My Business On Purpose

I had a client turn down a 1.2 million dollar job this week. 25% of his yearly revenue. Let's talk about why? Good afternoon, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. If there's a phrase that I've heard over and over this year, it's "we gotta make money while there's money to be made." There's a scarcity mindset that is going around in the contractor space. Prices are still on the way up, and yet people continue to build, and work continues to be there for the taking. So, is all work the same? Is all work worth taking, no matter who the client is and no matter what it costs you? Well, most people today would find a way to make it work. Well, we can hire and train quickly and we'll find a way to get it done. Straight into emergency mode. Straight into the chaos. And yet, that decision is made out of emotion and not with a plan in place. It's almost destined to fail or be awful throughout. I was so proud recently when I sat down with one of my clients and they said, you'd be proud of me… I turned down 1.2 Million dollars of business yesterday. What? I was losing my mind. Walk me through it. I had someone approach me about a 1.2 million dollar job and I told them we couldn't do it. Well, why? I started smiling as I knew where this was going. A lot of reasons. We don't have the team in place to be able to get the work done. It would have meant hiring guys we don't yet trust to keep the rest of the business going. Force training them and sending them out unprepared for that magnitude of a job. Not to mention the collateral damage of relationships with people who work with us weekly and monthly. What am I supposed to tell them when all of a sudden ⅓ of my workforce is out of commission for the next 2 months and I can't service the jobs they have sent me all along? Not to mention we probably won't be able to maintain the quality we aim for or the work-life balance that we hold our team to. All of which are core values. It distracts us from who we want to be as a team and where we're headed. Even though it's 1.2 million dollars? Absolutely. I was blown away. Think about what he just said. 25% growth wasn't worth it because it was a distraction. Because it wasn't fair to his team, the business partners he works with on a regular basis, or to his family, as he knew it would be long hours, and sacrificing time with them was not an option. Proud? Man, that's an understatement. But here's what I was most impressed by. This wasn't a tough decision. He had a filter that he put the decision through that removed emotion from the equation. It was an easy decision that weighed on him about as much as if he turned down a chick fila biscuit because he was on a diet. He had his priorities and stayed the course towards his vision. That is powerful. So here's the question for you. Do you have a filter that you run everything through? Do you know what jobs you want and which ones to steer clear of? Do you allow emotion to push you around and do you see the massive top line revenue number and think…we have to find a way to make this work? That's short-term thinking. But the work has to be done before that decision is ever made. I'll never forget this same client about lost his mind on a half a million-dollar commercial job last year. After that job was finished we came back to the drawing board and built out parameters for when and how to take a job. What was important about billing and draws and retainage? Who does he trust in the industry and how does he work well with them? That hard work on the front end helped this decision a year later all the easier. He knew what that job cost him from a reputation, a team, mental health, and a family health perspective and he knew how to prevent that from ever happening. Now here's the flip side. This won't be the last massive contract he's offered. I asked him, do you ever want to be able to take on a job like this? Absolutely he said. Great, now let's put the work in to build a business that can support that type of job without sacrificing the other pieces. That's the magic right there. Not letting the tail wag the dog, but building the business that is ready for a 1.2 million dollar contract without being distracted from the vision along the way. So take the time to think through this. Is every contract or sale the same? Is it costing you things you aren't realizing…and how do you put the work in to say no out of principal instead of just figuring it out. That's good stuff today y'all! Thanks for listening.

A business owner called me and said simply, "my people are getting their rear ends kicked right now, do you know of a good motivational speaker?" Within a few weeks, I show up ready to deliver a powerful talk on the RPMs of leadership (repetition, predictability, and meaning) and then follow it up with our super fun and engaging DISC workshop so that this team of project managers, purchasers, warranty care members, and general managers could work through the importance of speaking to people the way they wished to be spoken to. We worked through the realities of competing personalities and, in some cases, warring agendas. It was a powerful two-hour window of time and left each of the team members trying to understand their colleagues, customers, and trade partners better. But then what? The motivation was there. The new insights, the curiosities, and the nuances were all uncovered, evaluated, and role-played to some extent. But now what? A two-hour workshop is part insight, part motivation. Insights can spark a lifetime of curiosity, motivation will typically only ignite a short-term explosion that can leave a mark… but then go away. How do we take the short term value of motivation and merge it with the long term necessities of repetition, predictability, and meaning so that what we set in motion one day, like a rocket lifting to space, can be strategically placed into a cyclical orbit that brings long term value? First, we must remember that motivation is momentary. Some things in our home and business lives simply don't last very long, and yet have the power to wake us up to something that could change our lives. We see this played out medically when a friend has a sudden, non-fatal heart attack. That momentary situation acts as a wake-up call by which the patient now has a decision, use the heart attack as a catalyst to repetitively change their lifestyle, or simply reflect on this near-death moment as a cool story, but little else. Cardiology circles are filled with stories of patients who did not respond to the wake-up call with long-term, sustained changes. Sure, they had the gym membership, and purchased the diet foods… but on Tuesday, when it mattered, they opted for donuts and video games on the couch. When you bring in a shot of motivation, it must be followed with a drip of repetition. The second way to bring long-term value from a singular motivational event is, there must be a repetitive home for the long-tail of motivation. The smoothest and most natural repetitive check in to a solitary motivational event is the agenda-driven, leader-led, weekly team meeting. This predictable, repetitive event can become home to the ongoing follow-up to the singular motivation… if you make it so. Business offices are filled with team members who wished that their leadership would hold to a powerful, repetitive, agenda-driven team meeting. The reason we mock meetings is because most meetings are wasting our precious time. It is not the meeting (by definition) that is bad, it is the poor leadership of that meeting that wastes what is precious to us. Most clients we work with have spent time, effort, and energy to make their meetings meaningful and important. There are still a few trying to play dress-up with their meetings and talking a bigger game than they are living. It's up to you, if you want a culture you can be proud of, and your co-workers will want to invite their friends to be a part of… then the team meeting will become a priority. It is the one place where your entire team can wrestle through agenda issues, and get on the same page with the motivation that you have been sharing. As always, in making motivation last, remember that hail-mary play calling is not a winning strategy. Watch any sport and you will only see the equivalent of a hail-mary executed in moments of real desperation, and typically at the very end of the game. When successful, we are lured into believing that we can operate this way all of the time. Some even believe that certain players or teams can rely on hail mary's because "they are skilled at it". Real skill comes through the daily, repetitive, predictable, play calling of forethought game-planning and scenario scouting. Hail mary's are a losing strategy long term. Go ahead, hire your motivational speaker…but not until you have a long-term plan for implementing the short-term shot.

Look at your calendar. Do it. Obviously, this week is slammed, how bout next? And the next? So when does the faucet cut off so that you actually have some time back on your hands and things slow down? Well, let's talk about that today. Good morning Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. I saw a meme the other day and I just laughed. Because it represents the way pretty much all of us live our lives week after week after week! Here it is: Adulthood is saying, "But after this week things will slow down a bit," Over and over until you die!!! I was dying laughing. I can't tell you how many times I've said the same thing. Next week is a slower week, let's connect then. And if I'm not careful, I look up and it's Thursday afternoon and I'm wondering where that slower week I told everyone about actually was! So, is that you? Are you the person who, at church or your weekly golf match, when asked how you're doing…always tends to answer, busy man how are you? You deserve a busy badge! But seriously, who isn't busy! We fill our weeks with a lot of things that matter and a lot of things that truly don't! So how do we take our weeks back? How do we begin to own our time and get above the chaos of pretending like life is going to magically slow down in the near future? I've got a secret for you..it's not going to unless you force it to! Or unless you organize that business and chaos into something that makes a lot more sense. Here's another secret for you. It starts with a weekly schedule. Now… I'm not talking about a calendar that tells you what to do. I'm guessing all of you have that. What I'm talking about is a schedule… intentionally built out in advance of your week that tells it what it will look like. A plan. Same thing with any event. You build out a schedule of everything that needs to happen to make sure that you have enough time for it all. Your week should be no different. It should be a dictated, time-blocked event that takes place with margin for surprises. We always say around here, "Chaos is not optional, submitting to chaos is!" What that means is that chaos inevitably happens. Something takes longer than it should have. There's a mistake on the job site. Supply chain gets wonky and takes longer to get to you than it should have. However, having a plan in place helps you be able to respond to that chaos so you don't collapse underneath it. So let's take your week and build out your weekly schedule. Take 10 min and write down the big blocks of things you do every week. Or if it's easier for you to look at the next 2 weeks to get an idea, that's great too. Do you need multiple blocks for job site visits? Or team training? Estimating, invoicing, bookkeeping, email…you name it. And write down how much time you think you will need to accomplish that task this week. If it's 2 hours, twice a week, write it down. Is it an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon every day? Great! What time best fits in your schedule and when works best for you to be most alert for those tasks? Now go down your list and begin adding to your weekly schedule. The reason we do this is so that you can be fully engaged in your task at hand. How many times have you been answering an email that took some thought? The phone rings, Oh I'll just pick it up and answer this one quick question. While you're on the phone, your admin walks in and needs you to sign a few things and look over the schedule for next week. Ok, I'll just do this for her real quick. By the time you get back to the email, you have no idea where you were, so it takes you an extra 5 min to finish the email as you lost your entire train of thought! It happens all day every day right?!?! But a weekly schedule is different. It's sitting down to answer email and setting a timer if that helps, saying I have an hour to do a deep dive, and everything else can wait. There's very few emergencies that can't wait an hour. It's walking onto a job site and telling the crew, hey guys I'm leaving at 11, so think through what you need from me today and get all your questions out! It's amazing how efficient your team can be when they are forced to operate on your schedule. I think you'll be shocked at how quickly you get tasks finished when you're not trying to multi-task on 4-5 different things! Things get done more efficiently and you have blocks with margin in between to put out those fires that may pop up. Lastly, if you're anything like my client, you will get really good at accomplishing this schedule so that you have more time throughout the week. And here's the last thing I get asked all the time. Thomas, what if I fail at keeping this thing. And here's how I always respond. The purpose of this is to make a plan. A plan that is tweaked is still a plan. Let the weekly schedule serve you, don't serve your weekly schedule. Let it illuminate the areas that you need more training or the areas that may need a bit more or less time each week. Review it every Friday for th

I was volunteering as the public address announcer for the team my son plays on at his local High School. Armed with a cobbled-together sound system, a prescribed playlist, a microphone, and a few corny dad-jokes, we try to provide a little light humor throughout the competition of a High School game. Most games are a lot of fun. But the off-field activity of this last game was not. Parents from the visiting team began heckling when we did not announce their children's names each time they scored: we never have for any visiting team for a variety of reasons. On a spring evening in the beautiful low country of South Carolina, in a sport where very few players will go on to play in college, parents began rebuking the volunteer Dad running the music and making some announcements. Why? We struggle with empathy as a culture. We are in a civic landscape where if someone is not 100% right or good, then they are immediately painted as 100% wrong or bad. There seems to be little in between, little grace extended, little camaraderie, or lightheartedness. The core of our disdain for our neighbors, even the ones who are volunteering their time and effort has to do with shame. Shame is a two-way activity; as I deliver shame, I am able to build myself up while concurringly tearing you down. In her important book The Gift Of Imperfection, author Brene Brown defines shame as "the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging." Brown says that shame needs three ingredients to "grow out of control in our lives"; secrecy, silence, and judgment. In a description that hits too close to home, Brown describes shame as "that warm feeling that washes over us, making us feel small, flawed, and never good enough." Shame typically enters our practical vocabulary when accountability has been breached. Either we fall short, or someone we know or work with falls short of expectations and immediately we armor up, batten the hatch, and began launching shame grenades in an effort to cover up the discrepancy. Someone missed this mark (even if it is us) and we go to war to protect our reputation and standing among our network. Shame is an effective short-term tool with blistering short-term results. Unfortunately, for shame's sake, we live in a long-term world where relationships and connections are vital to human flourishing. Shame tears down with no plans or strategy to rebuild. Shame embeds itself like a tapeworm looking to grow and shut down the entire system. The seeds of shame produce a lifetime of shameful fruit. Accountability is vital to life. Without accountability to drinking water or eating food, the human body shrivels and wastes away. The human body has been designed with an accountability feedback loop alerting the mind to present starvations. Accountability is vital to organizational life. Without accountability to finance, product development, team leadership, marketing or sales, the organizational body shrivels and wastes away. The organizational body must be designed with similar accountability feedback loops that alert the leadership to present starvations. The mind doesn't blame the body when the body doesn't have enough to feed on. The mind simply responds with what the body needs as efficiently as possible. Accountability is a healthy process that has been badly battered through the delivery system of shame. A different delivery system is needed that will allow healthy accountability to be dispensed over a healthy and sustained duration. That long form delivery system is encouragement and empathy. To lead with encouragement is to literally inspire with courage. When we respond to a team member with encouragement, we lend them courage so their courage grows feasting off the courage we share. In order to lend courage, we must first be able to understand where the discouragement is coming from. Empathy is a powerful tool in understanding the challenge or discouragement of another person. Empathy is to feel what another person feels, or even more intensely to feel the suffering of another person. We all have joys and we all have sufferings, empathy is when we actively make a hard choice to keep our shame grenades locked away, and instead begin to proactively share courage with another person precisely at the point they feel or show weakness. How do you balance the truth of accountability with the courage of empathy? There is no balance, we may feel free to use both in endless quantities with a blank check. Accountability can only be effective for the long term when empathy is the delivery mechanism. Even though my response to the heckling parents was primarily internal, it was equally as shameful as I created a dirty list in my own mind of what I would have said had an opportunity developed. It did not. They went home probably embarrassed by their actions. I went home embarrassed by my more private response. We have a choice on what to share and how to s

