by Beth | Oct 2, 2024 | Onboarding
I love to go bowling. I love the lights, the sounds, the anticipation, the rush…there really is nothing like it! I haven’t been in a long, long time, but the last time I went, I saw a father teaching his 6- ish year-old son how to bowl. He had bumper guards on their lane that covered the gutter.
The little boy had so much fun! He tried various ways to get the ball down the lane and knock over the pins. He and his dad laughed and laughed… they high-fived and danced around.
Then, the boy asked his dad to lower the bumper guards. The father tried to tell him that it was going to be really hard, but the boy insisted. So, Dad lowered the guards, and the boy promptly rolled the ball in the gutter. He. Was. Crushed!
The Dad talked him through it. He helped the boy process his devastation, and the guards went back up on the lane. When they headed out, I heard the Dad say to the boy, “we will come back soon and practice some more.”
What do bumper guards have to do with hiring? I am so glad you asked!
We spend all of this time, energy and money trying to hire the right fit, and the minute this new hire shows up to work, we drop them in an office with little or no training. Even C-suite executives need to be told how to locate the coffee pot and who the largest client is. If you don’t train your new hires, they will throw lots of gutter balls… at the company’s expense.
Put up the bumper guards. Spend time with your new hire explaining the parameters and the boundaries. Show them where the supply closet is and introduce them to Dorothy in Finance. Explain to them who the best clients are and how they came to be. Teach them how to throw a strike.
Once the new hire is continually throwing balls down the center of the lane, lower the guards and cut them loose to throw one turkey after another!
*** For you non-bowlers, a turkey is 3 strikes in a row.
POWER THOUGHT: Learning to bowl without bumper guards equates to starting a new job without training. You are destined to spend all your time in the gutter.
by Beth | Sep 17, 2024 | Lifestyle
I attended a business meeting last week where several members talked about how scared they were with our economy and current state of affairs. One member said, “I just don’t know what is going to happen, and I am really scared about it.”
Here is the bottom line that I hope will help you: I have owned businesses for 25 years. I have seen 9/11, 2008, 2013, and COVID. Each time I really thought the world was going to end, and it didn’t. I suffered many a sleepless night only to end up here today…still in business and loving it.
Being in business for yourself or being in a stressful position is a mindset, and you have to constantly make sure that your mindset stays positive. Don’t ignore the facts and don’t ignore trends. Just don’t let it ruin your sleep.
Mark LeBlanc gave me the best piece of business advice that I have ever heard: Each day, Monday through Friday, make 2 calls per day to whoever comes to your mind with absolutely no agenda. Just pick up the phone and say, “I was just thinking about you! How are you doing?” And listen intently to their responses.
Then, look for miracles. Some examples of miracles: you pull up to a parking meter and it still has time on it. You find $20.00 on the street. Your taxes aren’t as much as you thought they were going to be. You find a sale on your favorite products.
These actions cost you no money, and it will totally turn your day around. Then, you can make business decisions from a more logical and stable place.
After all… life is supposed to be enjoyable, and so is your job.
POWER THOUGHT: As the singer/songwriter Pitbull says: “Scared money don’t make money”. And boy is he right about that.
by Beth | Sep 4, 2024 | Selecting Good Candidates
I have been conducting this impromptu, unofficial survey of how people like their margaritas. The answers have been so vast and have sparked some interesting debates! For example: 1) alcohol or non-alcohol 2) salt or no salt 3) lime or no lime 4) lime or strawberry (Is strawberry even a margarita?? one purist questioned) 5) frozen, on -the-rocks 6) mix or coin style.
If that isn’t enough, what are your tequila choices? White, gold, reposado, or anejo. What are your mix choices? Pre-mix? Just lime juice? How about orange flavor? Triple sec? Gran Gala? Grand Marnier? Any other secret ingredients? Quite literally, the combinations are endless.
As the consumer, you CAN leave the choices to someone else, and just order the house margarita… you may like it, or you may not. Or you can spend time, energy and money trying to figure out what you like and create your own special recipe.
Just. Like. Hiring.
