Contributed by Shawn Johal, business growth coach, leadership speaker and co-founder of DALS Lighting, Inc. He is also an active member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Montreal chapter.
Life is busy, and focus is hard to come by. We have a plethora of responsibilities, and it’s often hard to choose where to focus our efforts. Do you ever feel overwhelmed with no idea where to start? “Overwhelmed” is often our default mode. Many of us have simply gotten “used to” it. Instead of taking time to consider how we use our energy, we counterbalance feeling overwhelmed by going “all in”. But what if we are going 1,000 miles an hour in the wrong direction? This tendency to go all in can quickly lead to burnout. As defined by World Psychiatry, “Burnout is a psychological syndrome emerging as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors.” It’s that emotional, physical and mental exhaustion we experience when we can’t keep up or when we’re utterly drained by going too hard. The results of a Gallup poll bring the problem into focus: Of 7,500 full-time employees, 23 percent reported feeling burnt out at work very often or always, while an additional 44 percent reported feeling burnt out sometimes. We all have stressors in our lives. It’s how we cope with them that matters most. Manage your energy reserves effectively and you can prevent a complete burnout and even maintain a positive mindset. Follow these steps to help you navigate stress and protect your energy.1. Remain aware.Above all else, you need to know when your energy is at a near critical level. There are different types of stresses—not all of them are necessarily bad. It requires introspection and self-analysis to understand if certain stressors are negative and if a burnout is around the corner. Stop everything you are doing. Go outside, sit down and breathe. Take a few moments to recognize how you feel. Anger? Excitement? Agitation? Seek to identify any stressors that are causing negative emotions. 2. Write it down.Once you know there is an issue, write down your thoughts. Take time to journal and document the source of your stress. Rate your energy, stress and anxiety levels on a scale of 1 to 10. The very act of writing down your scores will force introspection. If scores are lower than 5 in any area, it’s time to create solutions and identify ways to manage your energy, stress and anxiety. 3. Free your brain.Take a moment to identify every to-do item on your list. Be detailed. Writing down every last item that must be done offers a valuable perspective. Then, rank them in order of importance and urgency. Begin tackling them one by one depending on where they stand. Ideally, there are tasks you can delegate or simply ignore if they aren’t important enough. The Eisenhower Box is a very simple decision-making matrix: It’s designed to help you decide where your energy goes and focus on the tasks that matter most. It gives you the option to step back and eliminate jobs that don’t need to be done—or at least not by you. 4. Connect.As human beings, we often have the desire to present an invincible front. We don’t like showing vulnerability of any kind. Yet, we know deep down that we have friends, peers and family members willing to listen to us and offer a helping hand if we were to reach out. Here’s a trick I use to stay connected to my network. I make a list of the 15 people I most appreciate speaking with. Over a 15-week period, I call one person per week to catch up and share ideas with. I often express my fears or anxiety, looking for experience-sharing that could help me get back on track. It is incredible how much compassion I find when I am willing to put myself out there. 5. Identify your energy buckets.A key aspect of protecting energy is understanding where it goes and, more importantly, where it should go. Take the time to identify where you are using most of your energy. There are different ways of looking at energy buckets. My mentor, Warren Rustand, has taught me the value of using the following model: Family + Business + Personal + Community. Audit yourself: Break down how much of your time is going into each of these buckets. Adjust according to what your ideal situation is. It’s likely you are using too much of your energy in at least one of those buckets, which is creating stress. Find the right balance to help you get back on track. 6. Spend time in nature.This may sound simplistic, but ask yourself if you are spending enough time outside in nature. I have found that walking and biking has brought tremendous clarity and releases stress almost immediately. And please: don’t use weather as an excuse. Rain and snow have never been harmful. Fresh air and time in nature is effective at any time of year. Make the most of it. Once the burnout threshold is crossed, it is a very long road back. Do not underestimate the challenge of gaining back your optimal levels of energy once they are lost. It’s best to invest time before you reach that breaking point. If you choose to be honest, the world will reward you with the support you are looking for. You must seek it out. I have always found comfort in openly expressing my fears and trusting those around me to offer their support. Give it a try if you find yourself gasping for air. Remember: You are not alone. Shawn Johal is a Scaling Up Certified Coach currently working with several entrepreneurs and their businesses to help accelerate their growth, while finding personal balance and happiness. The post Are You Heading Toward a Burnout? appeared first on THE EO BLOG. via THE EO BLOG https://ift.tt/311VqH9