Our family's mission is to be a light through wisdom, adventure, and time around the table. Our family mission ties directly into the mission we have here at Business On Purpose which is to liberate heroic business owners, just like you, from the chaos of working IN your business. So that you can ENJOY your business, maximize the impact that it can have on your family and your community, and make time for what matters most! For a ground rule...IGNORE THE NOISE and distraction… "It pays to curate the incoming, to ignore the noise, and to engage with voices who are willing to show their work." We are about to SHOW you our work. It's up to YOU to implement Surveying hundreds of heroic business owners just like you over the past few years we have heard loud and clear one of the biggest challenges that you face in your business...the feeling that you will never be able to step away from your business b/c you are SO busy working IN your business. Imagine the day, a lady named Josephine comes walking in your workspace, opens up a combo-locked suitcase and says simply… "I am ready to buy your business at a 4 times multiple of your annual earnings IN CASH right here on the spot...with two conditions… ...First, we have to be able to run your business the same EXACT way that you run your business right now, from the sales calls, to the payroll schedule, to the lead generation, to the production and everything in between. I will not require you stay on an earn out...but we need the entire business map so your valued customers will never feel the switch… Second, you have 30 minutes to make your decision and we will expect the roadmap to be in our hands and training to begin immediately using ONLY that roadmap as our training (you will not be allowed to "wing" any of it from your head!" Could you do it? You might say, "No one would ever do that." Ummm, we've seen crazier. Then you will say, "that is totally unreasonable to expect that a business owner would have her entire business mapped out SO THAT THE TEAM COULD RUN IT." Or is it? We can say with definition that your business is certainly more "sellable" with a comprehensive systems roadmap in place because your team can run it! Of course, this entire example may be totally lost you on because you would never have the intention of selling your business anyway. No problem. But wouldn't you like your business to depend LESS on you, and more on the RIGHT TEAM? That is a business that compensates you with intentional time, meaningful freedom, and the money to pay for it all? Don't you want your business to help facilitate your passions and convictions? To serve others without killing yourself? Wouldn't you love to do what Eric Burton did, and leave your business for 31 days and it would continue to hum along? We have determined through our own experience that about 8 out of 10 Small Business Owners are being OWNED by their business which means that even if they wanted to sell, no one would ever pay to OWN a business THAT OWNS THEM! How do we break out of the prison of our own business? How do we finally get off the treadmill? How do we stop constantly putting out fires and feeling pulled in 17 different directions? How do we stop the habit of throwing Hail Mary's in our business everyday? One way to try is to simply continue doing things the way you have been doing them. Of course we know where that leads...INSANITY! The other way is to replicate the delivery of every part of our small business and make it so predictable others can run it the EXACT SAME WAY WE WOULD. And, it also gives those team members the FREEDOM to use their skill set instead of being slowed by confusion. We are so obsessed about trying to find the right people…when in reality the more predictable strategy is to build a great SYSTEM where a variety of people can come join in. Remember the old Jewish phrase? In Jewish lore, there is a powerful statement that we have found to hold true since the centuries it was first written, "Write the Vision down so that those who read it may run!" The same is true for the processes that make up the Vision. In fact, we may even make our own statement to say, "Write the processes down so that those who read AND IMPLEMENT THEM, may run...the business!" Truth is...if you don't write it down...you don't OWN it…and neither can your team Did you know that your business doesn't have to own you? Did you know that you DON'T have to feel like you are on a treadmill? Did you know that owning a small business doesn't have to feel like a daily cliff dive with no visibility and no parachute? Owning a business can be the ultimate opportunity to set others free to live in their skill set, to serve customers, employees family's, vendors, your local community, and your global community...all at the same time!!! That's right. Your business can be a MASSIVE force for living out your convictions and serving others. BUT, it will never get there by doing the things that got you to this poi

STORY The U of SC football program had just won the first Bowl Game in the 100-year plus history of the school. After joining the rugged and tough SEC in 1992, the Gamecocks were still struggling to be the elite SEC teams like Florida and Tennessee. Tennessee had a young QB with a head-turning last name…Manning. We had a pony-tailed enthusiast named Taneyhill, along with two offensive lineman, two running backs all headed eventually to the NFL. We were desperate for a signature win in the SEC. JAMES DEXTER STORY at Tennessee turning the table over, driving down to the five-yard line 2nd and 1 (5-yard penalty): (7:40) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jPj3LKGMhc Blocked FG Returned 95 yards for a TD (9:51): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jPj3LKGMhc 56 - 21 Final Score…we were Often, in life, sports, and business, we do desperate things in desperate times in order to solve desperate problems. The last 2 years have created a desperate longing. Let's articulate the challenge that you are up against today. PAIN - Skyrocketing material and sub Pricing, Uncertainty, Subcontractor frustrations, Schedule delays, unrealistic clients, and PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE! Let's think through some of the desperate things you (or someone you know) may have tried in the midst of a desperate situation in your business… Go more intensely after deposits, draws, or receivables Maybe you're in a habit of using tomorrow's deposits, to pay yesterday's payables Hiring Marketing companies to get more leads/sales b/c "Sales solves everything right????"…even though we don't have measure in place to manage the money even if it did come in Tried to buy bulk material and it's dropped your cash flow Build Bonus structures and increased base comp, b/c "more money means people will stay longer" Just putting your head down and doing it yourself…"it's just easier" Tried to fix your schedule, or job costing, or projections schedule…but it just takes too much time Hired new PM's and Supers, Fired old PM's and Super's Hired your brother or your cousin, or your son Take on more work even though you are way behind on receivables and never properly job-costed previous job to understand profitability We are running around, spinning in circles, a slave to an over-heated market, the client, to the employee, to the sub, to the vendor. And we just want it to STOP. Just for a second so we can catch our breath. Talked to a custom builder in Kentucky two weeks ago who said, "I'm actually looking forward to a market slow down." I was waiting for lightning to strike. You had a grueling week, and then you have a Saturday where you are fired up about a late breakfast where you are going to eat donuts, cinnamon rolls, pancakes, bacon, cheese grits… then after you're done, you turn on a game on tv watching world-class athletes and think, "I need to work out!" Chaos can often translate to unhealthy habits because we are vulnerable. In the chaos of the pricing increases or material delays, we tend to rest in the false comfort of cash flow, while KNOWING that we are neglecting the discipline of purpose, process, and systems that will create a long term FIT-ness for us, our team, and the mission we are on in our business. I've seen it reported recently that both Quarterback Russel Wilson and basketball megastar Lebron James each spend over $1 million on the health and fitness of their mind and body. Here is a hard reality…trying to control pricing and material logistics is like trying to control the weather…you can't control the weather, BUT you can forecast and adjust plans based on the latest information…and PRE-PARE. I love the world prepare…it's actually two words in Latin Prae (Pre) = before Parare (pare) = make ready How do we make ourselves and our business ready BEFORE the next step? A friend of mine, Chad Jeffers is the lead Dobro player for Carrie Underwood. He was passing through Columbia, SC a couple of years ago as we were in town and we had coffee in the lobby of the downtown hotel he and the other band members were staying at. I asked Chad a simple question that I had never asked, "what is it like to play in front of all of those people?" His response was sobering. He mentioned that most nights he forgets where he is at, and that the "repetition of the event" can get quite boring. In order to be great and find joy in touring, you've got to go back to THE FITNESS of your repetition and training. In preparation for Carrie Underwood's Las Vegas residency shows, Chad said… "Typically for tours (including Vegas), we will rehearse for a month and half to 2 months (7 days a week) prior to the first show. Personally, I prepare for the rehearsals about a month prior to that (especially if we are learning new music)." Kobe Bryant was 41 when he and his daughter died tragically in a helicopter crash in January of 2020. He was notorious for his relentless work ethic. Writers Scott Davis and Connor Perrett chronicle some of Bryant's more remarkable disciplines. Practice f

It's beautiful outside and if you're anything like me, you're getting excited for summer right around the corner. It's so easy to get distracted and to hit that wall at work, so here are 3 questions to ask yourself today, to push through that stall wherever you may work. Good morning everyone, Thomas Joyner here with Business on Purpose. It's natural that around April 15, you've mowed your grass a couple of times, spring break just passed, you hopefully paid your taxes and you got your first taste of the summer lifestyle. And then just like that… it's Monday… yet again! You lose motivation, your problems start to feel magnified as if they will never change and you feel less and less inclined to put in the work to actually change them! Am I alone in feeling this way? I don't think so. So I want you to write down the 3 questions I'm going to give you today and find some time to think about them. Hopefully, it's right after we finish, because you and I both know there's a fire burning in your business the second you stop this video and if you don't stop to process now, you may never get around to it. So how do we push through? How do we collect ourselves and commit ourselves to doing work that matters and rising above the chaos? Well, here are 3 questions to help get you on the right track. What gets you out of bed in the morning to do what you do? What's your why? Capturing why you wake up and go to work is essential to recapturing that fire in your belly again! And hear me say this. It probably has very little to do with what you do in your day to day. There's a why behind it all that fuels that work and keeps you going. 2 weeks ago I spent a long time working with some clients of mine who do heavy install work with commercial kitchens. We wrote and wrote and wrote and finally arrived at this… we exist to provide solutions, serve our customers, and set the standard. BOOM! When it was written, we all kind of took a deep breath and said, yep that's it. You'll notice that the things that get them excited have very little to do with commercial kitchen installs. But their why resides in being a resource for solutions, service, and being an industry leader by setting the bar. It pushed them to dive back into team meetings and trainings and hiring because they finally realized what they want it their work. That's powerful and you need to spend some time thinking through your why! 2. What do I need to delegate today to make time for things only I can do? So often we're weighed down by things we need to get rid of. Sometimes it's us not trusting and training our team around us, other times we've just don't even realize it's something we can finally let go of. But what things bring you energy that you need to spend more time doing!?! What things will make you feel like you're gaining ground instead of just trudging along. There's a great tagalong question for this… ask who not how. Don't ask, how do i do that… ask who do I need to do this. Believe it or not, there are people who love bookkeeping, who love invoicing, who love estimating, who want to run errands and help with logistics! There are people uniquely wired to love the parts of your business, you find miserable… so ask who, not how. That's the key. 3. What gains have I made? There's a fantastic book called the Gap and the Gain, where they discuss a lot about what high performers do differently to realize happiness. Instead of focusing on the Gap between where they are and where they want to be, they focus on the gain from where they were to where they are. It's one of the main reasons we have "Write it down" as a core value. It provides so much energy to teams when they realize how far they've come! Instead of constantly focusing on the negative, how far you have to go, you look back for a period of time and celebrate the journey you've been on. There's always a higher mountain peak to climb, but the process must be celebrated or else you turn into a numb, bitter, end goal-oriented business with no life. What gains have you made? It's powerful So, stop what you're doing for 5 minutes and ask yourselves these 3 questions… What gets you out of the bed in the morning to do what you do? What do I need to delegate today to make time for things only I can do? What gains have I made? Those questions will frame your week in the proper perspective and get you fired up to keep moving forward…and get unstuck! I hope you enjoy! Have a great day

