How do you create a company that produces consistent and desirable results? It’s a question every business owner asks, and the answer is simple: Create systems that support the outcomes you want to achieve—from the customer experience and team culture you want to promote, to the product you deliver and your annual...
Managing a business partnership may be the only thing more difficult than managing a business. Partnerships are hard for the same reasons that any relationship is hard. It takes diligence and work to bring together personalities, communication styles, and ideals. And if you want your partnership to serve your busi...
Business owners often face a frustrating dilemma: They’re so busy with the tactical work of their business, they can’t find time to create the structure needed to escape that tactical work. It’s an overwhelming cycle that—for many—feels inescapable. But I promise it’s not. It’s not easy to escape it, but it’s not ...
Business owners are some of the busiest people I know. So it never surprises me when I hear a prospective Coaching client say they just don’t have time to work on their business. They don’t even have time to spend with their family or exercise or volunteer doing something they’re passionate about, so where are the...
How do you build a highly systematized, self-sustaining business that can give you the freedom to step away from it for days, weeks, or even months at a time? That’s what business owners like you most wanted to read about this year. In case you missed them, here are the 5 most popular blog posts of 2018.
Unless you’ve had personal experience with it, business coaching is probably a bit of a mystery. Do business coaches just walk in and fix the broken parts of your business? Are they only there to motivate and support, or do they get down in the weeds with you? In our 40+ years coaching owners to be entrepreneurs, ...
When you think about your business, what do you see as your product? Is it the commodity you sell? The service you provide? The community you help build? Or is it the business itself?
Some years ago, I called a client of mine (let’s call him “Mark”) who owned a skateboard design and manufacturing company to confirm an in-person coaching session we’d scheduled. When he answered the phone, he was out of breath. “Are you okay?” I asked him. “Oh, I’m fine. I’m just hanging from the ceiling, running...
Take a moment to think about your business. Go ahead—picture your typical work day. What does that picture look like? Does it look like you clocking into a job, immersed in the technical work of your business? Does it look like you putting out constant fires, struggling to check a single task off your to-do list w...
When I started as an EMyth Coach in 1996, I had a client (let’s call her Kathy) whose biggest frustration was not being able to trust her people to take care of the business in her absence. She confessed that it had been ten years since she’d gone away for longer than a weekend. Just one week prior, she’d stepped ...
If you want to confidently step away from your business—whether it’s for two weeks, two months, or two years—you need to trust that two key dynamics in your business can operate consistently and predictably whether you’re there or not.
Let’s be honest: Building a business that doesn’t depend on you isn’t easy. It’s going to take lots of time, attention, and know-how. You’re going to be drawn into fighting fires you wish weren’t happening; you’re going to worry about having the right resources to create the right results; you’re going to have to ...
If you’re fortunate enough to have taken your company on a journey through all of its highs and lows for 5, 10, even 20 years or more, chances are you’ve had those moments when you wished your business weren’t so damn dependent on you. No matter what you’ve achieved, most business owners know in their heart that i...
Can you be a business owner and still be an artist? There are many talented and successful artists working hard every day to do what they love. Some people are able to periodically earn money with their passion, but for many artists, that income is not enough to consider it a “living.”
Let’s start with one thing we all know: Being good at something – designing a building, baking specialty cakes, performing micro-surgery, repairing cars, promoting artists, installing electrical wiring or plumbing, providing legal or financial advice – achieving a level of expertise in any area for which you have ...
I met with my client, Paul, earlier this week. Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, it had been three weeks since our last meeting. I was looking forward to reviewing with him his list of Key Strategic Indicators that he’d committed to delivering – the critical, quantifiable reference points he’ll use to track the...
The money you make in your business is hard-earned. It’s the reward for all of the sales calls, difficult client deadlines, and customer support challenges. So it’s hard to give it up to anyone—least of all the government. Yet, taxes are a part of doing business in almost every country on earth. And we want you to...