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No one can dispute the inherent benefits of diversity in the workplace. A diverse and inclusive organization amplifies the number of potential hires—which means access to the most talented candidates. A variety of backgrounds in your business means a variety of perspectives—which leads to unique innovations. Plus, a culture of inclusion translates into a happier, more productive workforce. Indeed, studies show greater diversity yields greater profits. McKinsey research shows that “companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians. McKinsey studies have also shown that companies with diverse leadership outperform their peers. “For companies ranking in the top quartile of executive-board diversity, returns on equity (ROEs) were 53 percent higher, on average, than they were for those in the bottom quartile … earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margins at the most diverse companies were 14 percent higher, on average, than those of the least diverse companies.” How to Build Diversity in Your OrganizationDespite these tangible benefits, some employers struggle to maintain a staff made up of people with diverse education, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, ages and religions. We asked members of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization to share best practices for promoting and maintaining diversity and inclusion. Here’s what we learned: 1. WALK THE TALK.Your core values tout a culture of inclusion. Great. But do your benefits and day-to-day actions back it up? Tim Hamilton is the founder and CEO of Praxent. He explains, “One major contributor to our success is ensuring that the benefits that we offer represent our core values—in particular, our spirit of inclusion and belonging.” Toward that goal, he says that implementing paid parental leave is a must—but only the first step. Praxent is also a designated Mother-Friendly Worksite by the Texas Department of State Health Services. The company’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides counseling, wellness services and legal advice to accommodate their diverse needs. The founder of Polar Notion, Morgan J. Lopes admits, “I’m a heterosexual, white, bearded, male…in tech. My lived experience is steeped with more privilege than I can imagine (or comprehend). I advocate strongly for diversity within our organization because I believe when much is given, much is required.” To enhance diversity at his organization, Lopes says his staff began by defining what diversity means to them. Additionally, “our executive team actively works to expand our network beyond typical connections. We’ve pursued relationships with diverse affinity groups that we haven’t historically known exist or been invited into.” “It’s customary for people to avoid topics that make us uncomfortable,” Lopes explains. “Diversity is no exception. To combat this, our team began reading more literature about diversity and forcing our top leadership to have more uncomfortable conversations. A great book I’d recommend for more shrewd businesspeople: The Diversity Bonus. The book makes a compelling case for the business value of diversity, especially in knowledge work.” 2. EXPAND YOUR TALENT POOL.At Flow Marketing, founder and CEO Andy Seth proudly shares that his team comprises 64 percent women and 43 percent people of color. “We created a two-year apprenticeship for low-income youth. Since racial/ethnic minorities make up 58 percent of low-income households, this increases our chances of hiring people of color.” Seth says, “We also send our job listings to nonprofits who serve the black community like the Urban Leadership Foundation and the National Urban League. This helps us broaden our pool.” At Polar Notion, recruiting for a role kicks off with “a two week sprint focused on extending job listings into more diverse communities and pursuing diverse candidates outside our current network. I think of it as ‘giving diversity a head start’”. Then, explains Lopes, “If at least 30 percent of our pool of final candidates don’t represent what we consider diversity then we interpret that as a sign that we didn’t fill the pipeline with enough diversity, so we start again. It’s one of the most expensive diversity practices we’ve implemented, but it’s effective. You push harder earlier if you know too homogenous of a group will bite you later.” 3. REMOVE BIAS FROM THE HIRING PROCESS.Sound simple? Beware. “Unconscious bias takes many forms and can have a pernicious, though often unintentional, effect”, says Hamilton. To eliminate bias in hiring, begin by recognizing that we all carry some level of prejudice—whether conscious or unconscious. The key is crafting an objective hiring process designed to limit bias. Mark Fitzsimmons is the president of Psychometrics. He believes that “diversity can be built by selecting the people best suited for the job, measured objectively during the selection process—not through the biased lens of interviews, going for lunch, looking at names on resumes—or only picking people who graduate from certain colleges”. At Praxent, “diversity recruiting efforts begin in the job descriptions. Ensuring that the language reflects the inclusive environment to which we continually aspire is paramount to welcoming and receiving a diverse set of applications”, Hamilton explains. “We’ve taken great effort in recent months to carefully analyze and rewrite every one of our job descriptions in order to limit any terms that might undermine this environment of inclusion, favoring (as an example) gender-neutral adjectives, such as ‘solid’ over ‘strong’”. During candidate evaluation, the team at Praxent uses scorecards that clearly define the skills that an individual must possess. To avoid potentially dangerous “groupthink”, they avoid discussing their thoughts about a candidate until each person has completed the objective scorecard. Praxent also “ensures the language in our scorecards and transcripts refrains from words or descriptors that might bias anyone reading them. For example, instead of using pronouns, we favor language such as ‘the candidate’ or ‘TC’”. Likewise, Lopes recommends assigning a team member to anonymize job applications so hiring managers don’t know gender, race or ethnicity until deeper in the hiring process. For more insights and inspiration from today’s leading entrepreneurs, check out EO on Inc. and the EO blog. The post 3 Ways to Increase Diversity and Inclusion in Your Workplace Starting Today appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/3hzLLy2 Contributed by Kaelee Nelson, writer and content specialist. There are now over 1 million novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases worldwide. In an effort to stop the spread and “flatten the curve” through social distancing, much of the world has been on a stay-at-home order. Many nonessential businesses have been