What are you holding onto too tightly as a business owner? And how is that holding your team back? Well, let's get into that today. Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. At our weekly Check-ins, Scott always asks me the same 5-6 questions, and he tends to sprinkle in one or two that come and go throughout the year. His question last week? What am I holding onto too tightly that I need to let go of? It's a question that's rooted in humility but also rooted in knowing that this business is his baby. And for years he wore every hat in the business. From coaching to bookkeeping, even ordering the toilet paper for our office bathroom. He's done it all for years. So, sometimes he doesn't even realize someone is ready to take something off his plate, because you get locked into these rhythms. But it's a powerful question because there are areas I'm ready to grow, responsibilities I'm ready to take on that will ensure I continue to grow in my job role and not grow bored with my day to day. I had a client a few weeks back lose an employee to this exact situation. He called them in for an exit interview and one of the things they said, was that they didn't feel like their role had any room for growth. They did the same thing day after day and that things were held a little too tightly by the owner even though they had been working together for years. From an employee's standpoint, they didn't feel trusted, didn't feel like there was any room for upward movement or any vision for their purpose in the business. So, if I asked you the question, how would you answer? What are you holding onto too tightly as a business owner…and taking it a step further, what are you holding onto too tightly that is keeping your team from growing? Maybe it's something you need to sit down each employee and have a conversation around. Or maybe you need to chew on it a bit yourself first and then use the answer to cast some vision and think through what growth looks like for each part of your business. Think about what that communicates. It shows you want them around for a long time and have through through realistically what that looks like. It shows you value them enough to grow them individually. That's powerful as an employee, everyone wants to be somewhere where they are invested in and intentionally challenged to grow. It shows you took the time to build an intentional business. Especially in a market where 80% of people looked around at their work options last year. Employees want to know they are somewhere well run. The best way to show that is by listening and staying one step ahead. So your team knows they are following a proactive leader and not someone just winging it. So, when will you think through this? Maybe it's taking a client to lunch and asking them what they see from their perspective. Do you have team leaders you can grab 30 min with and roll this question into your weekly check-ins? Here's the pushback we get. Well, my employee isn't ready for more yet. They can't handle it. Ok, I get that. It's your job to communicate that in an effective way and train them up to where they are ready for more. That's tough to swallow and hard to execute on, but ultimately if we are the leaders of our business, the whole team is following our lead and so responsibility for team development rests squarely on our shoulders. Don't take that lightly! So what are you holding onto too tightly as a business owner? Take some time to think through it today. Thanks so much for listening… have a great day

What is the difference between a business mentor, consultant, and coach? And why do we choose to be coaches? Let's dive in and talk through that today. Hey there everyone! Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. We got a question last week from someone outside our network who asked us, "So what really is the difference between business mentors, consultants, and coaches?" I thought it was a great question because to most people it's just a different way of saying the same thing. So what do each do well, and what are the shortcomings of each? Well, let's start with business mentors. Kind of the most unofficial of the 3. Everyone should have a business mentor. Someone who you can take to lunch and just fire off 100 questions. Someone who is a step or two further down the road and may have survived some of the battles you're facing. A mentor is a sounding board but largely stays in an unofficial capacity. The beauty of a mentor relationship is they have typically experienced what you are experiencing and can give you some perspective of life on the other side. The drawbacks, well, they are typically not as available to you as you need and are not responsible for holding you accountable. And, from what we see, accountability is huge. Business consultants are hugely valuable, too! When you think of consultants, they will largely be industry-specific. And there is a time and a place for consultants. If you want to launch a new product line or need industry-specific decision-making help. You need someone who has been there and understands the CRMs and supply chains. Someone who knows the yearly cash flows inside and out and can help you make specific decisions that those outside your industry may not be as knowledgeable about. Consultants downside? They tend to have a reactive approach to their work. Tell me what hurts and I'll tell you how to fix it. They can help you through problems in the future, but the majority of their work is reactive vs. proactive. Consultants typically are temporary. If you hire a consultant who wants to work with you long-term (greater than 2-3 years), run away. They have no stake in the game to help your performance. No metric to reach, just some ambiguous consulting relationship that is open-ended. Now, if you have a 5-year goal to get somewhere and go into it thinking that way, then great! But be wary, if not. By definition, consultants should have a date by which your relationship is dissolved due to the goal being met. Lastly? Business coaches. Business coaches are somewhat of a hybrid between the two, but like any coach in sports…they have a system. A methodology and philosophy of the way they run a business. Be vary wary of a coach who doesn't have their system. Just like you would never hire a football coach who couldn't walk you through their offense or defense, any good coach should be able to tell you what they are walking you through and how much time to install in your business. Most coaches don't reinvent the wheel but repackage and organize content in a way that is approachable for business owners and provides incredible oversight and accountability. Coaches don't want to teach you how to run a contracting business, they want to teach you how to run a business that happens to do contracting work. They don't want to teach you how to run a landscaping business, they want to walk you through the skills in business that you need to master, to provide a new set of eyes to spy on your business and organize the back end of your finances…for a business that happens to do landscaping. The downside of business coaches. They are not industry professionals. They may not know high-level accounting or what the perfect sales software is for your business. They can't be professionals in all industries. But what they can do is teach you how to run your business, no matter what industry it's in. So there you have it! You will probably need all 3 of these positions at some point in your business ownership. We typically coach our businesses to spend between 1 and 3% of their real revenue on coaching or consulting. It's that vital! There's a reason guys like LeBron James spend millions of dollars a year on personal trainers, nutritionists, sports psychologists…you name it. They know that to reach peak performance and to maximize their potential, they need people walking alongside them and holding them accountable to a standard. To use their expertise to bring out the best in them. The business world is no different. So what are you waiting on? For us, we specialize in liberating business owners from chaos and we use business coaching as our platform to do just that. If you want a metric for how in chaos you are, take the next 5 min and take our healthy business owners assessment. It's super easy and will give you a score for how well run your business is on the things that we truly value. Head on over to boproadmap.com/healthy to take that now! And please, ask yourself which of these posi

3 weeks ago, Shackleton's ship the Endurance was located 9800 feet beneath the Ocean's surface near the antarctic. One ship: 144' long Crew of Shackleton and 27 men One aim: the first to cross the Antarctic continent and become the first to cross it Foundational reality: Your seas are changing, the weather patterns are becoming more unpredictable. Today the swells are 1-2 feet, and in an hour they are 5-8. Chaos is the standard and unpredictability is the new predictable. Your choice: either take your existing boat out into the unpredictability of the seas… OR learn from what the seas are telling you, and build a different boat. Would Shackleton, knowing the tumult of the Antarctic, have taken the same boat? Would he have not gone? NO! He would have built a better boat and designed a better map. Let's look at the route of the Endurance Trapped in Jan 1915 Crushed in Oct 1915, Sunk Nov 1915 Departed isolated spot April 1916 (15 months in one isolated spot!!!!) Final crew rescued Aug 30, 1016 (18 months after being trapped) 28 total men, in barren ice, with torrential weather, full days of either all light/ all dark. Every single person made it out alive. But in order to survive, Shackleton displayed the RPMs of Navigating hard things… Repetition: he did the same thing over and over Repetition is the mother of all learning "Vision without IMPLEMENTATION is hallucination!" Methodical, repetitions beats hail mary's and home runs EVERY DAY I get made fun of for being a 1 trick pony, "hey, we want new content". You are not in need of NEW content, you are in need of IMPLEMENTING the content that works. Trying to swing for a home run meant certain death…base hits equal life. 18 months Shackleton's men were forced to endure a harsh climate, unrelenting sun/darkness, starvation, isolation, and probably the worst reality of all…no day to day purpose. Daily Schedule… a routine: Morning: 6:30 a.m. Light the stove. 7:00 a.m. Emerge from tents. 7:45 a.m. "Lash up and stow!" Breakfast. Rolled-up sleeping bags are used as chairs, while the tent Peggies bring round each tent's ration of hoosh. Then chores, cooking, hunting, making improvements to the boats, exercising the dogs, returning back to the Endurance for further salvage. mostly hunting. Dogs fed at 5 p.m. Our dinner at 5:30 p.m. Seal hoosh, a bannock, and watered cocoa. Evening: Read aloud, cards, or singalong. Lights out at 8:30 p.m. Late conversation, if any, must be hushed; voices carry in the cold, dry air. By 10 p.m. all quiet except the first night watchman; we each have our watch hour assignment. Predictability Predictability is PROACTIVELY building the right stage of Culture embedded within the existing repetition Creating predictability is found in an old sailors creed, "He who is enslaved to the compass has the freedom of the seas." Predictability means agreeing on the true north of Process, the true north of Vision/mission/values, and the true north of People…and then working the process like a good navigator works the instruments. My BIG win…we shared our 12 week plans with each other Tuesday and look at all that is getting done…(show pics of 12 week plans) Predictable schedule, goal, demeanor Wrong Time Wrong Question Healthy! What is micro-management…it's just UNPREDICTABLE LEADERSHIP? Seesaw of Predictability MEANING (INTENTIONALITY) Asking specific questions at specific times to specific people Pits and Peaks Open ended questions…"tell me more about that" Card Game at the end Family mission: to be a light through adventure, wisdom, and time around the table… Business mission: to liberate owners from chaos and make time for what matters Check Ins Team Meetings Culture Calendar MPR Culture Calendar: one simple way to be intentional New employees are less concerned about the technical expertise from day one, and more concerned about having access to what they need to succeed and feel connected to the culture.

The U of SC football program had just won the first Bowl Game in the 100-year plus history of the school. After joining the rugged and tough SEC in 1992, the Gamecocks were still struggling to be the elite SEC teams like Florida and Tennessee. Tennessee had a young QB with a head-turning last name…Manning. We had a pony-tailed enthusiast named Taneyhill, along with two offensive lineman, two running backs all headed eventually to the NFL. We were desperate for a signature win in the SEC. JAMES DEXTER STORY at Tennessee turning the table over, driving down to the five-yard line 2nd and 1 (5-yard penalty): (7:40) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jPj3LKGMhc Blocked FG Returned 95 yards for a TD (9:51): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jPj3LKGMhc 56 - 21 Final Score… Often, in life, sports, and business, we do desperate things in desperate times in order to solve desperate problems. The last 2 years have created a desperate longing. Let's articulate the challenge that you are up against today. PAIN - Skyrocketing material and sub Pricing, Uncertainty, Subcontractor frustrations, Schedule delays, unrealistic clients, and PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE! Let's think through some of the desperate things you (or someone you know) may have tried in the midst of a desperate situation in your business… Give people extended time off Hiring Marketing companies to get more leads/sales b/c "Sales solves everything right????"…even though we don't have measure in place to manage the money even if it did come in Use Recruiters to get better people…even though we know internally it's our chaos that is causing them to leave Build Bonus structures and increased base comp, b/c "more money means people will stay longer" Just putting your head down and doing it yourself…"it's just easier" Hired subs, fired old subs Hired new PMs and Supers, Fired old PMs and Super's Hired your brother or your cousin, or your son Take on more work even though you are way behind on receivables and never properly job-costed previous job to understand profitability We are running around, spinning in circles, a slave to an over-heated market, the client, to the employee, to the sub, to the vendor. And we just want it to STOP. Just for a second so we can catch our breath. Talked to a custom builder in Kentucky two weeks ago who said, "I'm actually looking forward to a market slowdown." I was waiting for lightning to strike. You had a grueling week, and then you have a Saturday where you are fired up about a late breakfast where you are going to eat donuts, cinnamon rolls, pancakes, bacon, cheese grits…then after you're done you turn on a game on tv watching world-class athletes and think, "I need to work out!" Chaos can often translate to unhealthy habits because we are vulnerable. In the chaos of the market, we tend to rest in the cash flow, while KNOWING that we are neglecting the discipline of purpose, process, and systems that will create a long-term FIT-ness for us, our team, and the mission we are on in our business. I've seen it reported recently that both Quarterback Russel Wilson and basketball megastar Lebron James each spend over $1 million on the health and fitness of their mind and body. A friend of mine, Chad Jeffers is the lead Dobro player for Carrie Underwood. He was passing through Columbia, SC a couple of years ago as we were in town and we had coffee in the lobby of the downtown hotel he and the other band members were staying at. I asked Chad a simple question that I had never asked, "what is it like to play in front of all of those people?" His response was sobering. He mentioned that most nights he forgets where he is at, and that the "repetition of the event" can get quite boring. In order to be great and find joy in touring, you've got to go back to THE FITNESS of your repetition and training. In preparation for Carrie Underwood's Las Vegas residency shows, Chad said "Typically for tours (including Vegas), we will rehearse for a month and a half to 2 months (7 days a week) prior to the first show. Personally, I prepare for the rehearsals about a month prior to that (especially if we are learning new music)." Kobe Bryant was 41 when he and his daughter died tragically in a helicopter crash in January of 2020. He was notorious for his relentless work ethic. Writers Scott Davis and Connor Perrett chronicle some of Bryant's more remarkable disciplines. Practice from 5a to 7a…in High School Shaq said he would practice without a basketball…just visualization and mind preparation Had Nike alter a few millimeters off the bottom of his shoes to achieve "a hundredth of a second better reaction time" You must "love the process…the daily grind…this generation loves the results too much." - Kobe Bryant's conversation with Nick Saban "I loved preparation more than the competing part" - Kobe Bryant's conversation with Alabama Football Team NBA Scout in 2008. -"Allen Iverson loves to play when the lights come on. Kobe loves (playing) before the lights com

