedule.

Time Blocking

Time blocking is a great way to prioritize and organize your daily activities. The idea behind it is simple: block out specific times throughout the day to dedicate to certain activities. Each of these blocks is called a play. With the playbook system, you can easily identify which tasks need to be done first, which ones can be completed later, and which don’t need to be done at all. And I understand that as a manager, you will need to spend time answering questions and working on unplanned needs. Those should be included in the plays as well. It’s a great way to make sure nothing falls through the cracks and that your day is productive.

Creating Playbooks for Every Position

At our organization, we take it one step further by creating playbooks for every position. We take all of their key activities, block them throughout the week, and make sure they are completed within their allotted times. We manage according to those playbooks. This helps us ensure that everyone on the team has an understanding of their roles and responsibilities each day and never has to wonder what they should work on next.

Analyzing Your Activities

Once you have created a playbook for each position, it’s important to analyze your activities and adjust your plays as necessary. You want to prioritize certain activities above all else so you can maximize productivity in the long run. This could mean focusing more on customer service than administrative work or vice versa depending on what is most beneficial for your organization.

Implementing the Playbook Structure

Once you have identified which tasks should have priority over others, it’s time to implement the playbook structure into your daily routine. Here are a few tips and techniques:

Make sure you have enough time blocked off each day – Having too much or too little time in a play can lead to inefficient resource use; make sure there’s enough time during each activity so that they are completed thoroughly and accurately.
Use data tracking tools – Use online tools like spreadsheets or project management software like Trello or Asana so that you can easily keep track of your tasks and manage them accordingly; these tools also give you insight into how much time was spent on each task so you can better manage your resources in the future.
Break down large plays into smaller tasks – Breaking down larger projects into smaller tasks will help keep things organized and also help you track progress more easily; this will also prevent procrastination because individual tasks seem less daunting than an entire project!

Creating playbooks for managers has helped our organization become more efficient, effective, and successful as they strive towards achieving their goals. With its easy-to-follow structure, businesses of any size can employ this strategy with ease and reap its rewards almost immediately! If implemented correctly, managers will find themselves having more productive and less stressful days while also finding greater success in their positions!

For more on this topic, stream Season 2, Episode 11 of The Grow Show.

How Company Culture Leads to Business Success

It’s clear that when it comes to business success, company culture matters—but not enough people are talking about how to create and nurture an effective culture to ensure long-term growth.

The old adage that “people are a company’s greatest asset” has been around for decades, and recent research into 1,000 organizations and 3 million employees proves that the value of company culture should not be underestimated. In fact, businesses in the top quartile of company culture have returned 60% more to their shareholders than those in the middle ground, and 200% more than those at the bottom quartile.

At its core, company culture is about creating a positive workplace environment that encourages collaboration and trust, respects employees, and allows for creative problem solving. It’s about fostering an atmosphere of growth and opportunity where everyone feels valued, appreciated, and empowered to achieve their best. This type of culture not only helps organizations attract the best talent; it also leads to greater employee engagement, collective innovation and creativity, higher profits, and improved business performance over time.

Investing in your culture is especially important for growing businesses. During times of growth, your employees will be doing more than they were asked to do when they first started in your organization. People are going to be burning the candle at both ends, taking on different roles, helping you with that growth. And if somebody’s feeling good, and they’re motivated by your company culture, then you can manage that growth and push forward. If your company culture is not strong, it isn’t going to happen.

So how can organizations nurture an effective company culture? The key is to focus on long-term objectives while maintaining employee satisfaction in the short term. Organizations should prioritize communication between leadership and employees by encouraging open feedback sessions and involving team members in decision-making processes. They should also create opportunities for professional development by investing in skills training programs that help employees advance their careers. Finally, they should implement rewards systems that recognize hard work and commitment in order to increase morale and foster pride within the organization.