forced to close their doors to the public during this pandemic. For many organizations, this, unfortunately, means placing a temporary pause on operations and potentially laying off employees until business can safely resume. Other entities, though, have found a way to keep operations running with a remote workforce—and the applicant pool of potential candidates is massive. According to The New York Times, nearly 4 billion people—half of the world’s population—found themselves under a mandate to stay inside. Displaced workers across the world are seeking ways to earn money online from the safety of their homes while health safety measures are in effect. If you’re a business owner who has survived the conversion to remote work, you could have a lucrative opportunity in front of you: job demand. However, employment opportunities are scarce. With a high volume of job applicants in fierce competition over your available position, you can capitalize on cheap labor—while also saving a ton of overhead cost you would have spent on a commercial lease, office supplies and utilities. During this unprecedented time in history—with record high unemployment numbers in the last few weeks alone—you have the chance to minimize business expenses and drive profit margins, turning lemons into lemonade. The key to success, however, lies in a tactful execution of strategy. Although labor may be cheap, you can’t hire too many people and expand too quickly, or you bear the risk of biting off more than you can chew. Perhaps more importantly, you can’t hire on the wrong people when you’re entrusting employees to remotely hold up their end of responsibilities. The fate of your company depends on the wheels that turn it, which makes it imperative that you know how to identify the qualities of a strong remote employee. Whether you’re an entrepreneur eager to get your business off the ground, or you’re a business owner exploring ways to rechart your company’s course in light of this crisis, prioritize these qualites in your next remote hire: 1. EducatedThe education level required for the job will depend on the role you’re hiring for. For example, if you need a web developer to build the backend of your eCommerce platform, your candidate will need more advanced education and training than a social media intern. On the job application, be sure to include a field where your candidate can provide information on the degree they’ve obtained as well as any special certifications they’ve passed. 2. ExperiencedEducation can only go so far, so it’s important that your candidate also has real-world experience in which they’ve applied their knowledge. Pressure can be intense in high-volume, digital environments, so be sure that your employees will be able to keep up. Additionally, someone who has a proven track record of setting and meeting goals can be deemed experienced. When inquiring about their experience, you should request references from previous employers. Ask how long the employee worked there and whether they’d be eligible for rehire. This can give you an insight into their work ethic and help you determine if they’re suitable for the position. 3. TrustworthyDepending on the business you run, your employees may have access to sensitive information. Everything from private customer data to delicate company financials could cripple you if placed into the wrong hands. It’s likely that employers hiring during the coronavirus lockdown will not have the opportunity to meet their candidate face-to-face—making it even harder to determine whether the candidate who shines on paper is also safe to bring aboard. By adding a criminal background check to your employee screening process, you can catch red flags that may call a candidate’s trustworthiness into question. You can save yourself time by including this requirement within the job description, as those with a relevant criminal history likely won’t bother applying. Additionally, talking to the candidates’ references will give you an idea if the person is an independent and reliable worker—both critical traits for somebody working from home. 4. Tech-SavvyYour remote workforce will be entirely reliant on technology to perform their essential duties—and the data collected since the coronavirus shutdown supports this. Microsoft Teams, a platform that allows users to share documents, send messages and chat over video saw a 500 percent uptick in conference calls. Zoom, a software that hosts virtual meetings, saw its share price nearly double due to the increased usage. From project management trackers to CRM systems, the technology your company employs will vary wide and far, but it’s wise to ask your candidate if they’re familiar with your program(s) of choice. That way, you can cut down on training time and minimize the risk of clerical errors. At the very minimum, your remote employee will need a reliable computer and internet provider to do their job. 5. TalentedLast but not least, any great employee should bring talent to the table, which includes these important five qualities. They can have all the experience and technical know-how, but their execution of the tasks at hand is what will set them apart as a standout asset. You can assess this quality in a couple of ways: one, during your phone interview, ask them to describe a challenging work situation and how they resolved it; two, you can also ask them to perform a quick test that assesses their skill level, so you know their fit for the job. With these qualities on your radar, you’ll be poised to hire the best remote staff who can help drive your business to new success—even during this economic crisis. Kaelee Nelson is a writer based in California and currently works for 365businesstips.com. She enjoys informing readers about topics spanning industries such as technology, business, finance, culture, wellness, hospitality and tourism. The post 5 Qualities to Look for in a Remote Employee appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/39qlnnE Contributed by Shawn Johal, business growth coach, leadership speaker and co-founder of DALS Lighting, Inc. He is also an active member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Montreal chapter. “A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart.” Do you ever wake up wishing you had enough money to stop working and the option to follow your passion without any worries? Sounds pretty cool, right? It’s safe to say most of us would love to be in this position, but this rare lifestyle appears to be reserved for a small percent of the population. Forget the money for a second. Perhaps the more relevant question to ask yourself is: “Do I wake up Monday morning motivated to tackle the week ahead?” I run the test on myself all the time, asking myself: Am I as excited when the work week rolls around as when Friday night comes knocking? Better yet, am I so passionate about my work that I cannot define the line between my job and my personal life? To begin to unpack the money/passion dichotomy, start by asking yourself whether these statements ring true for you:
We often get an impression because of social media that all of our friends and colleagues are living the dream. They don’t have a worry in the world; life is great! In reality, we know that anxiety is rampant. Stress levels in the workplace are sky high—higher than ever before. Depression is a serious condition being experienced by millions around the world. Social media may send one message, but there’s another message beneath the surface: We may not be living out the vision we intended for ourselves. There’s good news. There are steps you can take to bridge the gap between financial goals and personal happiness. Step 1: Ask yourself questionsTake the time to ask yourself hard questions about your life as it stands today. Are you passionate about your work? Do you get along with your colleagues. Is this where you expected to be in your career 10 years ago? Given the choice, would you change jobs? If you come back unsatisfied with the answers, time to look at making certain changes in your life. Step 2: Analyze your strengthsThere is always an opportunity to do things differently. Often, we are standing in our own way. Write down a list of your strengths. Now, focus on these elements above all else. How could you use these qualities in your everyday work? When we are constantly improving our strengths, good things happen. Focusing on your strengths yields a greater impact than spending time on weaknesses. Step 3: Write down goalsWriting down your goals is a huge part of the process. Take the time to write down what you would like to accomplish in your life. The easiest way is to define specific buckets for each of your goals: personal, business, family, community is one way to go about the process. Choose one “stretch” goal for each—something that is slightly improbable but still within reach, something you’d love to just finally accomplish. Step 4: ExploreNow that you have identified your strengths and written your goals, start exploring new avenues. Maybe your career is fantastic and on the rise, but you have alway wanted to write a book. Maybe you’ve been wanting to take an online course or grow your side hustle. We know it intuitively, but here’s a reminder: Nothing is stopping you from taking on your passion projects. We all need a paycheck: If you depend on it heavily, research new niches or industries that might attract you. They may be better aligned with your vision, and the closer you get to your passion while earning the paycheck, the better you’ll feel, and the closer you’ll get to living out your passion. Step 5: ActDreaming without a plan won’t get you very far; time to take real, concrete steps to make your dreams a reality. Brendon Burchard has a great system he calls “The Big 5 Steps.” The process starts by figuring out the five most important steps you need to take to accomplish each individual goal. So take one of your goals, and build out the next five steps--no matter how small each one is—that will bring you closer to your goal. The smaller the steps, the easier to handle. And before you know it, you’ll be forced into action in the right way. By focusing on the top priorities, you will definitely move the needle forward. In the end, only you can figure out whether you are satisfied with the direction your life is headed. Maybe the greatest beauty about being human is our ability to make choices: Choose to live your passion, whether in your work or in your personal life—better yet, try to merge the two. It will make a huge difference in your energy and motivation. I believe in you! Shawn Johal is a Scaling Up Certified Coach currently working with several entrepreneurs and their businesses to help accelerate their growth, while finding personal balance and happiness. The post The Money Trap: How to Choose Between Money and Passion appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/3hqLZY7 Contributed by Greg DeLine, president and CEO of DeLine Holdings. COVID-19 was the stealthy rival no one saw coming. As entrepreneurs, we face challenges throughout our careers, but we don’t spend a lot of time planning what we’ll do during and after a global pandemic. Yet here we are. In recent months, small business leaders around the world have faced the toughest decisions of their careers. Nearly 40 percent of respondents in a National Small Business Association poll said they were worried about staying afloat much longer after losing income and customers due to COVID-19. I understand their concerns. Nevertheless, I’m a firm believer that this is not just a turning point for businesses, but a learning point, too. Why the optimism? We’ve been given a chance to learn and grow. We’ve been forced to slow down and notice those bright spots that sometimes get pushed aside. For example, families are staying home together. And that’s been an opportunity to cut out after-school activities and drop the commutes. Parents and children are reconnecting. Yes, there is an upside—even if it’s balanced by the very real chaos of quarantine and concerns around the virus. 4 Opportunities for Growth During a PandemicNo one knows what the next few months will bring. To make bold choices despite the business-related challenges you face, I recommend considering these hopeful (yet pragmatic) opportunities. 