What do you value in life? Does it get the appropriate time that it needs every week? Maybe, maybe not. Today I want to talk about how to not stop short of making time for what matters most! Hey there friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. It's so, so easy as a business owner to have blinders on. To be the one that sacrifices every day and makes sure that nothing falls through the cracks. To just keep your head down and grind until you succeed. But, what gets sacrificed in the moment…and what gets lost if it takes longer than you'd planned to arrive? Well, many times it's your mental health (which we're seeing is a much larger deal than we've ever realized), other times it's your marriage and family, and other times it's just joy and fulfillment in life. So, if you're honest, which of those, when you go head down and grind out those 50/60/70 hour weeks really gets lost in the shuffle? And now let's take it a step further… Let's play this out 20-30 years. Is success in your business worth the tradeoff? If you were to look back on your life and see it all in hindsight, is that tradeoff worth it, or is it worth digging in and finding a different way to do things? We hear excuses like this all the time…" Thomas, this is the only way I know how to do it!" That's great, let's start asking around and finding a different way to do it. Or maybe it's this, "Thomas you just don't understand, if I hire someone else to manage those things, then I'll have to raise my prices to cover it, or I won't make as much money." Ok, then the thing you've lifted into that position of what matters most, is the almighty dollar. The take-home paycheck. And is that worth it when you look back 20 years from now? So…if you need to stop this recording after I ask this next question, do it. It's that important. You may need 5-10 min to really be honest with yourself. Cut it back on afterward and finish the last few minutes. "What matters most when it comes to how you spend your time?" What matters most when it comes to how you spend your time. It's why we spend so much time crafting a vision story. So we can know exactly what we value. It's writing things down like, what time do I want to leave every day, because we know that if we leave it to chance we're going to work way longer hours than we should, and the things that matter will get pushed aside. It's writing things down like what the trips we want to take and how often to take our spouse on a date. It's making sure the main thing stays the main thing. Now, I know it's not realistic to say you want to go home at 2 pm every day and think that your business is going to thrive. That may just not happen, but I also know that if you don't paint a realistic picture of what your week looks like, with boundaries around it to keep you from getting carried away, then you don't stand a chance at staying at hitting your target. Because 9 out of 10 times, there's always another task you COULD do, another sales call you COULD make, and another number you COULD double-check. And on and on it goes. And here's where it starts getting serious. If you realize that your business is keeping you from what matters most, it's not worth it! Nothing is worth sacrificing your mental health, your family, and your joy in life. NOTHING! So, find a way to do it differently. We believe that the BOP roadmap liberates business owners out of chaos and frees your time up for what matters most. We've literally walked hundreds of business owners through it and gotten them back engaged where they truly need to be engaged. Last thing I'll hear regularly from clients…the business is doing great, our numbers are up, the staff is tracking and we're just doing awesome. I love hearing that! But I go back to those personal pieces on the vision story and start asking about other things. When was the last time you went on a date with your spouse? Well, last year. Ok, let's try another…you said you wanted to take your son out for breakfast one Saturday a month, have you done that? No….ok, how about that weekend camping trip in the fall that you thought would inject some life back into your family? No, and no and no and no. We have to press pause and make sure that our business isn't thriving at the expense of what matters most. We have to make for darn sure that we're not stopping short of making time for what we, and by we I mean you, believe matters most. So that 20 years from now we can look back and be proud of the things we made time for. The people we made time for and the experiences we made time for. We at BOP truly believe that's our work worth doing…every single day. So, if you struggle with that, let's take an inventory of if your business needs help. Would you take our healthy business owner assessment? Go to myboproadmap.com/healthy. It takes about 7 minutes and you will see how your business is set up on things that we believe will liberate you from chaos. And then let's have a conversation about how to f

Life and business necessarily intersect. In the last 13 weeks, we've seen births, divorce, death, war, inflation, new hires, sales records, con artists, cancer diagnosis, treatments, remissions, birthdays, renewed vision, record monthly revenue, and record monthly expenses. There is a word that is being suggested in the public discussion of psychology right now that is worth taking a look at… the word LANGUISH. To languish is to "lose or lack vitality… being forced to remain in an unpleasant place or situation" Author and Org Psychologist Adam Grant says… It's not burnout, because we still have physical fuel. It's not depression because we still have hope. So what is the unpleasant place? War? No Inflation? No COVID? No What is causing us to feel weak and withered, to feel LANGUISHED? DISTRACTION Translation - we are willfully allowing ourselves to be pulled apart… pulled away. Distraction (distrahere in latin) = PULL APART We've all felt being pulled apart before… When a relationship goes sour or ends…we feel pulled apart and the nutrients of that relationship begin drying up CS Lewis on the loss of his friend Charles Williams- "Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald's [Tolkien's] reaction to a specifically Charles joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him "to myself" now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald" This is our new reality, and with it, we must find new ways for each of us to Flourish… new ways to both remain attached and ignore the things that will distract.. NOW is a time for something different. NOW is a time to pivot, to stop staring at the ball of fire that was the last two years, to see what was melted down, turned to ash, and begin to till that into the soil of something new. On average… Check email 74 times per day (and yet vigorously defend it) We are said to switch tasks every 10 minutes (b/c we are checking email 74 times a day) "Gloria Mark, Ph.D., associate professor at the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, and a leading expert on work, researched workplace interruptions and came to a fascinating conclusion: We don't have workdays -- we have work minutes that last all day. It takes 23 minutes to get back on task" I keep saying it BUT ARE WE DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENT? Grant suggests that we do not fight Languish with Optimism (that's empty)... but instead we fight Languish with FLOW Before we do… what is FLOW? Johann Hari has written a powerful book entitled Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention - And How To Begin Working Deeply In his book, Hari describes flow as a state of mind when "you are so absorbed in what you are doing that you lose all sense of yourself, and time seems to fall away, and you are flowing into the experience itself." Flow is not focused on results. In fact, sometimes the outcome can bring a bit of sadness because the project is complete. We don't know how to prioritize the limited resource of time we have. So how do we find our FLOW? Fascination (Desire) All things begin w/ desire John Gardner wrote, "The renewal of societies and organizations can go forward only if someone cares (has desire - an unstoppable push to accomplish something that matters)." Hari says, "when your mind wanders, it starts to make new connections" Hari interviewed Neurology and Neurosurgery Professor at McGill University Dr. Nathan Spring who said, "Creativity is not (where you create) some new thing that has emerged from your brain…It's a new association between two things that were already there." 74 times a day we forfeit the opportunity for our brains to make connections of impulses that are already there!!! Like-Mindedness (People & Culture) Like-minded people aligned in principles and values move together. The catalyst for like-mindedness? Challenge and uphill battles Joe McNamera - "Nothing brings people together, like shared adversity"...with predictable and repetitive communication The third element of FLOW is your Operational Process In your head right now, you long-termers are eye-rolling and thinking, "this isn't new content!!!" NO!, b/c we cannot afford new content around the area of documented process b/c without it life swims in amnesia… and we waste our time starting from scratch everyday. Small businesses are notorious for "makin' it up as we go", "shootin' from the hip brother!", and reacting to every impulse that comes their way like the inflatable TUBE MAN. Except the tube man actually has you beat… at least it's tethered to the ground! Process brings boundaries, boundaries bring FREEDOM! You want the freedom of flow? Capture the process Own the process Share the process and repeat the process The final element of FLOW Wealth that you can draw from "Can't operate from an empty tank"... can't help others if you've got nothing to help them with… AND NOT JUST MONEY! Financial Wealth - for with it we have access to open doors that can benefit more people Intellectual Wealth -

Hey, y'all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose. To get "pipped to the post"- To be defeated or overcome by someone by a very narrow margin or at the final, crucial moment, especially in a race, competition, or athletic event. I remember a coach once showed us a video of a college track meet. It was honestly just the last 30 or 45 seconds of the race, and the video only showed 2 runners. The leader was a guy running for the University of Oregon and he had a sizable lead. In the back of the frame, you could see a runner from the University of Washington, but as the video started it looked as though the race had already been won. So much so that the runner from Oregon was letting up a little and waving to the crowd to get them pumped up and on their feet. But as the clip continues, and with incredible Grit and Determination, you see the runner from Washington gaining ground. And yes, and you can probably guess by the definition I shared at the beginning, the runner from Oregon did get Pipped at the Post. Meron Simon from the University of Washington came back and won the race right at the Finish Line. He didn't let up and ran with purpose until the end. When you hire a new team member, do not get pipped at the post! You've just hired a new team member, and there is probably some excitement / some relief that you are finally filling that role that you have been needing or dreaming about / and there is probably a little anxiety. And as your new team member prepares for the first day with your business (and yes, this includes full-time, part-time, virtual assistants) it's time for the onboarding process to begin. Onboarding is making sure the right people are trained in the right way with crystal clear expectations and insight into your business. It should be an intentional, methodical process that empowers your team members to run towards the vision. Being diligent in the hiring process, but not taking the time to properly onboard a new hire would be like running the race and letting up at the Finish Line. At Business on Purpose, we believe in the importance of onboarding so much, we have an entire module dedicated to the process. We have even built out templates looking at day one, week one, month one, two, and three. In your businesses, you need to run with Grit and Determination through the Finish Line. Make sure you have a process for onboarding your new team members. SO they can run with you towards your vision. Thanks for listening. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel. Also, check out our website here, and if you haven't done so already, take the Healthy Owners Assessment located on the home page.

Employees and hiring, hiring and employees… that's so much of what we're being asked about in our coaching sessions. So, what's the trick? Why is it so hard and is it going to ever get easier? While I don't have the answer to all of that, I'd love to give you some thoughts today on how to make it easier. Hope you're doing well today, Thomas Joyner with the Business on Purpose Podcast today! Excited to have you listening and watching. There really is nothing more pressing right now for small business owners than the topic of hiring and acquiring really great employees. It's so frustrating… and look at the numbers. 4.3 million Americans left their jobs for somewhere else… in August of 2021 ALONE!!! That's insane. And since the pandemic started, surveys are recording 20% of people have switched careers. In 2 years. 1 in 5 people! So what do we do with that? All of that uncertainty and the knowledge that everyone is hiring and everyone is looking around? Most businesses think if they can just craft the right indeed ad or just find the right spot to market themselves to potential hires it will all go well. But there is so much work internally that needs to be done to attract the right talent. There's an old quote in the church that applies incredibly well to business. What you win them "through," you win them "to." What you win them through you win them to. What that means is this. The means through which you attract people will be what you have to continue to use to keep them. Think about this in your business. If you hire someone away from another business by offering an extra $2/hr or an extra 10k in salary, what happens the next time someone offers them more money? You either have to pony up the cash or watch them ride off into the sunset. You won them to you through money, so you have to keep them with money. Maybe you explain to them that they will be on some really cool projects or innovating in the industry. Well, once work gets boring they will start looking around for greener pastures or other businesses that may be more innovative than you. So, how are you trying to attract new employees? Have you put in the hard work to not just market your business to new clients, but new employees. Are you a "destination" business that has all the right ingredients to attract top end talent? Or heck, even just reliable talent? Are you pointing to your Vision, and inviting in people who want to go where your business is headed? Are you pointing to the culture and having your employees highlight how great it is to work for you? Are you marketing yourself as a place that respects work/life balance and allowing your team to spend time with family and actually take vacation. I know I dogged on compensation, but healthy and competitive compensation should ABSOLUTELY be a part of that sales pitch. Can you ask yourself this question… what is the person I'm looking for… looking for? I know that feels weird to say. But if you draw up your ideal employee, what kind of business do they want to work for? And are we working hard to build our business into that type of place? That the people we're looking for would come… and ACTUALLY stay? Finding the right people doesn't just happen by accident, but only when we look internally first, knowing that the means by which we win our employees over will be the same reasons they choose to stay for the long haul. So be intentional about those things. Know who you are and why you're that way! And watch quality employees choose to stay with you for years and years… even in the midst of opportunity elsewhere. We've seen it time and again as business owners, we work with lead with Vision and intentionality. That's a powerful team that anyone would want to be a part of!