One of the ways we’ve built our culture is by developing roles for each team. We have a chief branding officer who helps ensure the space is decorated for holidays and that the team’s theme is represented in their area. The chief unity officer ensures everyone is aware of company-wide news and events. The chief celebration officer makes sure to share the accomplishments of their team within the team and across the company. These “officers” are chosen because of their performance, their buy-in to the company, and their desire to grow. It increases their engagement and empowers them to impact their team members and the company as a whole. Having individuals take ownership of company culture has made a huge difference for our company and it’s easy for you to implement within yours.

The bottom line is that focusing on creating a positive workplace environment has tangible benefits for both employees and businesses alike. Investing in company culture helps organizations retain their best talent—something essential for sustained business success over time. By taking the time to nurture an organizational culture that encourages growth while emphasizing respect, trust, collaboration and creativity, businesses can uncover new opportunities for innovation, all of which lead to greater results in the future.

For more on this topic, stream Season 2, Episode 12 of The Grow Show.

Branded Gear Elevates Your Brand

“Why do the Yankees always win? The other team can’t stop looking at their pinstripes”

Whether it’s the Yankees’ pinstripes, the Oregon Ducks’ green, the Abstrakt red, or your old band’s t-shirt, there’s an element of everyone being in uniform that brings a group together.

There’s no magic formula for success, but there are plenty of ways you can set yourself up for it. And one of those is having your team wearing high-quality, branded gear. A small investment in swag can go a long way towards achieving that $50M in revenue goal. Quality logo gear not only looks great and elevates your brand, but it also serves to recognize employee accomplishments, promote initiatives, and inspire employee pride and team unity. With the right swag and strategy, your team will be ready to take their game to the next level!

These are benefits of swag that I think are both overlooked and super important:

👕 Recognize employee accomplishments (think: awards, tenure, events)

👕 Promote initiatives (team goals, annual themes, etc)

👕 Employee pride (you don’t wear a brand out and about that you don’t like/believe in)

👕 Promotes team unity (everyone literally wearing the brand)

Giving out swag with a personalized touch also makes recipients feel special, which can result in increased job satisfaction.

So if you’re serious about achieving your business goals (especially hitting that $50M mark), investing in quality logo swag is definitely worth considering. It looks great, promotes initiatives and employee recognition, fosters pride among your staff, and reinforces team unity – what more could you want? With the right strategy behind it, branded gear can truly be your secret weapon for success!

Never Miss a MAP

It might sound trivial, but our 1:1s with team members were not good. We rescheduled a lot, the format was inconsistent, and frankly they were a waste of time.

Are your 1:1s stale? Are they happening at all? Think about it. Do you even know?

This was the spot I was in years ago when I met with an amazing consultant who opened my eyes to the MAP MEETING.

Here’s how to turn your company into a well oiled machine where every week your team members are EXECUTING.

The Agenda 👇

M = Major projects

A = Activities

P = Potential business issues

The MAP meeting is NOT your meeting, leaders. It is your direct report’s meeting. Your job is to add support and seek clarity where clarity is needed.

This is incredibly important as most 1:1s are the leader asking questions of the direct report. When it’s the direct report’s meeting, not only do you get to answer their questions and mollify their concerns, but also you can tell week to week who prepped (who is on the ball and who is not).

🚀 M = Major Projects

In this section, you review and ensure completion of last week’s “major projects” and the plan for this week’s.

Your direct report should pick 5 (ONLY 5) projects/tasks that they are going to complete every week. The vast majority of people want to do 100 things, and in their minds, they need to. You must have them resist this urge and focus on the 5 most important items they can complete in one week’s time.

Each of these should be formatted in B (behavior) P (proof) I (impact). This ensures they know the “why” behind their efforts and the activity is clearly defined.

Think about this… If you have 50 team members and all of them are completing 5 critical tasks every single week, that’s 12,500 tasks per year that you know are moving the company forward. That is the essence of execution.

🚀 A = Activities

Here, the team member walks you through their key metrics. This MUST be a combination of leading and lagging indicators. Every position must have metrics, even those that don’t naturally lend themselves to metrics (e.g. facilities, accounting, etc).

Example : For salespeople, you’ll want to know # of sales meetings conducted, # of meetings scheduled for the upcoming week, # of these meetings converted to proposals, their forecast, and their current month-to-date, quarter-to-date, and year-to-date sales.