1. An opportunity to lead with compassion and set an example.COVID-19 has made downsizing seem almost normal. It doesn’t have to be. The best advice for business owners I can give: Listen to your heart. Your employees appreciate when you speak and act from a point of empathy. If you’ve avoided layoffs, don’t start now. I’ve been an employer for 35 years, and the last thing I want to do is furlough talent. You might think you have no choice but to get rid of workers. When someone tells me that, however, I respond, “Are you sure?” There certainly has to be one more cost you could cut. Under these circumstances, entrepreneurs become focused, intentional and highly creative. So before issuing pink slips, gather your key players to brainstorm ways to sacrifice elsewhere to save staff positions. Educate yourself on what other companies are doing to hold onto their human resources at all costs. You’ll sleep better—and so will your trusted employees. 2. An opportunity to trim fat from your budget.Listen to your heart, but make sure your head gets in the game. This is especially critical when talking about finances—one of small business owners’ biggest challenges anyway. You can affect your business’s bottom line two ways over the coming quarters: by increasing revenue or decreasing expenses. Increasing revenue might be challenging right now, so concentrate your efforts on money management. This isn’t high-level stuff. If you take more money out than you put in, you’ll go under. Therefore, budget wisely and question everything: Are marketing efforts producing healthy returns? Are your investments smart decisions? In the U.S., the Federal Reserve indicated in spring that 83 percent of businesses it had surveyed had less than three months’ runway without an infusion of cash. Instead of hoping for a huge bid, imagine clever ways to make do if your incoming revenue remains stagnant. 3. An opportunity to update your safety standards.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s coronavirus protection guidelines are as clear as day. Follow them and play it smart. I understand the importance of keeping the economy chugging along, but the only way to get COVID-19 cases to near-zero is by mitigating the spread of the virus. Limit your capacity, encourage mask-wearing, practice social distancing, scrub down your offices daily and make hand sanitizer available to employees and customers. Use this time to make your commitment to health and safety a selling point and differentiator in the market. At the same time, educate nonstop. We’ve posted notices so everyone who enters the building gets a quick refresher on health-related protocol. It sounds silly, but we can all forget the rules. Sometimes, I’ll mindlessly get too close to someone and have to correct myself. We need to retrain ourselves so we all feel more comfortable and secure. 4. An opportunity to join the front lines.At my company, I’m not just the top dog. I’m the head cook and bottle washer, too. I’m not too proud to do the things that I once thought bosses didn’t do. Not a day goes by that I don’t do multiple things that aren’t on my job description. When your teams see you getting your hands dirty, they respond in kind. This time is a great opportunity to get to know your employees and colleagues in new ways, working side by side. Think about other front lines: your community and its people. Give whatever you can in whatever amount or form that makes sense. The Bible notes that “God loves a cheerful giver,” and you don’t need to be religious to appreciate that sentiment. Get into the mindset of being philanthropic—even if that means offering time or talent instead of dollars. Your workers will follow the lead, potentially driving commerce through your acts of compassion and goodwill. You’re experiencing some of the most unprecedented challenges for small businesses. Learn from them. Find the golden nuggets of wisdom. What you discover will make you a stronger, more competent entrepreneur ready to face leadership in difficult times. The president and CEO of DeLine Holdings, Greg DeLine is an entrepreneur and philanthropist. Greg has started and owned more than a dozen successful companies. He has a passion for relationships and helping others reach their full potential. The post 4 Reasons to Be Optimistic Today appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2CdyyvU Kalika Yap, an Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) member in Los Angeles, is founder and CEO of both Orange & Bergamot, a creative agency for female founders, and Citrus Studios, a branding and design agency. She’s also an author and the host of EO Wonder podcast. Jacky Daly spoke in a recent EO Together live-stream, and Kalika shares highlights. Jack Daly has been selling all his life. At 12, he picked up a paper route in Philadelphia that had 32 customers. A year later, it had 275. But that meant trudging around in the Pennsylvania snow before dawn, delivering papers. You had to be 12 to have a paper route, so Daly hired a bunch of eager 11-year-olds who wanted a job but couldn’t get one for another year. “I said, `Here, you guys go and deliver the papers. I’ll split the money 50/50 with you,’” Daly recalls. “’A year from now, I’ll write you a letter of recommendation, you’ll get your own route. And by the way, I’m going to do the collecting.’” That last part was key because people tipped him when he collected, and he kept those to himself. “So they did 100 percent of the work and I kept 70 percent of the money,” Daly says. That’s when he knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur, and he’s been one ever since. He’s also an endurance athlete, completing 12 Ironman races in eight countries. The paper route was a homerun, to be sure, but he really made it big in 1985, when he moved to California (for the weather) and started a mortgage company with three other people. A year and a half later, the firm had 750 employees. How did Daly figure out how to do that? By asking questions. While delivering newspapers, he moonlighted as a caddie. His family didn’t have the money for golf, and Daly wondered how these players got theirs. So, he asked them. And asked them again. “In that process, I ended up interviewing 200 successful business owners in the summer of my 13th year,” Daly said in a presentation to members of Entrepreneurs’ Organization. He has kept up the practice, which he calls “modeling the masters.” So what did those entrepreneurs tell him?