We have a saying that we have found to be true over time and thousands of hours of 1 on 1 coaching with our heroic business owners, "life and business necessarily intersect". There is not a business owner or key leader that we have yet to meet that has figured out how to separate life and work. What happens at home cannot help but follow you to work. What happens at work cannot help but follow you home. They are interconnected, as is all of life. Even our global society is unable to insulate itself from the actions or reactions of decisions around the world. Russia stages a war against Ukraine and the corner gas station in Iowa is immediately impacted. Life and business necessarily intersect. We try to act like it is not true with statements like this, "well, it's just business" or, "I keep work at work and home at home". It is a ruse. How do you separate yourself from your business? You don't… as long as you have your business. A few weeks ago I met with a dear friend who shared about the turmoil within his marriage and the unfortunate end towards which it seems to be heading. It has and will continue to affect his work. What are some ways that we can operate from a place of health both at home and at work when neither may be ideal? First, understand what triggers you. You can't help but bring work home at times. What you can help is knowing what things tend to set you off and act as a trigger that cascades you to bad places. Part of understanding these triggers means taking time to work with a skilled advisor to help dig into the things that shaped those triggers. Some triggers are born from trauma and others born from elation. All are triggers and all carry with them a "shots fired" response. When we understand our triggers we can be better prepared to practice discipline in our responses when the triggers are switched. Second, we must vigorously define the boundaries of our time. Johann Hari in his important book Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention – And How To Think Deeply Again reveals a simple and profound statistic saying, "one study found that most of us working in offices never get a whole hour uninterrupted in a normal day." Just sit on that for a second. One hour. Can you think of the last time you had one entire hour focused completely on one thing? No buzzes, dings, alerts, notifications, email checks, social scrolls; just deep work on one important thing. Ashley and I recently stayed with a niece and nephew of ours while my brother and his wife got away for a night. For one entire hour, my nephew and I buzzed, squealed, roared, rolled, colored, built, and laughed in the playroom. No distractions and it was hard. An hour is a long time in a modern world. Out of 168 hours in a week, we cannot find one, to be solely focused on one important task of deep work without being impulsed to check something. If you want to separate yourself from your business and have time to breathe, you must vigorously put boundaries on your work time. It will require the hard work of sitting quietly and thoughtfully with your calendar and manufacturing the time you are working versus the time you are not. We all know that your mind will bleed those boundaries and there are moments you will be thinking about business-related things while you are in non-business-related time; the goal is not perfection. The goal is doing a much better job than we're doing right now. Thirdly, we must communicate our boundaries to others in a way that promotes the mission of both your family and your business. Too many times people will announce their schedule to peers and colleagues with a spirit of "don't mess with me or else I'll lose it!" Our calendars and our boundaries need to be built in a way that serves both your personal and work missions and brings more value to both rather than less. Healthy businesses are those that work with their teams to maximize their team members skill set and time, while also acknowledging the need for healthy relationships with work and family/personal time. Finally, the purpose of work is in part a fleshing out of the skill sets that have been woven into the fabric of our individual personas, in part a mutual value-add to our local and global communities, and a useful means to provide resources that fund our personal time allowing you to apply the fruits of your business success to the mission of your personal and family mission.

Hey, y'all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose. In the 2014 NBA draft, with the 3rd overall selection, the Philadelphia 76ers drafted big man Joel Embiid. At the time of the draft, the 76ers had come off a season with 19 wins and 63 losses with a ranking of 14th in the eastern conference… making them one of the worst teams in the league at that point. In a courtside, interview with Embiid the following year he had a response that would quickly become the rallying cry for the city of Philadelphia. He was asked by a reporter if he had anything to add to the interview and Embiid, with a smile on his face looking directly at the camera, replied "trust the process". It became everything for this fanbase. Shirts, posters at games, hats, social media… it was everywhere. Trust the process. But what many fans didn't realize, this wasn't the first time these words had been used. It's been documented that the coaching staff would tell the players before everything… coming straight down from the ownership of the team… trust the process. Since the 2014 season, here is how the 76ers have fared in the NBA… 2014 - 18 wins 64 losses - 14th in the eastern conference 2015 - 10 wins 72 losses - 15th in the eastern conference 2016 - 28 wins 54 losses - 14th in the eastern conference 2017 - 52 wins 30 losses - 3rd in the eastern conference 2018 - 51 wins 31 losses - 3rd in the eastern conference 2019 - 43 wins 30 losses - 3rd in the eastern conference 2020 - 49 wins 23 losses - 1st in the eastern conference 2021 - currently at 38 wins and 23 losses sitting 3rd in the eastern conference From one of the last place teams in the NBA, to being a top 10 team in the NBA for the last 5 years. Simply because they trusted the process. It didn't happen overnight, and it has come with it's ups and downs, but the improvement this organization has seen has definitely been noticed in the sports world and beyond. They built a process, and then all stacked hands to trust in that process. My question to you today, what process or processes are you trusting in your business? And maybe the first question to ask is, have you built any processes that can be trusted? The good news is that it is never too late to start. As owners and key leaders, most of the time "building a process" simply means getting some of the knowledge and information out of your head and written down. You probably have the processes all thought through and detailed out, but it's time to get it written down. Sales processes, administrative, operations, marketing, team and culture… all processes can be documented. An easy place to start… next time you are working through a process, record it. Simple as that. Or take 30 minutes in your schedule each week to work on creating processes that will further your team and your business this year. We've been saying this year can be a year of flourishing for your business, and getting processes documented will be a great step along the way. Thanks for listening. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.

Two business owners in the past week have both said, "once we get (insert challenge here) wrapped up, then we will be ready for coaching." It sounds like a fore-thoughtful thing to say, and yet we know deep down it is likely not true. We know that time typically breeds the soil for distraction to set in, for busy-ness to compound, for mis-aligned interruptions to continue unmitigated, and we wake up in six months in greater chaos and numbness than we are in right now. A man in his seventies was recently reflecting on life and was asked a thoughtful question, "looking back, what do you wish for?" His response, "a simpler time". Although we tend to look in retrospect with the tinted lenses of simple, easy, and wholesome; a tour of the history books will remind us that world history is peppered with moments we would rather forget. Complexity is on the increase. In his research-rich book Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention - and How to Think Deeply Again, author Johann Hari. One study that Hari discusses shows that the majority of office workers "never get a whole hour uninterrupted on a normal day…the average American worker is distracted roughly once every three minutes". Business owners are longing to build a team of people that will commit to the same desire and focus that they have given to get the business started. Unfortunately, most people live under the presumption that they can multitask. Hari explains that multitasking was a term devoted to technology that was capable of doing more than one task at a time because the scientists were able to install additional processors (think of it as multiple brains in one technological body); it was never intended to be a description of human capability because humans are essentially incapable of legitimate multitasking. Compounding these two basic realities, people are constantly distracted from meaningful work, and the work they are doing is so fragmented because of the myth of multitasking, and you get a cocktail that is ripe for frustration and a fragmented mission. Why is coaching important in the workplace? It begs to ask the broader question, why is coaching important at all? A coach provides at least five values that the player cannot provide for herself. First, a coach provides perspective and clarity. In its most simplest concept, the coach brings perspective the player cannot, simply because the coach is not the player. The coach is living life outside the day to day of the player. A player is always at her altitude, pitch, speed, and angle. A coach can adjust angles when needed in order to gain a different perspective of the same issue. A good coach is one who simply relays what they see and then converts that information into something actionable. This leads to the second tool in a coaches toolbelt, time to gameplan. Armed with perspective and unique information, a coach will then go into deep focused time to gameplan what they see, think, and hear and contrast it with. A game plan not only dives deep into what the competitor is planning but also navigates all of the factors influencing the game or the mission. A good coach, armed with perspective and insight, builds a game plan and then readies themselves for the hardest challenge of all. Third, the coach shows up to practice even when the player doesn't want to. An NBA scout once showed the contrast between the preparation-loving Kobe Bryant and his rival, the showtime-loving Allen Iverson saying, "Iverson loved to play the game when the lights came on, Kobe loved to play the game before the lights came on." The repetition of practice is a direct influencer on the success of the game. The consistency of each game is a mirror of the consistency of practice. Without coaches, practices would be far less frequent, and far less effective. The fourth value of a coach is in their ability to lend courage. We were almost seven years into our business and I knew a change was needed. I was essentially working two full-time jobs in the same business and my fuel tank was running on reserve. My mastermind group was meeting in Nashville for a long weekend to dig into each other's world and situation. The verdict from my group of 10 guys was clear and unrelenting, "cut your time in half and double your rates…no exceptions." For years I was undervaluing my rates and overdelivering on my time in front of people. It was an unsustainable mix. But I was scared and my mind was flooded with what if scenarios that ultimately led to a place of grief and terminal conclusion. I needed courage, the will to stare fear in the face, and methodically walk through it. I did. And I didn't die. In fact, the business didn't die either… it grew because I now had more time to devote to the health and nurture of our team. A coach, an outside team of advisors, lend courage. When all of the values of a coach have been installed, the culmination of those efforts requires reflective monitoring to adjust for overages or underages. Witho

What's the excuse that keeps holding you back from success? Is there a monkey on your back that you just can't shake? We see it all the time… and I want to talk about it today. Hope you are doing well today, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. We ask mostly the same questions every time we meet with a new business. We want to know what's holding them back from accomplishing the things they want to in their business. It's typically the same three things or some variation of these 3. Not having enough time to get everything done, not having the right people, or not knowing our numbers. Let's tackle those case by case. Not having enough time to get everything done. Typically this happens because we live in chaos. We don't intentionally move throughout our week with a weekly schedule, so whoever is yelling the loudest gets heard and gets our attention. Just last week I had a business owner training where attendees were dropping out left, right and center. Business owners who had it on the calendar and just got pulled a different direction and into the chaos. We're trying to buy you an hour of your week to help you work ON your business and it gets derailed. It can be hard to watch because we know the thing that they need is within their grasp and yet they get distracted by the chaos. It's almost like the overweight person texting their gym buddy telling them they got caught up finishing a bag of chips and didn't make it to the gym. The very thing keeping you from health as a business is what distracts you from being able to put the work in to fix it. Let me say this… if you don't make time to work ON your business, you will constantly be putting out fires with little hope for doing anything else. Some days you have to change it up and you need an outside perspective to help with that. Not having the right people distracts owners too! The same event on Friday I heard things of employees not being able to be trusted to get something done, so it's your job, the owner to dive in and save the day yet again. So, when does that change? The ceiling for the business is being held back by your inability to train, lead and delegate in your business. Or maybe it's not knowing your numbers. Not knowing if you're paying your team enough or too much, or pricing your jobs correctly, or what the Net Income number on your P&L even means. So, instead of finding someone who can help, you just keep going. Thinking if you can just add more to the top line, find more revenue out there the problem will get fixed. Friends the problem is rarely the amount coming in. It's often the amount leaking out the back door that is hurting your bottom line. Problems with inventory and overtime. Problems with vendors and paying for subscriptions you haven't used in a year. Even things like car payments or excessive benefits. All these add up and limit your profitability. You need help. Heck, WE need help. It's why from day 1, we've had business coaches ourselves and been in mastermind groups. Because we know we need a coach and need an outside perspective to get where we want to go, as well! So, what's holding you back? What's the thing that over and over and over again becomes the excuse. Is it time? Let us help you figure that out. Is it people? We've got a plan for that! Your numbers…there's clarity and help if you're willing to ask for it. Take some time today to figure out if you've been making excuses. And ask yourself what are you going to do about it! Does someone else have the answers? Probably so. Look, being a business owner is TOUGH! REALLY TOUGH. Don't believe the lie that you need to do it on your own. It's just not true. And don't believe the lie that your problems today don't have an answer or that they will be your problems forever! THere is air above the chaos and we want you to fly there with us! Let us know if we can help. Hey, if you would like to see where you stack up, please visit boproadmap.com/healthy to take our free healthy business owner assessment today.