🚀 P = Potential business issues

This is the area of the meeting where the team members are being proactive. They’re (on their own) taking the time to think about what could impede their ability to be successful. You, as a leader, learn a lot in this section. It can be instructive on who can and who can’t scale within the organization. Also, it keeps you aware of what is around the corner.

Are you ready to take your meetings up a notch? Never miss a MAP! Implementing this system will help keep your team accountable and ensure that everyone knows exactly what needs to be done each week and why it needs to be done so you can confidently move forward with executing on projects without worrying about missing key details or tasks slipping through the cracks.

Every Team Needs A Captain

Much is made and said about the CEO being in charge of a companies culture. The so called “culture carrier”. And, while I totally agree, it’s incumbent on the CEO to set the vision for the companies culture, all too often, what the CEO wants the culture to be and what the culture ACTUALLY IS are worlds apart.

Why?

People act differently around the CEO and it can give the impression of a culture that is not real
When a company gets to a certain size (and I’m not talking that big), the CEO just doesn’t have enough connectivity to drive the culture on a DAILY basis.

So, what do companies do? They have culture training and team building events. They try to drive culture through HR and/or through managers. In short, no one is responsible for driving culture on a DAILY basis. It’s the old “everyone is responsible”.

At our company, we believe in celebrating right behaviors, rooting out behaviors that conflict with our values and being stewards of the company vision. To ensure we do this effectively, each team has a Captain. These Captains are selected by members of the respective teams and they are responsible for ensuring that all team members abide by our core values.

Captains have full authority over their teams other roles (celebrations officer, branding officer, etc.) and meet on a monthly basis to discuss any issues or developments within the organization. They work closely with managers to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to company goals and objectives.

Plus, being a Captain is considered in all promotional opportunities within the organization – so it’s a great way for employees to prove their leadership skills and move up the corporate ladder.

Moreover, Captains are also responsible for measuring team success as well as employee retention rates – both of which have been proven to be integral components in determining effectiveness in a company’s culture initiatives.

In other words, without Captains to lead and keep morale high, it would be nearly impossible for any CEO to make sure their culture actually reflects their vision!

While there are other ways to drive culture daily, I’d submit to you that whether it’s Captains or other culture roles (see episode link), you need the people NOT the CEO to own and drive culture.

Building An Advisory Board

Credit card maxed out. Line of credit fully tapped. We were broke and headed for bankruptcy….

In our last business, this was the situation. It was 2008. The economy was in turmoil and one of our customers (who owed a ton of money) told us they wouldn’t be paying for a while. We knew they were good for the money, but that didn’t help the cash crunch we were facing.

Who came to the rescue? Our banker! Not our new banker. Not the banker we met once in 5 years. Our banker with whom we had an amazing, long-term relationship. Our banker that believed in us and knew the situation our company was facing.

This scenario is what prompted me to add this as one of the 50 critical things you need to do to hit $50m in revenue.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking.

That’s a lot of work to build and maintain relationships like that.

But here’s the thing: having an expanded advisory board – a banker, lawyer, accountant and insurance broker – can pay huge dividends for your business.

Think of all the ways this group can (and wants to) help:

Recruiting: All of these professionals have networks you can tap into for great talent.
Quality advice: This team knows YOUR business, and you’re already paying them. Ask their opinions on business issues you are facing. Set up a regular cadence and gather the group together.
Industry benchmarks: All of these advisors have access to data on your industry. They paid to aggregate this as a value add for customers. Take advantage of that.
Industry trends: These professionals are meeting with businesses all the time. They often have a great feel for what’s happening in your industry, with your customers, etc.
New customers: Generally this group is well-networked and, if they know enough about your business, can help refer you to potential new clients.

To sum up: build relationships with trusted advisors who can not only provide advice but also be a source of referrals for new customers. This expanded advisory board is critical for any successful business leader or entrepreneur who wants to hit $50m in revenue!

How To Ensure You (And Your Team) Make The Right Decisions

Your team members are making bad decisions. Every day. Sometimes these are VERY BAD decisions. And… it’s not their fault.