Daly has been setting goals since he was 13, when he wrote down where he wanted to be at age 30 in terms of education, profession and family. Another trick? Appoint a board of directors for your life. Daly has a five-member board that he meets with four times a year to make sure he’s on track. One of them is his daughter, Melissa, 44, who is known, he says, as “Jack in a skirt” because she is as driven as he is. Yet another trick: Don’t be afraid to blow your own horn. Daly says he often got passed over for promotions early in his career at Arthur Anderson and Enron because he thought his good work alone would advertise his abilities. Not so, he says. After a series of disappointments, he decided to switch things up. “You have to position yourself,” Daly says. “Literally, overnight, I decided to change my personality. In fact, my wife Bonnie had to get accustomed to this new guy that was out tooting his horn. But when that happened, opportunities presented themselves like crazy.” Not long after, Daly found himself at the helm of his mortgage company. He had a seven-figure income, a chef on the floor of his building, a helicopter and jet on call, and floor tickets to the Los Angeles Lakers, for the season. And then he met Jim Pratt, whom he had hired as a speaking coach. They got to talking, and Pratt told him about traveling the world and helping people become better at their jobs, which sounded like a lot more fun. So he moved to San Diego to work with Pratt. After years of running large organizations, it was time for a change, he thought. “My largest Salesforce was 2,600 people,” Daly says. “Those people will suck every ounce of blood out of you. Today I have no employees, I go wherever I want.” After coming off the field to become a coach and speaker, Daly wrote the best-seller Hyper Sales Growth. He speaks regularly to Fortune 500 audiences. Daly has done lots of different things in his life, but he pursued them all with the same strategy: set a goal, have a plan, and set a deadline. “At the end of the day,” he says. “It all comes down to vision, a playbook,and then one word: grit.” And, if you’re an entrepreneur, you know all about that last item. Jack Daly is a sales speaker and trainer with over 30 years of sales and executive experience. He started his professional journey at CPA firm Arthur Andersen and rose to the CEO level of several corporations, building six companies into national firms along the way, two of which he subsequently sold to the Wall Street firms of Solomon Brothers and First Boston. He is a 15-time Ironman competitor and has completed over 93 marathons in 49 states and on six continents. He achieves these goals and lives life to the fullest by following his own Life by Design techniques. The post A 30-year Sales Superstar Shares Two Tricks to Succeeding appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/3gXhJUu Contributed by Aytekin Tank, founder of JotForm, We’ve all heard the expression, “There aren’t enough hours in the day.” In truth, we’ve likely all said it at some point. Time management is a struggle for everybody, but especially entrepreneurs, CEOs and founders. Interestingly, some people seem to get more out of our 24 hours each day than others. As author Idowu Koyenikan said, the key to making the most of our hours isn’t time management—it’s life management. People who do it successfully balance the things they love with tasks they need to complete to maintain a well-rounded, satisfying life. To-do lists or any one of the countless books on time management can help you achieve this balance, but things will eventually fall apart unless you make a habit of productivity—and stick to it. This might mean writing down your top priorities for the day or week, using a productivity app, or creating a plan that works best for you. The Truth About Time Management for CEOsWhen it comes to time management skills and techniques, business leaders are among the worst offenders. This typically happens because of the nature of leadership positions. These individuals are driven by the feeling that they have to do everything or have all the answers. They’re also responsible for a lot: On average, CEOs work 9.7 hours per weekday and spend 79 percent of weekend days and 70 percent of their vacation days working. Success doesn’t come from adding countless tasks to your calendar and putting in the longest possible hours, though. It comes from purposeful, intentional work, which means managing your time more effectively so you can focus on what really matters. To get there, business leaders have to reset their time-management expectations. Simply using productivity tools doesn’t lead to better time management—developing concrete time-management skills does. How Are You Managing Your Time?While CEOs and business leaders have countless resources at their disposal, they frequently lack time. Here are four steps to improve your time-management skills and techniques so that you can maximize the time you do have:
To some degree, business leaders are always clocked in; the task list never ends when you’re building a successful business. Strong time management reduces the time spent on tasks that aren’t helping you succeed, allowing you to prioritize activities that benefit you and your business. Reset your expectations for time management and involvement, approach the problem in the right way, and reap the rewards of productivity. Aytekin Tank is the founder of JotForm, a popular online form builder. Established in 2006, JotForm enables customizable data collection for enhanced lead generation, survey distribution, payment collection, and more. The post The Truth About Time Management: It’s Not About Time appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/3faK75p Contributed by Rizwan Virk, author of Startup Myths and Models: What You Won’t Learn in Business School. The pandemic of 2020 has tested most sectors of the economy. Like the downturns in 2008 and 2001, this has been a very trying time for entrepreneurs running startups. Many entrepreneurs are reliant on outside funding, whether angel investors, venture capitalists or strategic investors, to keep the venture going. At the same