Dani Rojas steps up to the ball as he prepares for a game-winning penalty kick, and in one last deep-breath moment calms himself and exhales with his infamous dogma preached repeatedly on the Ted Lasso sports comedy-drama saying simply and profoundly… Football Is Life. For Dani, when the game seems out of his control, and life seems complicated, unfair, and uncomfortable, he calms himself and retreats back to his basic truth. Football. Is. Life. The show Ted Lasso has provided a pandemic-confused world, a respite of breath with profound insight packaged in off-color, but understandable humor. When Ted Lasso meets chaos, there is always a bypass to peace. Dani Rojas reminds himself of that bypass with his Football Is Life enunciation. For business owners, and particularly those in the construction (or processed material delivery) industry, the chaos of material delays, price increases, frustrated project managers and superintendents, client expectations, and global unpredictability have given rise to the schedule unpredictability complex. What is a schedule? Its very basic definition from dictionary.com is this: "a plan for carrying out a process". In any business, every schedule should be a culmination of two parts; the processes needed to be achieved, and the dates and sequence by which those processes should be started and completed. A schedule is a pre-mapped plan that includes the right processes, in the right sequence, happening on the right timeline. In order to build such a pre-mapped plan, your schedule must be informed by three pieces of information; past, present, and future. Past information and experience allow you to more easily navigate trends that have been true up until now. If material procurement for windows in the past has a normal delivery turnaround of 7 days, then you pencil in your plan a window of 7 to 14 days out. But wait!!!! Now window delivery times are upwards of 6 months! That brings us to the present and future information. Present information and experience allow you to see what is really happening in today's environment allowing you to just to what you think may come true in the future. If window delivery times are now 6 months, then you adjust your planning based on the latest information you have. You base scheduling projections on the cocktail of… Past Experience + Present Reality + Future Projections = Communicated Schedule You have three options in preparing a schedule for you, your team, and your customer… Option one, create a schedule with the best information you have, update it daily or weekly, and communicate it with clarity and repetition. Option two, create a schedule with the best information you have, do not update, and do not communicate it well. Option three, do not put in the hard work of creating a schedule with the best information you have. This upheaval culture that we have navigated in a post-pandemic reality has turned past partners into current and future enemies. The ideal setup was that the contractor, client, and partners were a team in coordination. Much of that has been twisted where the client and partners have become the enemy. An aligned, well-prepared, often-updated, well-communicated schedule will bring that partnership mindset back into play and allow for the production or construction process to be far more enjoyable and profitable. In the same way, Dani Roja proclaims that Football Is Life, you must believe that in your business Schedule Is Life. If a project is budgeted to be complete in 12 months and takes 13 months, most would simply look at that and think, "well that stinks, but we are still billing for the project in its full amount." The challenge is that by adding an extra month to the project, billing essentially decreased by about 8% because although the full project amount will still be received, there was an entire extra month of fixed overhead added to the project because of the delay. While the schedule can be delayed, payroll and all other business overhead continue to be paid. The 8% in many cases, eats into much of the profit of the job, and eventually, with more delays, the company just performed that project breaking even or in a situation where it actually spent its own money to complete the project. How do you build a construction schedule (or any production schedule) that will bring clarity and make time for what matters most? The secret has to do more with the time you set aside than the innovation needed. First, you must block time to think through it and build it. Just last week I was leading a business team through an exercise in helping each team member build their own weekly schedule around their role. While many were skeptical that such pie-in-the-sky exercise would actually work day to day, the team had real wind in their sails when the Director Of Construction pulled out his physical weekly schedule, held it up, and declared, "This works, but it only works if you build it and use it." In order to build it, yo

After its founding, the Roman Catholic Church began to do what many long-standing influential and powerful organizations do; a slow digression into a leadership model of just-do-what-we-say-and-don't-ask-questions. Stand up, kneel down, sin, confess, pay, rinse, and repeat. While there was certainly massive value that the early Catholic Church brought the global community from the sixth century up through the Renaissance (and still continues), there were also some clear abuses of power. As renaissance art, mass publishing, and the globalization of empire building were merging, it provided the fertile soil of louder and more informed and thoughtful voices to emerge and begin asking questions. In 1507, Martin Luther became a Catholic Priest. Over the next 13 years, Luther would wrestle with the internal realities of conviction, theology, and the written word to come to different conclusions than what was publicly being professed. Sending his list of 95 propositions to the Archbishop of Mainz on October 31, 1517, Luther decided to lead. Over 500 years later, an American man, holding Luther's namesake, decided to share his dream and thus offer his commitment to lead. Before the reformation of Luther, and after civil rights of Luther King Jr., women and men around the world have been offered to plant themselves in the fertile and charged soil of a louder, more informed, and thoughtful voice of leadership. Before Luther, Luther King Jr., Anne Frank, Sojourner Truth, Churchill, or Marcus Aurelius; before any of the influential, culture turning, reforming leaders… there was a person or a group of people in need that they translated into an invitation to lead. There is an invitation to lead standing right in front of you. Standing in front of you is an ideology that requires 95 counter propositions in a thoughtful way. Standing in front of you is a child who needs a dream because their surroundings provide no outlet or opportunity for that which seems trivial. Standing in front of you is a group of people marginalized, put down, underappreciated, taken advantage of, misunderstood, and tired. Standing in front of you is a job that can either be a lifeless means to a paycheck, or a platform for life-giving transformation through every transaction, production, bookkeeping entry, strategy meeting, and employee onboarding. Standing in front of you is an opportunity to lead. Nobody made Luther think, act, or respond. Nobody made Luther King Jr. organize, speak, or walk. Nobody made Anne Frank coordinate a hiding place against the devil in her father's house. Nobody is going to make you lead, but that doesn't stop you from having the opportunity right in front of you. Rob and Jessie Shrieve own Coastal Shores Landscaping. It is understood in the industry that any leadership effort should be focused on the non-field staff while the field team is tolerated and left to float. The Shrieve's made a choice that the newest, most unskilled team member would receive the same effort, encouragement, training, accountability, expectations, discipline, swag, perks, and opportunities as the most skilled, knowledgeable team member in the business. Last week they devoted an entire workday to leadership, technical, and soft skills training for their team. Every Thursday they provided technical and "Life 101" training to the entire team of over 25 employees. Nobody made them lead, they accepted and implemented. To lead is your decision… and we sure hope you will.

Hey, y'all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose. A couple of definitions for the word margin according to Merriam-Webster, "a bare minimum below which or an extreme limit beyond which something becomes impossible or is no longer desirable" "the limit below which economic activity cannot be continued under normal conditions" "the difference which exists between net sales and the cost of merchandise sold and from which expenses are usually met or profit derived" As a business owner, you are probably well aware of the margin in which you run your business. You look at cash flows and profit and loss statements. We even have some tools specifically for some of our clients at Business on Purpose that calculate exact margin ratios for each job being bid or finished. But that's not the margin I want to talk about today. There is another definition in Merriam-Webster for margin, "to provide with an edging or border" "to provide with an edging or border" If you want to see your business Flourish in 2022, you have to be willing to draw some borders for things that matter in your business. Your weekly schedule, your people, time to work on your business, not just working in your business. This is Building Margin in Your Business that I want to talk about today. I was working with one of our clients a few weeks back who started a non-profit organization that has really taken off in the last year. She has a full-time job at a university teaching business ethics, while she also sits as the Executive Director and on the Board of Directors of this non-profit. We started talking about her weekly schedule and the balance of her roles and responsibilities during our coaching time together. As you can imagine she feels, as most of y'all do too, there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done. 8 pm the night before she had gotten the kids ready for bed, was about to jump on a zoom call for a PTA meeting for her kids' school, still had papers to grade, and work on a board of directors meeting coming up…this is what a long night looks like when running a business. The bad news is that we can't get you more time in the day…the hours are set. The days and weeks and months will continue to fly by. BUT we can help set boundaries in the day to day that will allow space for taking care of the things in your business that are potentially being neglected or glossed over. You have to own your schedule! You have to make time for team meetings or they are not just going to happen. You have to set aside time for onboarding a new team member. You have to create margin in your day to bid on projects, or prospecting, or cold calling…keeping your pipeline full. These are just a few examples that may relate to your specific business, but chances are you already have in mind the tasks that need to have space to be completed, but so often they get pushed to the next day or the next week. Own your schedule. Wherever you are listening or watching right now, do me a favor. Get your calendar out and start adding some time in your week. Protected time that cannot be moved. Treat these times as if it's lunch with your best client…somebody calls to get on your schedule it can't be moved. Just like you wouldn't cancel that lunch, you cannot cancel on yourself. Let's make the time to work on your business. Let's make the time to care for your people. Let's make the time to learn and grow and equip yourself as the leaders in your business. Thanks for listening. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.

Is there a magic formula for sustaining success in my business? I wish I could say yes, but there are some strategies to help you get momentum! Good morning friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. So… we get it all the time. Thomas, I feel like I take 2 steps forward and 1 step back every week. Or maybe it's worse, 1 step forward and 2 steps back. How do we get momentum? How do we take that success, replicate it, and then repeat that over and over and over? I'm here to tell you, there's not a magic wand to wave. It takes work and consistency and… wait for it… process. However, we have found a few strategies that every business can implement to keep you sustaining success. So let's dive right on in today. The first step towards sustaining success in your business is… 1. Find someone to help you implement It sounds simple, but it makes as big a difference as we've seen in every business we work with. So much so, as it's become a question we ask as we interview potential new clients. Do you have a key leader who can help you implement all of this? Ok, but why? Why can't I just motivate and charge forward with my team following my lead? Well, in short, you can. But what happens when you burn out? What happens when your team starts to tune you out and your voice becomes stale? A whole lot of nothing. That's why having someone who helps you implement is invaluable. Another voice on the team helping push everyone towards the vision. Helping you see things you couldn't and implement all the changes and corrections along the way. Someone who can see your mistakes, think critically, and help you correct them in real-time. That person is a game-changer. We build out a ridiculous amount of tools with our clients and the ones that we see thrive week in and week out are the ones who can pass these tools down the chain of command and out to the team as they implement. They don't just sit in a google drive folder somewhere to rot and collect dust. No, they are used to empower the team to get better. If you don't have someone helping you implement, hire them today or develop one amongst your team. It's that important. 2. Listen to your customer Hey, Thomas, we do google reviews and send out surveys to hear how we're doing. That's great! But I'd wager that most of that is to give you a sentence or two to use on your website… or maybe even to drive sales. But how often do you invite a client to lunch and REALLY ask how their experience was? And I mean everything. How did they feel early on with our estimating? How did the schedule go? Did it line up with the expectations we set out? Did we even set expectations? How was our communication along the way? Could it be better? Was our team dressed professionally? How was the quality of work? How was our clean-up? Did we follow up with you to make sure everything was perfect? Did we collect payment in an easy fashion? These are all questions that you need to know the answer to from your customers' perspective. I was so proud of a client of mine recently, who called every sub he used, sat them down, and figured out how to improve his customer experience from start to finish. That's a game-changer…that's what creates rave reviews and sustained success. Because you own all parts of your customer experience. You don't just throw up your hands and say…"Well, that's out of our control." That's a fixed mindset. No, ask how you can get better. Invite clients you trust to lunch and talk through all of this. They will feel valued, heard and will probably refer you 10x more as a result. 3. Own your weekly schedule Now, this one gets to the heart of the matter. If you were to sit down on a Monday and write down the things you KNOW have to get done and done well, what would those things be? I'd imagine it doesn't start with email. And yet so many of us leave email open to dictate our day all day every day! No, start with what matters. The big-time blocks…and find the best time to do those. Blocks for sales or prospecting. Blocks for estimating and invoicing. Blocks to meet with your team and train. Those things MUST get done well. Then figure out the next group of items and add them to your schedule. Is it email and voicemails? Great, give yourself a set amount of time to finish it. Is it continued ed or recording processes? Do it. Your task will take up as much time as you will give it. So learn to control the chaos and give yourself a realistic amount of time to finish something. Deep work…then move on. Even if you aren't finished sometimes, to keep yourself on task. Lastly, fill in the little 30 min blocks with the little tasks…cleaning up, ordering, simple admin tasks, mindless things that you can fit in anywhere. This one's tough. Give yourself a few weeks to lean into the weekly schedule. Don't change it immediately, but take notes and tweak after a few weeks. That's how you control the chaos. That's how you sustain success. Or at least take a great giant leap towards sustai

