Three essential ways to get comfortable with finance
As a business owner, you’re the person primarily responsible for your company’s finances. Not your bookkeeper. Not your accountant. You.
4 benefits of taking time off during the holidays
I recently heard an incredible statistic about how working less boosts productivity. It came from a study done this year at Microsoft Japan, where for the entire month of August, employees worked four (as opposed to five) days a week. It caught my attention because Japanese work culture is notorious for grueling h...
How true leaders manage disappointment
As the owner and leader of your business, you may find yourself facing the year-end with a mixture of thoughts and feelings: excitement, hope, joy—and maybe some disappointment.
Get to the root of your business frustrations—and solve them.
Whether you’re exasperated by inconsistent sales, poor employee performance or your own role in the business, all frustrations can be solved with the right systems. Our free guide will help you build the systemic solutions you need.
How to stop feeling overwhelmed and get control of your business
“I’m overwhelmed.” It’s a phrase we hear often and from everyone, from parents to business owners. There’s always so much to do, so many details to track and deadlines to manage. Nobody wants to feel overwhelmed—but in today's busy world, what can you do about it?
Getting your people behind project management
So, you’ve noticed a lack of clarity and consistency in how projects are managed in your business and taken the essential step of implementing a project management system. Congratulations! Project management systems—and the tools used to execute them—are crucial to ensuring every project you take on in your busine...
Your 3-step plan for growing your business in the new year
If you’re like every owner I’ve worked with over the years, you left a job and started your own business spurred by the dream of what that business—and your life—could look like. It’s what inspired you to choose the entrepreneurial path and what motivated you to persevere when it got really hard. But after some ti...
Leadership is the key to getting the results you want
In this final article on systems development, I want to address the question we get most from our clients when it comes to building systems in their business: where do I begin? In this article, I’ll provide a blueprint for the most important, foundational systems in your business—and the ideal order in which to bu...
Changing your perspective to create a systems strategy: The view from space
Last week I covered how an operations manual can save your business (and your life), much like the operations manual on Apollo 13 saved Jim Lovell’s life. This week, I want to take you on a journey into systems strategy: Reality dictates you will be building systems while working in your existing business. We call...
How an operations manual can save your business
During the last long-haul flight I was on, I re-watched Apollo 13 (the one with Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell). Perhaps not the best choice as I was hurtling through the sky at 500 mph in a tin-can myself, but there’s something to be said for the thrill. If you haven’t seen the film, it's based on real-life events and i...
How can ordinary people create extraordinary results?
This week, I want to share a concept that will help you turn your current business frustrations into operational systems. It’s one small step for you and your team—but it will be one giant leap for your business. There were some days as a business owner when I felt completely consumed by my business. The only thin...
3, 2, 1, blast off: The growth paradox
In my first article in this series on systems, I introduced the idea that as the owner and entrepreneur in your business, you're also the systems engineer. In this second article, I propose that when building better designed systems solutions to solve frustrations, it’s common to start in the wrong place.
How to run your business like NASA going to the moon
I can remember watching the moon landings on a black and white television as a young boy and being fascinated by the idea. I’m still young enough at heart to feel excited by big rockets and the notion of space travel. I apologize up-front if space isn’t your thing, but building rockets and flying to the moon is a ...
5 steps for documenting systems
Without documentation, “great systems” are only rough ideas about the way you do things in your business. And all your tasks, functions, processes and procedures—the way that you and your staff habitually do everything—are nothing more than good intentions.
Work ON it, not just IN it
If you’re one of the many millions of fans of Michael Gerber’s The EMyth Revisited, you know that there’s no message that’s had a more universal impact on business owners than work on it, not just in it. Over the last 35 years, since The EMyth was first published in 1986, this phrase has become part of the busines...
Are you mastering time management?
Do you use your time efficiently and for the right things? Take our quiz to find out.