Every Day. Every single hour. Your team is making decisions that will impact the short, medium, and long term success of your business. How they make these decisions could not be more important.

In business we constantly talk about scaling. Scaling in terms of revenue. Scaling in terms of headcount. Scaling in terms of physical space. You know what we don’t talk about scaling? DECISION MAKING. We don’t talk about decision making because it can be hard. It takes time, energy and thought to make the right decisions every time without fail.

So, how do you do it? Ensure that whenever a decision is made at your company, the following 3 stakeholders are ALWAYS considered. Your people, your clients and the business.

People = Your people. The actual team members. You need to consider how every decision you make affects your team’s morale, chemistry, and culture.
Clients = You need to consider how every decision you make impacts how successful, happy, and satisfied your clients will be.
Business = You need to evaluate how every decision you make impacts your revenue, profit, or whatever other financial metrics are critical to your company.

If you believe every decision should be evaluated with these three criteria, how do you make sure your team is adhering to this?

Announce – In an all hands meeting, explain your new three step decision making process and that in every decision either a person or a team of people need to stop and ask the above three questions.
Train – you need to have a training curriculum where small groups of your team role play how to insert this three-prong process into every decision.
Model – When you, as the leader, are making decisions, you need to consistently ask these three questions EVERY SINGLE TIME.
Review – Shadow meetings where decisions are made and hold people accountable to asking these questions

Making smart decisions isn’t easy but if you commit to following these three simple considerations whenever a decision needs to be made, then you can rest assured knowing that those choices won’t just affect the outcome of the current situation but will also positively impact the future success of your business!

Promote a Leader From The Leaderboard

I know, I know. We’ve all read it for years.

“The best individual contributors don’t make the best managers.”

I believed it. Did you?

But over time, after failing with “experienced managers” time and again, I realized that having managers that weren’t great at the roles they were managing was untenable. It didn’t work.

So, how do you identify those talented folks in your team who have the potential to become successful managers? Here are five questions to ask yourself when considering whether or not your top performer could be a great manager:

Does the person want to manage? This may seem like an obvious one, but it can be easy to overlook! Some of your best contributors may thrive in their current role and not necessarily want to take on the responsibility of managing. Counterintuitive, I know, but often, top performers who DONT want to manage are ultimately the best managers.
Does their current team dislike them? If they’re great at what they do, but still aren’t respected by their peers, it’s important to dig into why that is. A manager needs to have strong interpersonal skills in order to build trust with their team, and if there are issues there then it could be a sign that this person won’t be successful in a leadership role.
Do they seem to get along well with people on different teams? A manager will need to interact with stakeholders from all around the company, so being able to connect with people outside of their own team is essential for success. Do some research into how the candidate interacts with different teams and colleagues – this could give you valuable insights into how they may handle managerial responsibilities.
Are they consistent? Managers need to be reliable and consistent if they’re going to lead successfully. Have a look at how often they meet deadlines or complete tasks – this could indicate if they will be able to stick with projects long-term or not.

Bonus question: Are they willing and able to develop new skills? Being able to learn new things quickly is vital for any leader; it’s necessary for understanding new concepts, staying up-to-date on industry trends, and motivating your team. Give them opportunities within your organization or suggest external learning resources that can help them gain additional knowledge and skillsets.

By asking yourself these five questions when considering someone as a potential manager from among your top performers, you can make sure you pick out the right person for the job – one who has the drive and commitment necessary for success!

So don’t wait any longer – promote a leader from the leaderboard today!

Why Best Practice Meetings Are a Best Practice

As a leader, it is your responsibility to ensure your team has the tools they need to succeed and grow. Relying on reactive training methods when there is an issue is not enough – it is a sign of leadership negligence. You must arm your team with the knowledge and skills they need before any problems arise.

Do any of these sound familiar?

You get a complaint from an angry customer from a negative customer experience. You implement customer service training.
Your sales are down. You sprint at sales training.
You’re unsatisfied with your leaders. You leap to leadership training.