LIVE TALK FROM International Builders Show '22: 3 Must Do Steps All Business Owners Do To Lead In A Post-COVID Reality by: Scott Beebe Founder | Head Coach My Business On Purpose

Hey, y'all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose. The story goes like this… "The day of the opening, people from all over the world came to Epcot, to Disney World. One of the reporters came up to Roy Disney, the brother of Walt Disney, and said, "It must be bittersweet for you knowing Walt never got to see this." Roy Disney smiled and responded to the man and said, "You're mistaken. It's clear why you are merely a reporter of other people's visions and not a creator of vision." He said, "Walt saw this. That's why you're seeing it now." - words from Roy Disney. You see, Walt Disney had a lasting vision that continued far beyond his passing in 1966. In his bio, he is referred to as an American entrepreneur, animator, writer, voice actor, and film producer. I would add another adjective for Disney, he was a visionary. And the good news… you can be one too. The definition of visionary is simple, "thinking about or planning the future with imagination or wisdom." As a business owner, you have the opportunity to be the visionary for your company. And in reality, you already are, so how lasting will your vision be? It's no coincidence that one of the first modules we walk through with our clients is crafting a vision story for themselves and their business. As we state in our vision video… "Where there is no vision, people become detached. Where there is no vision, people scatter. Where there is no vision, people die. (This is a little ominous and straightforward, but it drives the point home). We believe the Vision Story is the most crucial course to the future of your business and to liberating you from the chaos of working IN your business." And we don't just want to help you create a vision for your business in the here and now, we want to build with you a vision that will last. So how do you create a lasting vision for your business? Step 1, incredibly simple… write it down! In an article written by Lacey Stone in Time magazine she states, "You have to work for it. But somehow, even if you don't know how it's going to happen, knowing what you want to happen and writing it down helps it become reality." Writing out your vision will be a step in making your vision become reality, and thus making it one that lasts. Another step, also incredibly simple… share your vision! Your vision isn't just something that you write out and put in a drawer for nobody to see / have access to. Your vision should be shared, especially with those closest to you. Business partners, key leaders, team leaders, I would go as far to say as all your employees. Bring them into the vision that you are creating, and let them walk with you in that direction. These are just a few steps to get you moving towards a vision that will be lasting. A vision that will guide your steps as you walk in 2022 that can be a year of Flourishing. Thanks for listening. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.

What do you want to be remembered for as a business? It's an important question without an easy answer, but let's figure out how to get there today. Good morning friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. I've spent a lot of time recently with clients talking through their mission statements. Now, most mission statements are bland…gutless, and generic at best. They serve little purpose other than putting some ink on a piece of paper to say that you have one. But… attaching mission to your business can actually serve to give it a purpose that is powerful and can propel you towards significant meaning in the working world. Typically, the question we use when we ask business owners about their mission statement is…"What gets you out of bed in the morning and excited to do what you do?" For us, that's always been liberating business owners from chaos." It gets us jacked and ready to take on both the good and the bad of our weekly schedules. I was working a few weeks ago with a client and asked him that question… it didn't really land. Well, maybe it landed, but it didn't lead us to a powerful mission statement. So I rephrased it…what do you want to be remembered for? That got the juices flowing. He started throwing out keywords that propelled him forward to realizing his mission and what he wanted to be remembered for. Words like service, creativity, teamwork, leadership. All of that. Pieced together to help him understand his why! So… if I was to ask you the same thing. Do you have an answer? Do you know what you want to be remembered for? And here's the kicker… does your process reflect that. You have to take it one step further. If you want to be remembered for having the best, most qualified team, do you invest in them, send them to trainings, spend time developing them as leaders to make sure they are the best and the most qualified? If you want to be remembered for having the best product in your industry, are you investing in R&D, getting feedback from your clients to see where you can improve, and making sure that no one is better? If you want to be remembered for serving and helping your clients succeed, do you have meetings on the front end to capture that vision, do you take the time to listen, and is that a part of your process? These things matter. Your process has to reflect your mission because it's what you're going to be remembered for. Or are you like most people? Winging it… day after day. Not really knowing why you wake up and do what you do. Or what sets you apart. No, the future is a bit fuzzy, but it's ok, we'll figure it out. No… take the time to build out a mission story that propels you forward. A mission statement that gets you excited to wake up in the morning and get to work instead of complaining that it's Monday yet again. You spend too much time at work (almost ⅓ of your life) to just get by. Get excited, know what you want to be remembered for…and then build out and invest in the processes to realize that mission. That's how it's done. I would wager that if you went about every day with that kind of intentionality, your team would want to be apart of you business for a long, long time…and the inspiration that trickled out to the community would be contagious. I hope that makes sense, so spend some time today asking yourself, what do you want to be known for. Have a great week!

We were celebrating the birthday of one of our clients whose business was 70 years old. To create a memorable experience, the owner of the business decided to hold a full day training off-site at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, and invite what many believe is the most decorated and successful coach in College Football History, Coach Nick Saban. To the 100 people who attended, we were taken through a variety of stories regarding the Alabama Football program and through some of the fresh details of their National Championship run that ended in a loss to the Georgia Bulldogs just less than two weeks from the day we were hearing Coach Saban speak. Saban told stories of success and failure and continued to use the word "leadership" throughout his discussion. To bring texture to his view of leadership Coach Saban would use word descriptions such as fit, character, adversity, mindset, culture, intelligence, and intensity. Although he never provided a concrete definition of leadership, Coach Saban certainly took the audience into his cupboard of leadership ingredients and allowed us to see and smell some of the measurements he and his coaching staff use in leading a group of student-athletes into a world of elite college football where he soberingly adds, "there is always a reckoning". In other words, the cake will always be tested. In order to prepare for the reckoning, leadership must be present. In order for the cake of leadership to be baked with consistency and familiarity, then a set of ingredients must be used. What are those ingredients? While not exhaustive, it is helpful to begin listing out the ingredients of leadership remembering that leadership is also a phenomenon that "you will know it when you see it". As you think through the ingredients of leadership, here are eight must-haves. First, every leader must lead with purpose (Vision and Mission). At risk of sounding cliche, purpose is the hard work of actively, and physically writing down a detailed snapshot of the future destination where your organization or family are headed. While vision is explanatory and detailed, your mission is simply telling the rest of us why you wish to go there. Second, every leader must lead with defined values. Values are the curbs along the side of the road towards your vision. They are the boundaries that ensure that you limit damage, and stay on the most intentional route towards your ultimate destination. Third, every leader must lead with repetition. Every leader must lead with repetition. Every leader must lead with repetition. Fourth, every leader must lead with grit. Grinding at the right time, instilling clarity into each and every role, identifying fear and pushing through with courage, and committed to trailing a mentor. Leadership is a complex cocktail of work, clarity, courage, and learning. Grit ensures the potency of that cocktail. Fifth, every leader must have extreme self-awareness. You have tendencies, biases, routines, and habits that help to shape your persona to the outside world. You're prone to screaming, steaming, laughing, rising up, or withdrawing. Regardless of the tendency, leaders must be aware of their own selves if they are to ever influence another person. Six, every leader must lead with desire. There is little use in asking someone to do a thing with jubilee and enthusiasm if desire is lacking. Sure, you can dictate and statute the road to getting your way. But far better to show real desire, and also recruit for desire. Why is the world of sports filled with stories of world-class talent massively underperforming? Desire. Seventh, every leader must lead with an abundance mindset convinced that all that you need to accomplish your vision either is or will be available at the time you need it. Planning is necessary, but will only get you so far. Belief in future opportunities is as much a profitable resource as cash in the bank; for there will be times where the latter is unavailable, but the former will be the only check you can cash. Eight, every leader must lead with maturity. Most Tuesday nights we have between 5 and 15 teenaged young men sitting around the fire pit in our backyard as we talk about BIG wins, and issues of life (relationships, money, leadership, Hemingway, etc.). One of our more frequent topics is the idea of maturity, and one of the questions I get regularly is, "do you mature as you age?" My standard response is, "you cannot have maturity without age, but you can certainly age without maturity." There are plenty of 18-year-old minds encased in 46-year-old bodies. Maturity is advancement and development, and it requires work. While child-LIKE-ness is a value and asset, child-ISH-ness is a hindrance and roadblock. Finally, every leader must lead with empathy. Sherry Turkle, in her powerful and important book Reclaiming Conversations suggests that we are in the midst of a crisis of empathy. Empathy is feeling the inside of another person and their situati

Hey, y'all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose. In the 5th round of the 2021 NFL draft, with the 149th overall pick, the Cincinnati Bengals elected to draft a kicker out of the University of Florida named Evan McPherson. McPherson was the first, and ultimately the only kicker taken at that year's draft. The only 1. 259 picks in total, and 1 kicker. Fast forward to February of 2022 and as you may be aware, the Cincinnati Bengals, who drafted McPherson, are about to play for a Super Bowl. McPherson's stats on the season: McPherson finished the season 28/33 on field goal attempts (84.8%), with 9 of 11 from at least 50 yards. In the Bengals playoff game against the Las Vegas Raiders, he made 4 of 4 field goals, assisting the team to a 26-19 victory that gave them their first postseason win in 31 years. Subsequently, in a Divisional Round game, he again made 4 of 4 field goals, including two from over 50 yards. His 52-yard field goal as time expired gave the Bengals a 19-16 win over the Tennessee Titans to send them to the first AFC Championship Game since 1988. McPherson also became the first kicker in NFL history to kick 4 field goals in multiple games during the same postseason. In the AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs, McPherson made all four field-goal attempts, including a game winning 31-yard field goal in overtime in the 27-24 win, advancing the Bengals to the Super Bowl. My favorite story from the postseason, McPherson said to his teammates, "Looks like we're going to the AFC Championship.", before taking the game-winning 52-yard field goal against the Titans as time was expiring and he was taking the field. So why do you draft a kicker? Because roles matter. And they matter in your business as well. We're not all made to be the starting quarterback. Or the nose tackle. Or the long snapper. But a well-built team has all of those pieces in place. And we want your business to be a well-built team. But that doesn't just happen overnight. It will take some time and some work. A few tips: First, it is important to have a well-defined organization chart with detailed job roles. Your organizational chart should be able to be easily translated by your employees. Knowing the flow of communication and work responsibilities for their specific role. And speaking of roles, make sure that you have a detailed job description for your employees. One that they have access to, and is reviewed at regular intervals. Second, weekly team meetings! This is your chance to bring your team together. All the different roles in the same room, together. It's a time to build culture, strategize, train, and equip your team. We want team meetings to be a priority for your business. And the third and final tip, have a good hiring process. Getting the right people in your door for the right role doesn't just happen. But with the right hiring process and knowing your team, and what exactly you are looking for… You might just draft your Evan McPherson. Thanks for listening. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.