time, many investors are being more cautious with making new investments, preferring to focus on their existing portfolio before investing in new companies. While not all entrepreneurs are in the middle of raising funding, the need to get the company to some level of profitability, or at least to increase the runway, creates a lot of stress. It turns out that this is even true for a number of entrepreneurs I know who had profitable enterprises before the pandemic. Suddenly, the pipeline of customers that were expected to close was becoming smaller and smaller. While some level of stress is inevitable if you are running a startup, times like this can ramp up the stress factor considerably. At stake is not just your own livelihood, but the livelihood of everyone who works for you. I interviewed a number of prominent VC’s and entrepreneurs for my recent book. Here is advice I collected for dealing with the stress of running a startup: 1. Remember that you are not alone.Brad Feld, a partner at Foundry Group and investor in many successful startups, gave me this piece of advice. I can personally attest that it’s very easy for a startup CEO to feel alone and isolated. This only makes the stress build up inside you. Brad says: “Talk to people you trust, whether they’re investors, board members, co-founders, mentors, whatever; make sure you’re open about the stress and the struggle you’re going through both financially in the business and personally.” A startup is not a lone adventure. It’s important to enlist the ideas of others that are invested in your venture. 2. Join a CEO peer group.If you are in a peer group with other CEOs, it’s much easier to get perspective on what’s happening to you. When I ran my very first startup, Brainstorm Technologies, I would go to our CEO group and there was always at least one other entrepreneur who was going through similar (or even tougher) challenges. Not only did I realize I wasn’t alone, but the best advice usually came from other CEOs—just by listening to their challenges and the actions they were taking was enough to help. Sometimes, you don’t feel comfortable describing your fears and frustrations to your cofounders or investors on your board, but a peer group allows you to do this in a safe way. During this pandemic, many groups are continuing online via zoom. 3. Deal with the reality of the situation.Brad Feld noted that it’s important not to deny what is happening and to deal with the reality of the situation every day. I’ve seen many entrepreneurs say “Don’t worry, it’s not that bad, things will pick up” and delay taking action, whether it’s cutting a product or customer or laying off employees. This is almost always a mistake. Don’t delay making important decisions because you expect things to “get better.” I’ve almost never come across an entrepreneur who said “I wished I’d waited before cutting expenses,” but I have heard many entrepreneurs say, “ I wish I had acted sooner.” 4. Communicate with the team.Alex Haro, co-founder of Life360, one of the most downloaded apps of all time, went through many challenging times building up his startup into a public company. Alex says that one of the things that helped him during these times was being transparent and communicating the real state of things with his team. As a result, he wasn’t delivering rosey news when he knew things weren’t going so well. I believe being transparent can enroll your team in finding solutions, and make more people in the organization buy into the difficult decisions that you will need to make. 5. Manage your own expectations.When a startup isn’t doing well, entrepreneurs can be particularly hard on themselves. It’s these “inflated expectations” that can often make you feel like you are failing, even when you are not entirely to blame for a situation. Alex Haro says: “I think the more stressful part is that I think any great entrepreneur sets up expectations for themselves that are very hard to meet.” I remember another entrepreneur telling me when it looked like his business wasn’t going to make it, he was dreading telling his investors. It turned out his investors had been through this before and weren’t too upset, but he felt like a failure and just wanted to curl up in a ball in bed for the next six months. Stress builds up over time. One of the best ways to get stressed out is by holding yourself to standards that aren’t being met. Manage your own expectations, and then manage the expectations of those around you. 6. Explore all options.While most people tell entrepreneurs that they need to “focus,” sometimes a downturn is the right time to explore and try all avenues. Alex Haro says that when they only had a few weeks of runway left and weren’t sure if their next round of financing was going to close, they tried every crazy idea they could think of. This can mean reaching out to business partner, possible strategic partners/investors, acquirers, angels, to look for ways to keep the company going through these tough times. This might mean taking services projects to keep the company going. Famously, Scott Cook, the founder of Intuit, once had to pay his employees with stock because he couldn’t make payroll. 7. Manage your stress level.Perhaps most important, is to manage the stress in yourself. The human nervous system was designed to deal with momentary stress, which induces the “fight or flight” response and floods the body with adrenaline. But chronic stress is something that can become debilitating. A startup is like a constant “fight or flight” situation, and when the economy turns, or you can’t raise the next round of financing, or customers that you had counted on simply put off decisions and projects, it can build up. In addition to getting plenty of sleep, the lack of which, says Brad Feld, “can lead to bad decisions,” be sure there are things you can do and places you can go to destress. My personal mantra was “Watch Star Trek, Do Yoga, and Walk on the Bay.” These activities are guaranteed de-stressors for me. In fact, yoga is an excellent way to let go of the tensions that are accumulating in your body. Ancient yogis seemed to understand that stress gets built by increasing