Tools for Success – Have a mantra of constant development and improvement
The first article in this series listed several tactics that will make you more successful. The rest of the series will take a closer look at each of them.
Have a mantra of constant development and improvement. Read a business-building book per month. Dog-ear pages, make notes, make sure you have take-aways, executable ideas. We all start at the same place. Some of us expand, and others don’t. And, some of us who expand, keep expanding until we can’t anymore. That’s can’t, not won’t. If you read eight best sellers about marketing, you will be 80 percent as smart as the marketing people who want to get paid for advice to help you. The same applies to other areas of knowledge that are vital to your business success. Read in those areas, especially the ones you feel least confident about. After you finish a book, give it to your management team with the sections you have highlighted and pages you have dog-eared.
Attend seminars focused on making your business grow. You should go to at least six per year in the early years. Your team leaders should go with you. Some seminars will be suited for owners or top financial managers, such as how to minimize taxes. Other seminars, such as how to lead teams, will be a good fit for many of your managers and team leaders. There are one-day seminars on a host of valuable, business-building topics: managing difficult personalities, motivating salespersons, how to hire and fire, etc.
Be passionate and have a sense of urgency about using what you learn. Be sure that what you learn gets translated into plans that make your business measurably better. Last month’s article was about how to make the transition from boss to leader. Being passionate and a having a sense of urgency about winning in business is part of making that jump.
Cultivate positive dissatisfaction. My good friend Dixon Thayer, former CEO at Greenleaf, had a saying I still use and love. He used to tell me always to have positive dissatisfaction. Positive dissatisfaction requires you to always be learning and expecting more, but also to always be positive as you reach a succession of higher goals.
Capture the motivating power of team training. I have found that seminars and trainings are one of the best ways to motivate your most valuable people. Pay attention to how team members respond to the opportunity to go get new skills. Some won’t want to go. They may still be solid employees but they may be left behind because they don’t get the skills needed to take your business to where you intend it to go. Remember your best people will be motivated by the opportunity to acquire new skills or hone existing ones. Your accounting staff, for example, will be energized when you send them to an advanced excel class. Make sure you display the certificates they have earned. Be sure to recognize staff members who make exceptional use of their new skills in meeting your business goals.
Remember only you can make business great!
Ron Sturgeon, Mr. Mission Possible, has been a successful business owner for more than 35 years. As a small business consultant, he can wisdom and advice gleaned from an enviable business career that started when he opened a VW repair business as a homeless 17-year-old and culminated in the sale of several businesses he built to Fortune 500 companies.
Ron has helped bankers, lawyers, insurance agents, restaurant owners, and body shop owners, as well as countless salvage yard owners to become more successful business people. He is an expert in helping small business owners set the right business strategies, implement pay-for- performance, and find new customers on the web.
As a consultant, Ron shares his expertise in strategic planning, capitalization, compensation, growing market share, and more in his signature plainspoken style, providing field-proven, and high-profit best practices well ahead of the business news curve. Ron is the author of nine books, including How to Salvage More Millions from Your Small Business.
To inquire about consulting or keynote speaking, contact Ron at 817-834-3625, ext. 232, rons@MrMissionPossible.com, 5940 Eden, Haltom City, TX 76117.