These all have one thing in common. They are REACTIVE.

We created weekly best practices sessions and EVERYONE in the company must participate once a week. Here’s how it works and the problems it solves.

Every single employee must prove that they had at least 1 hour of training every week (there is accountability through their weekly 1:1s – which we call MAPs).

Problem this solves: The accountability piece is crucial because it ensures that the training is happening everywhere all the time. You as leaders don’t have to police it.

If you are an employee aspiring to another role, you can attend that role’s best practice sessions – you don’t have to exclusively attend sessions for your specific role.

Problem this solves: How do you get team members exposure to/training for other roles in the organization? Do you “throw them in”? Let them sink or swim?

We were struggling to identify internal talent for future roles, paint a vision of where they could go, and ramp team members into new roles. This one solution helps solve all of these issues.

We report on team training hours received vs. goal in every all hands meeting.

Problem this solves: This keeps training from becoming a back-burner item. Something that you do when you can. Publicly holding the team accountable to training reinforces its importance and keeps training top-of-mind for all team members.

Ensuring you receive 1 training hour per week contributes to whether or not a team member is achieving success in their role — it’s a KPI for us.

Problem this solves: So often, training is the responsibility of the leader, meaning it is on the leader to ensure their people are trained. This concept shares some of the responsibility to the individual. They must seek out training weekly, whether their manager is providing or not. Manager sick? Manager out? Training will happen.

At the end of the day, it’s essential that leaders understand that failing to provide their team with the tools they need to be successful is engaging in leadership negligence. By taking the time to implement Best Practice Meetings, you can make sure that your team is armed with the knowledge they need to tackle any problem that arises.

Build Your Employer Brand

Are you struggling to attract the talent you truly want? We were. This was the solve.

Not the short term fix. The LONG term solve.

Have you ever noticed how people talk about the companies they work for? The language they use isn’t always the same as when they’re talking about the company’s products or services. That’s because employer brand and corporate brand are different. To ensure that your company has a strong employer brand, it helps to understand what makes it unique and how it stands out from its competitors. Here are some steps that you can take to develop an effective employer brand and attract top talent.

First, it’s important to understand your current employer brand. The best way to do this is by conducting focus groups with recent hires and tenured employees. Ask them questions such as: What sets your company apart from competitors? What would they tell a friend who was considering applying at your company? What words describe your work environment?

Once you gather the answers, it can be helpful to create a visual representation (graph, word cloud, etc.) of what the ideal employee experience looks like at your company.

Next, take the visual representation to the executive team so that everyone is on the same page. Decide on words that represent your employer brand—the values and culture that define your organization—and ensure that everyone understands how these words will be used to communicate with potential applicants. For example, ours is growth. Make sure that all departments in the organization understand this new employer brand concept, as well.

The marketing team should take ownership of the employer brand and create collateral such as videos or blog posts about why potential applicants should choose your company over others. This can NOT fall on HR because it truly is a marketing effort.

Additionally, set objectives for applicant attraction; for example, how many qualified candidates should you receive each month? Treat this just like you do your sales goals. This creates TRUE accountability.

Finally, talk about your employer brand internally all the time. Knowing what makes an organization unique and communicating it clearly can help attract talented individuals who are looking for more than just a job: they’re looking for an experience that aligns with their values. Your internal team can help with these efforts by referring people from their network and the internal brand can also help with their retention.

Creating an effective employer brand requires strategic planning and dedication but pays off in the long run when you have top talent joining and staying with their teams. By understanding what sets your company apart and taking steps to build up its reputation as an attractive place to work, you can ensure that you are attracting high-caliber employees who will contribute meaningfully to achieving long-term business goals.

Why SOPs Are The Recipe for Success

As a home cook, I have always looked up to my mother. She was the type of person who could make a dish that would be the star of the show at any dinner party or family gathering. Her lasagna was no exception; it was something that I heard so many compliments on. People even asked her if she should open a restaurant or make lasagna full time! As someone who admittedly isn’t great in the kitchen, I found comfort in her recipes as they were always so clearly written out with exact steps that made them simple to follow.