You can take any ole resume that comes along with very mixed results. Or, you can spend the time, energy and effort to figure out what you want before you hire someone. This exercise is called the Ideal List, and it is the first step in the A-list Interviews Hiring Process. What type of person are you searching for? What attributes do you want? What values must this person have in order to fit in with your company culture? What skill sets will make them successful?
If you are okay with taking big chances, pull a resume out of the pile and hire them. But if you are like most business-people I know, you need to find the right person the first time. That means, you have to do the work before you hire someone. You deserve an employee that is unique to you and your business.
And for your information, I am not a huge margarita fan. I like Anejo tequila with no lime, no salt, at room temperature. Ole!
POWER THOUGHT: Don’t take big risks with your hires. Or your margaritas.
by Beth | Aug 21, 2024 | Lifestyle
For the first 2 weeks of August, I went on vacation on the beautiful Anna Maria Island in Florida. As an entrepreneur, it is always a struggle to take a real vacation. I worry that I am going to miss out on a big deal. I worry that my current clients will be upset. I worry that my colleagues won’t support my being away. I am certain that I am not alone in my worries.
But the benefits of vacation are now proven by science. According to this article, vacations are good for your heart. People who vacationed every year were 30% less likely to die of heart disease. https://www.goodrx.com/health-topic/mental-health/benefits-of-travel-vacation-good-health We sleep more and move more. Remember when we used to prioritize not sleeping and how harmful that was? Well, now vacation is getting the same bad rap, when in essence it is vital for our health.
So, this year, I decided to take a REAL vacation. I made it my mission to totally unplug and work on my tan. The first week, I didn’t do so hot. I had some meetings scheduled on that first Monday. Due to Hurricane Debby, I didn’t have internet and had to re-schedule them to Wednesday. I didn’t really relax those days, because I was still in work mode. But after that Wednesday, I closed my laptop and didn’t open it again until the Sunday night before work on Monday. Not bad!
How did I do it you ask? Here are some tips:
1) Insert a disclaimer: Eight weeks before my vacation, I put a disclaimer on my email signature line. In case I forgot to tell someone or if I was nervous to tell someone, it was on my signature.
2) Email coverage: I had my assistant cover my email. To be fully transparent, I also kept an eye on it on my phone, but I relied on others to alert me to things that needed my attention… which happened exactly ZERO times.
3) Adjust your mindset: Get it in my head that people can go 2 weeks without talking to me. Seriously. I am important, but not THAT important.
4) Set a vacation goal: Mine was to get the killer-est tan of all. And did I succeed? You bet your sweet sunscreen I did!
POWER THOUGHT: Take a vacation. It’s good for your heart, mind and soul…. And you get a killer tan!
by Beth | Aug 7, 2024 | Leadership
As many of you know, I owned a restaurant back in the day, and I had the largest ground floor outdoor patio in Boulder. I drove up to the building on a random 70 degree day in January where the sky was blue and the clouds were puffy and white. I also encountered a line out the door and around the building for people wanting to bask in the sun and drink margaritas.
I was woefully unprepared! I didn’t have enough staff, or enough pre-made margaritas! I called some people in to help, then I went back in the kitchen to make our house margaritas by the big buckets.
What is wrong with this picture, you might ask?
While my staff was thrilled to have me help them get our customers served as quickly as possible, it was a short-term fix to a much larger issue. When we would get hit with a rush of people, as the owner of the company, my time was NOT best served by helping out my staff in the moment… my time was best served by getting more staff on the floor in order to help the customers get their orders. In other words, I needed to focus on the bigger picture… why we were short staffed at all in that moment.
I see this all the time with my clients, and this article does a great job of explaining when leaders need to delegate tasks, and when they don’t. https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/mentoring-matters/2024/07/ask-marcia-duties-leader.html?utm_source=st&utm_medium=en&utm_campaign=nch&ana=e_n_bizwomen_tease
You as the leader of your business, or the leader of your department, need to make sure that you stay focused on the business/department as a whole. Instead of making the margaritas, I needed to make sure that the margaritas got made. Then, everyone was much happier, and the shifts ran more smoothly.
POWER THOUGHT: Instead of making the margaritas, make sure that the margaritas are made and made right.