tension in certain parts of the body. In my case, I live near Google, close to Shoreline Park right on the bay. A walk there has the effect of reducing whatever stress I’m holding in my body, making me feel like I’m a thousand miles away as I gaze over the bay to the mountains that surround Silicon Valley. Find your own stress mantra that you can not only repeat, but actually implement every day during troubled times. Every entrepreneur’s journey is different but most entrepreneurs are finding the current situation to be a major cause of stress. This can be because customers are taking longer than expected to close, because investors aren’t jumping into new ventures, because payroll and expenses have far outpaced expected revenue, or for a variety of other reasons. Whatever the cause of your stress, these seven tips can help you to keep things in perspective, reduce your stress level and hopefully, make you or your startup more successful in the long term. Rizwan Virk is the author of Startup Myths and Models: What You Won’t Learn in Business School. He is a successful entrepreneur, video game pioneer and venture capitalist and founder of the startup accelerator Play Labs @ MIT. A graduate of MIT and Stanford, he is also the author of Zen Entrepreneurship: Walking the Path of the Career Warrior; Treasure Hunt: Follow Your Inner Clues to Find True Success); and The Simulation Hypothesis: An MIT Computer Scientist Shows Why AI, Quantum Physics, and Eastern Mystics All Agree We Are in a Video Game. For more information, please visit https://www.zenentrepreneur.com and follow the author on Twitter. The post How to Manage a Startup Through Troubling Times appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2BIr8Ay
Contributed by Steve Herz, a talent agent for broadcast journalists. His new book is Don’t Take Yes For an Answer: Using Authority, Warmth, and Energy to Get Exceptional Results was released in June 2020 (Harper Business). 1. What do you mean when you say we shouldn’t take “yes” for an answer?In the book, I lay out my argument that three factors over the past 30 years have created an artificial sense of excellence and created an echo chamber of “yes” for many of us—the participation trophy, grade inflation and the lack of firings by businesses, in lieu of euphemisms like downsizings and reorgs. So the person on the wrong end doesn’t even know they could have done something better. And without that signaling, we get stuck in what I call the vortex of mediocrity. There is no way to improve because we don’t even know there is something to improve upon. 2. Why did you write this book?Four years ago, I decided to take what I had learned as a talent agent, coaching on-air talent, and apply it to businesspeople and organizations that had nothing to do with media (bankers, doctors, lawyers, etc). At a speech on 8 March 2017, someone in the audience on International Women’s Day at Bank Leumi, asked me if she could buy two copies of my book. I sadly told her that I didn’t have a book and she said, matter of factly, “you should write one.” Ultimately, I wrote it because when she asked me that question I decided I had something to say that was unique and helpful—and hopefully people will agree. 3. You argue that the key to success is to develop your authority, warmth and energy. What are these elements and how did you come to identify them?Over my career, I observed that the people who were succeeding at the highest levels had influence over the room. They were able to make others like them, trust them, believe in them and were motivated by them. AWE is a shorthand way to achieve that—authority, warmth and energy. It’s intended for people who already have the substantive qualities, technical expertise, and experience. If you have all that substance, as well as stylistic authority, you’ll come across as someone others believe and believe in. That’s in your voice, demeanor, body language, and many other things discussed in the book. And if you have stylistic warmth, you’ll connect with others and engender their trust—which is absolutely essential for any relationship. And if you have the ability to energize others, you’ll be able to have influence. Without it, I’ve seen many people work extremely hard and never come close to achieving their potential. Which is very sad because this is a learnable skill. 4. How does this framework for success apply to entrepreneurs running businesses?It applies to entrepreneurs especially since it’s so vital to attract a good staff and to retain and develop them—while also attracting customers. In almost every business, your product is similar to something else in the market, and most people and businesses are somewhat commoditized. But the quality of a connected relationship built on the principles of AWE will never be commoditized. It will build a cohesive loyal organization with loyal customers. 5. What are the signs that an entrepreneur might be stuck in the “vortex of mediocrity,” as you say?That should be fairly obvious to the person based on where the business is in its life cycle. An entrepreneur is generally not someone who will be satisfied with the status quo so I think this vortex is less likely for he or she personally. But the business may not be asking the right questions about where its product sits in the marketplace and what can be done to improve it. The ultimate question is: What questions am I asking myself daily and is this leading to improvement? Or am I just settling for the status quo day/week/month/year in and year out? 6. What is the most important thing you hope entrepreneurs will take away from your book?To understand that constructive feedback is not something to be feared. The absence of feedback is what you should fear. What you don’t know can hurt you and will ultimately hurt your business. And your leadership style is what can hold you and your business back from greater heights…so change your mindset and you’ll change your life. The post The Problem With “Yes” appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2ZkkTKQ |
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November 2020
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