This is what inspired me to think about the power of having a clear set of standard operating procedures in business. When it comes to leading your team, having the right processes and systems in place can make all the difference in terms of success. This is especially true for businesses that need to train new employees quickly and ensure consistency in their product or service.

Take Anheuser Busch for example: despite producing millions of bottles of beer an hour, each one tastes exactly the same due to their well-documented processes that are followed religiously. Even the people giving the tours give the same tour over and over again. It’s almost like they’re cooking a perfect lasagna every time.

So what can we take away from this? Well, firstly, the importance of having a documented set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for your business can not be understated. These SOPs should be used to guide the way you implement clients, answer phones, build products, and train new people. It’s these processes that will help you maintain consistency and stay successful.

It may sound intimidating, but documenting your processes doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, documenting SOPs will make training new employees much easier. My challenge for you is to figure out what you don’t want to be tribal knowledge, what you don’t want to walk out the door, what you believe in most, and make sure to document those processes so they don’t go away.

How To Hack The Side Hustle Trend

As business leaders, we’re all looking for ways to make our teams more successful and engaged. And with the rise of side hustles, it’s clear that everyone wants a piece of the pie. But what if we could turn the trend on its head – creating a way that our team can make money on things that they don’t typically do during the day, but are still tied to the success of our business? By hacking the side hustle trend, you can create an additional revenue stream for your team without them getting sidetracked from their day job. Let’s explore how this could be done!

Our “Abstrakt Side Hustle” is a program where we offer monetary rewards for referrals that lead to successful hires or new customers. A system like this can help motivate your team to stay on top of their game and be aware of potential prospects, whether it’s through their college connections or when they’re out and about. Offering these types of incentives can be a great way to get your team to take initiative and help your business grow, while also giving them the opportunity to make some extra cash.

When creating a side hustle, it’s important to not only think about the monetary reward you’ll be offering, but also how it will affect the work culture at your organization. You want to create an environment that encourages hard work, collaboration, and creativity. When setting up a side hustle, think of ways that you can incentivize your team while also making sure they’re not too distracted from their day job.

Finally, you’ll need to consider how you want to advertise this program. It’s important to come up with a defined policy for how to earn the rewards and when they’ll be paid out. You should also create promotional material to ensure this effort is a part of your “employer brand”. This material should be included in company meetings, bulletin boards, etc. so that every employee is reminded of the opportunity and you should recognize people who participate. We go as far as awarding the employee with the most team member and client referrals a free spot in our President’s Club trip.

By hacking the side hustle trend you can create an additional revenue stream for your team without them getting sidetracked from their day job. This will help ensure that your team can make extra money while sharpening their skills – all at the same time!

Client Onboarding: The Secret To Long-Term Retention

How you implement and onboard clients will determine whether they stick around for the long term. The secret to client retention lies in the onboarding process, from setting up expectations to ensuring a smooth transition. But how do you go about creating an onboarding experience that leaves your clients feeling impressed and satisfied? In this post, we’ll explore the importance of dedicated onboarding resources and strategies for successful implementation.

The success of your business depends on the relationships you have with your clients, and client onboarding is the key to fostering strong, long-term relationships. Your onboarding process sets the tone for how your clients view your level of service and commitment to their satisfaction. A successful onboarding experience can make customers feel valued, understood, and appreciated. An exceptional one will give them a reason to remain loyal. But how do you ensure that every client gets the same positive onboarding experience? The answer lies in dedicating specific resources for this purpose. This means having a dedicated team or person responsible for clients’ implementation and ongoing support. This individual or department should be familiar with the product or service being delivered, as well as the customer’s industry, needs, goals, etc., in order to provide an exceptional experience from start to finish.

There should also be a defined process of gathering the client’s unique information and storing it so that it can be easily communicated to their account management team. This can include surveys, phone calls, or portals as long as the experience is polished and engaging.

In addition to allocating resources for client onboarding, there are other strategies you can use to ensure that each customer feels satisfied during implementation and beyond:

Develop a customized client plan – Each customer should have their own unique plan tailored to their specific needs and expectations that you discuss during the onboarding process. This will help ensure that they receive an experience that meets their individual requirements.
Set clear expectations – Make sure customers know what’s required of them during onboarding and throughout the relationship. This could include providing timely feedback on project progress or meeting deadlines when submitting documents/information.
Provide comprehensive training – Clients should get comprehensive training on how to use your product/service or customer resources properly so they feel comfortable using it after implementation is complete.
Utilize automation – Automation can save time by taking over mundane tasks such as sending reminder emails or scheduling follow-up calls with clients post-implementation.
Follow up regularly – Don’t forget about your customers once they’re up and running! Regular check-ins are a great way to stay in touch with customers and address any issues they may have while using your product/service over time.

By employing these strategies and allocating dedicated resources for client onboarding, you’ll be able to create an exceptional experience that will impress new customers and encourage long-term retention! Implementing these practices can be a powerful way for businesses of all sizes to nurture relationships with their clients while keeping current customers satisfied too – ultimately leading to greater profits down the line.

It Takes Money To Make Money

As a business owner, you know what the saying “it takes money to make money” means. But when it comes to decisions about where to spend your hard-earned cash, it’s not always easy to know which option is best. Do you hire an extra staff member or pay for new equipment? Invest in marketing or pocket the money? Get more space or pay off personal debt? These are tough questions – and the answer isn’t always obvious. Fortunately, we’re here to help. In today’s post, we’ll look at leadership strategies that make it easier to decide when that hard choice needs to be made – and why opting to invest in your business is often the only route to growth.

The key to making the hard choice is understanding that it’s not always about getting the biggest return on your investment right away. In some cases, it might be better to invest in long-term gains. For example, by hiring a vice president (VP) to manage operations and growth, you can expect higher profits down the line. Although it would cost more upfront, having someone with expertise in business finance on board could help you make smart decisions about where to spend money next.

Similarly, while marketing campaigns are usually the first items to be cut during financial troubles, they can provide an exponential return on investment if they are run well. While it may seem like a lot of money up front, the potential rewards for increasing your customer base or building brand awareness can outweigh the costs quite quickly. It’s important to note that cutting costs at every turn isn’t always the best option either; sometimes improvements require investing in yourself and your business, especially if this leads to more efficient processes and greater customer satisfaction down the road.

Finally, there’s no single answer when it comes to questions about how much you should be spending on your business versus at home. Personally, I have had to have tough conversations with my family when our lifestyle wasn’t what we had imagined it to be. Many months, there were members of my team who were making more than me. When budgeting for both areas of your life, try breaking each one down into specific categories or goals and allocating funds accordingly. This will help ensure that essential needs are met while still taking advantage of potential opportunities for growth when they arise.

At the end of the day, making a tough decision between investing in your business or personal finances requires careful consideration from all angles. Weighing short-term gains against long-term objectives is essential so that you make an informed decision that sets you up for success in both areas over time. Understanding that it takes money to make money is an important step towards leadership success – so take a deep breath and trust yourself as you move forward!

Eliminate Negativity… Immediately

Negativity has no place in our organizations. It’s a disruptive force that can undermine productivity, demoralize teams, and hinder growth. That’s why tip #25 of my 50 for 50 is about eliminating negativity and the steps you can take to create a positive and thriving workplace.

As an organizational leader, it’s crucial to be unwavering in your commitment to fostering a positive environment. During the hiring process, communicate your expectations clearly. While you offer support, growth opportunities, and a willingness to address challenges, make it known that negativity is a non-negotiable. This stance may be difficult to uphold when a high-performing individual exhibits negative behavior, but compromising your organizational culture is not worth the short-term gains.

You may be concerned that terminating a negative team member will cause unrest among the remaining staff. However, the truth is that when you take decisive action, your team will recognize your integrity and appreciate your resolve. In fact, they may even be willing to assume additional responsibilities temporarily to ensure a swift departure for the negative individual. By removing the source of negativity, you open the floodgates to a refreshing and invigorated work environment.

It’s important to distinguish between silencing voices and discouraging complaining. Constructive feedback should always be welcome, but lateral complaining without seeking solutions breeds negativity. Encourage your team to follow the “grip up” principle, where concerns are directed to those in positions to effect change. This approach ensures that issues are resolved rather than festering in the form of idle complaints.

When assembling your team, consider the value of diverse personality types. Intuitive individuals possess a special talent for detecting underlying issues in a room. Their ability to read faces and gauge the atmosphere can be invaluable in preemptively addressing potential problems. While their insights may occasionally cause friction, trusting their instincts can save your organization from greater troubles down the road.

To effectively eliminate negativity, start by conducting a thorough analysis of your organization. Identify the individuals or groups that contribute to negative dynamics, and remain vigilant to detect any signs of lingering negativity. While it is prudent to give individuals an opportunity to explain their behavior, if negativity persists despite your efforts, it’s imperative to take decisive action promptly.

Remember, professionalism and a positive work environment go hand in hand. As a leader, it falls upon you to shape and cultivate the culture within your organization. By eliminating negativity, you create a space where productivity flourishes, collaboration thrives, and employees are motivated to contribute their best.

So, as you conclude reading this article, embrace your role as a steward of positivity. Return to your office with renewed determination and commitment to eliminate negativity from your organization. By doing so, you’ll set the stage for a workplace that inspires and empowers, propelling your organization to unprecedented heights of success. Let positivity reign supreme!

Enjoy the Ride

Today, I want to share a story that carries a profound message—a reminder to cherish every moment and celebrate the accomplishments along our entrepreneurial paths. Life is a fragile entity, and it’s crucial that we find joy in the present rather than always chasing the elusive future.

The tale begins with a heart-wrenching text received by a friend—a friend who had just returned from Canada with his father and a group of loved ones. Among them was an entrepreneur, a man who had achieved remarkable success through tireless dedication and unwavering ambition. Unfortunately, fate took a cruel turn, and this accomplished individual suddenly passed away, leaving behind a poignant lesson for us all.

As entrepreneurs, we often find ourselves trapped in a never-ending cycle of striving for more. We convince ourselves that reaching a certain revenue milestone, obtaining a specific number of customers, or accumulating vast wealth will bring us the contentment we seek. Yet, even those who have scaled the heights of success and amassed great fortunes find themselves yearning for more, their insatiable hunger never quenched.

So, I implore you, my fellow entrepreneurs, to pause for a moment and reflect. Embrace the notion that happiness and fulfillment can be found in the journey itself, not just at some distant endpoint. Let us learn from this poignant story and vow to celebrate our achievements, both big and small, along the way.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of perpetually pushing ourselves, forever dissatisfied with our current circumstances. We believe that acknowledging our successes equates to complacency, that celebrating one victory will diminish our drive for future accomplishments. But this is a fallacy that we must confront and overcome.

Consider a round of golf. Each swing presents an opportunity, a chance to demonstrate growth and progress. Yet, it’s all too common to overlook the pars achieved, dismissing them as inconsequential and demanding even greater success. We must learn to cherish these victories, savor the journey, and find joy in each step forward.

Now, I must confess that I, too, struggle with this delicate balance. The notion of celebrating and finding contentment in the present has been a constant challenge. But I believe it’s a challenge worth embracing—an endeavor that can enrich our lives and those around us.

While it’s crucial to keep pushing forward, pursuing our goals with passion and tenacity, we must also find a way to enjoy the ride. Let us not sacrifice our well-being or neglect the relationships that matter most. Life’s clock ticks relentlessly, and we owe it to ourselves to relish the achievements we’ve already attained.

Enjoying the ride doesn’t mean settling or becoming complacent. It means finding harmony between striving for greatness and appreciating the milestones we’ve already passed. By doing so, we can build businesses that thrive and lives that flourish.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a foolproof solution to this conundrum. So, dear readers, I invite you to join me on this journey. Let us seek the elusive balance between ambition and contentment, between progress and celebration. Together, we can create a paradigm shift in how we approach success—one that values the present as much as the future.