Why do your relationships with your employees always feel strained? Why don't we feel like we're a harmonious team running towards the same vision? Well, I have 3 pitfalls that business owners fall into today that cause friction and tension on every team I witness. Let's talk about it. Hey there friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here…just grateful for you tuning in to listen for a few minutes today. Business Owners and employees. A match made in heaven? Right? Or hell! No, I'm kidding. But how can we help this obviously strained relationship? How can we have employees who feel respected and excited to come into work? Well, today I want to give you, the business owner, 3 things that you may do without even knowing it that probably contribute to friction and relational strain with your employees. Now, obviously, all of these are somewhat on a spectrum. I will speak towards the worst-case scenario but take some time to look inwardly and see if any part of it is true for you. At the end of the day, employees want a stable environment where their work is respected and they enjoy what they're doing. Alright, let's dive on in! The first thing that business owners do that causes friction? Failing to actively listen. I was challenged on this just last week. Occasionally we will sit in on each other's coaching meetings just as a way to make sure we all have the same messaging and gain some powerful feedback on our effectiveness as coaches. I had another member of our team tell me to slow down a bit. As my client was speaking it felt like I was waiting for my turn to talk, to dive right in with the answer instead of validating the question and wait until they are finished speaking. I was so grateful for the critique because I didn't even know I was doing it. So, if I'm doing it, are you? When you're sitting in a team meeting are you trying to get through it as quickly as possible so you can get the team back to making money? Are you listening to your employees as they bring up frustrations? Do you check your phone during your check-ins and onboarding times? Do you shoot down their dreams and squash their complaints? Do you do anything with the information given? Or does it just sit in a file somewhere… and the information shared just falls on deaf ears. Or do you give eye contact? Repeat the problems. Take the time to work through it with them? Follow up and help solve the problem? Lean in, not get worked up? You see, active listening takes time. It can't be rushed through because the receiving side always senses it! Your employees can tell when you're not with them and your mind is elsewhere. Resist the temptation to multitask in those situations and actively listen. It will help your relationships with your employees… I guarantee it. Not communicating clearly. This is one I see all the time in businesses… and just in my life in general! Just this weekend, I saw this in my own home. We laugh about it now, but it was not funny at the time! So, we were about to head to dinner with my in-laws on Friday night. My wife was getting ready and asked me to go put some nicer and warmer clothes on our kids for the evening. Nice and specific, right? Can't screw this one up So, I went upstairs, grabbed the first warm thing in the drawer for my son, the second warm thing for my daughter. And here's where I admit that I am not known for dressing my kids well. I don't understand color schemes and toddler fashion. I heard warm and nice. As I get downstairs with the kids dressed (my son in grey sweatpants and a dark grey thermal shirt. My daughter in a white thermal that barely covered her midriff. My wife got frustrated with me and went up to change the kids again. I had picked the wrong thermal shirt and did not realize my mishaps until it was too late. The lack of clarity on the front end caused friction. Now, should I have known that gray on gray was probably not the best idea? Yep. Should I have grabbed a shirt for my daughter that covered all of her torso? Yes, most definitely yes. But this highlights the need for clear communication on the front end. Your employees need a clearly communicated request. We hear all the time, well they should know what I'm asking for. Why? They can't read your mind and probably don't care as much as you do. So set them up for success. Get specific. And write that specificity into a clearly articulated process for them to follow. That way it doesn't have to be done twice! And that way you can celebrate a job well done instead of it leading to discontentment, resentment, and friction amongst the team. It is your job as the leader to set the standard and communicate. All the way, no assumptions. Make no time for fun I get it, there's a time for fun and a time to grind. Scott in his coaching time last week talked about grinding…at the right time. There's a time to put on the blinders and just get work done! But, how are you capturing the heart of your team? We're coming up on calendar ye

The call hit his cell phone around 7:47 am on Wednesday morning. It was one of his most stable key employees calling and she sounded scattered. Over the next few minutes, the key employee began explaining a situation happening at home that was agonizing. An addiction with a member of their home had led to that family member stealing money from this employee to the point that insufficient funds were flagged at the employee's bank. She was wrecked, broken, hurt, and trying to run the household with an overdrawn bank account. The business owner who had received the call was in a place to have this employee stop by his office so he and his wife could sit down to grieve, and gameplan next steps. They were leading their employee through a remarkable and unprecedented situation. Leadership matters because followers are often in a position where finding their own way is too taxing, or nearly impossible. Leaders can only lead in an atmosphere where there are followers ready to follow. In any culture there will always be followers to follow; the greater challenge is finding leaders who are committed to lead. Vision is said to be the beacon by which the attention of followers can be harnessed into a movement that transforms. Where there is no vision, we are warned in the Jewish Proverbs, people will scatter. So where does such unifying vision emerge? From leaders; people who are willing to risk their reputation, their capabilities, and their relationships to craft a snapshot of some future, compelling destination. And then, with great repetition and spirit, a leader invites followers along the highway of values to the destination of vision, all for a defined purpose or mission. Leadership matters because without it, people scatter. Leadership matters because without it, people take aim at nothing. Leadership matters because when apathy sets in and fear slowly chips away, it is leadership that speaks up, calls out, and puts into motion the very vision-centered activity that will either have victory or defeat believing that either one is better than the apathy of nothing at all. Leadership matters because lukewarmness is the default of a life without leaders. When a leader emerges, technologies shift and grow. When a leader emerges, ideologies begin spreading. When a leader emerges, movements begin their important work of transformation. When a leader emerges, life gets pushed, moved, spun, lifted, and dropped. Theodore Roosevelt famously reminds us that it is the "cold and timid soul(s) who have never known neither victory nor defeat." Leadership matters because our own transformation and growth matters. Without leadership, we are left to a life of timidity and fear. With leadership, we embrace power, love, and a sound mind. ACTION: write down one thing in your life that would not be true if a leader did not step in and encourage you into a specific direction.

Why Commit to Processes? Why put in the hard work of recording, training, and holding the team to a set list of processes? Well, let's talk about it today. Hey there everyone, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here! I've always loved Simon Sinek. The author and motivational speaker who just has some amazing thoughts on business leaders, how to relate to this newest generation and what that can mean for your day-to-day. He was talking recently about the power of consistency. And in many ways, that's what our teams struggle with, right? They want the big move, the home run, the grandiose event that shows they put it all together. But in the day to day… there's so much struggle to stay consistent and understand the process of how long it takes things to get accomplished. He pointed out exercise. The first time you go to the gym. You put everything you have into it and come home and look in the mirror. What do you see? Anything different? Nope. Fine, I'll go again tomorrow and try this thing one more time. Look back in the mirror… nothing's changed! This must not work. Same thing with relationships. You stop by a girl's house who you have a crush on… take her flowers and write her a little note. Is the relationship automatically healthy? Even though the inputs and process may be working perfectly, there's nothing to be seen on a day by day basis. What Sinek points out is that there are almost these universal laws, that, if followed, will produce results. I can guarantee that if you control your eating and exercise daily, you WILL get in good shape. It may take a year, but it WILL happen. Same thing with relationships, if you commit to serving the other person… to caring for them, you WILL have a healthier relationship. The important piece is consistency! If it's doing it right 10% of the time? You won't achieve the result you want. Even 50% of the time, probably not. But if you get to the 80% or 90% mark, there's room in there for slipups, the piece of cake here and there, or the day off from working out. But it's the habits and consistency that pays off over the long haul. That's where your process becomes so important. And the training of your processes that reinforce and develop CONSISTENCY. Because the success for your business is never measured in doing it right for a day. Or a week, but consistency over a long period of time! That's why we get nervous when businesses celebrate the Big Deal they landed. Oh…we're going to double our revenue through this one deal it's amazing! Yes, it is…but just like that first date with the girl of your dreams, where everything seems to go right…if you don't have a process to fall back on none of it matters! So…if you were to take time out of your day today and think about your processes. Where do you fall short? Maybe it's starting with celebrating your team for the areas they are consistent. But it's time to critically think about consistency and process. It's time to make a list of the areas you fail more than you succeed. Is it closing sales? Is it the handoff point from the sales team to the operations? Is it inventory management and you're always looking for material? Is it communication with your team and training? Is it onboarding of new clients? Is it client retention for the long haul? Is it hiring and getting the right people on the bus, or maybe holding your team accountable once on the bus? I don't know. But I know without critical thinking and intentionality none of this consistency happens. You start swinging for the fences and striking out more times than not as a business. Sure, you may find some success along the way, but it will never be sustained. So, commit to Process. Not perfection, not talent, but Process. Let that define you as a business. That people know exactly what they are getting when they call you. And then let that Process turn your business into a wildly predictable (how's that for an oxymoron)...a wildly, predictably, consistent team that shows up day after day and knows exactly what to do. That's the goal friends. Go chase after it.

Keynote from Superior Rigging & Erecting (SRE} Birthday Celebration by Scott Beebe Founder | Head Coach My Business On Purpose

In 1964 the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a ruling that reversed a previous ruling by the State of Ohio banning the showing of what they deemed an obscene film entitled The Lovers that was being screened at the Heights Art Theatre in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. After yielding remarkably different opinions across the bench of the Supreme Court, Justice Potter Stewart's opinion was most unique stating, "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be (obscene), and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." There are troves of content available and promoted on the idea of leadership. Leadership, although hard to define, is a trait among people that one could easily mimic Justice Stewart's opinion by saying, "I shall not define (leadership), but I know it when I see it". Leadership is birthed out of the Latin word "ductus" which suggests the ideas of guiding, conducting, drawing, pulling, taking, commanding, marching, and forging. Leadership can be hard to define because leadership is complex, and explains why developing leaders require focus, attention, and a roadmap. In its simplest, purest form, the dictionary defines leadership as "the action of leading a group of people or an organization." It may also be helpful to have a peek into what leadership is not. Leadership is not coercing, forcing, cajoling, conniving, or deceiving. Leadership is not commanding, controlling, dictating, or forcing. That is an authoritarian mandate, not leadership. Leadership is guiding and going before. Leadership is embracing a continual state of risk because under healthy leadership, followers always have an option. How can you tell the difference between a leader and a manager? A leader casts vision, influences behavior, and inspires accountability and action. A manager ensures that the strategic elements of the vision are mapped out and executed. The 1960's in America were a time of significant civil unrest, and also a time of significant leadership as President John F. Kennedy casts his Moonshot vision, and Martin Luther King Jr led his infamous march on Washington. JFK never set pen to paper with rocket engineering plans or fuel displacement calculations, and yet he led thousands of young scientists to do what was impossible. MLK set a flame using the words of his mouth to ignite a peaceful resistance among thousands towards a racially integrated and unified vision acknowledging that "we must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." Leadership is a conviction towards healthy transformation, towards creating opportunity, towards inviting those who desire a peace-filled future into a life forward motion. Dr. King compelled such motion through his vivid invitation saying, "If you can't fly, then run, if you can't run, then walk, if you can't walk, then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward." What is leadership? Here is a potential definition to guide us… Leadership is one person, or a group of people, who are compelling willing followers to keep moving forward to a defined and shared vision. Over the coming modules, we will be walking through and defining the ingredients of what healthy leadership looks like so you can begin to feast and compel others to move forward. Leadership may still be hard to define, but you will know it when you see it. ACTION: write a one-sentence definition of what you think leadership is and share it at your next team meeting.

Hey, y'all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose. A question I came across as I was reading over the weekend…" what habit in your life will yield the highest return?" And then to take it a step further, how can you make that habit part of your daily routine? The book is called Win the Day by Mark Batterson. After you have defined the habit, whatever it may be, Batterson goes on to suggest (in regards to making this habit part of your day to day), he says "the key, no matter what it is, is identifying when and where." He goes on to give details of a study that was done in the 1960s involving students at Yale University. Graduating seniors were educated about the dangers of tetanus and given the opportunity to get a free inoculation at the health center. Despite the fact that it was free and the majority of the students who were polled were convinced they needed to get the shot, only 3 percent followed through and got the vaccine. 3 percent. Now there was another group of graduating seniors, the test group, that was given the same lecture with one caveat. They were given copies of the campus map with the location of the health center circled. Then they were asked to look at their weekly schedules and figure out when they would get the shot. And you know what… 9 times as many students in this group got inoculated. Good intentions are good, but they aren't good enough! Define the habit. Then define the when and where. Or there is a good chance this habit, which can yield the highest return in your business, will stay just a good intention. At the beginning of the year, I was working with a client and asked him the same question. He thought about it for a week or so and decided that the habit he saw that would yield an incredibly high return would be reading. Sounds incredibly simple, but he admitted that he hadn't read a book in almost a year. He had intentions and even had books on his shelf that he had bought last year, but never got around to reading any of them. Some were books on business. Some on marketing. Some mystery thriller books. Some books for his spirituality. All kinds of books, that he knew would make him a better owner, boss, husband, father, etc. But he never got around to reading them. So he had defined the habit, it was time to define the when and where. It was easy for him, he is typically the first person up in house so he can shower and get ready before helping others get out the door as well. He decided he would wake up 30 minutes earlier each day. Make a cup of coffee. And sit in his favorite chair in the house. He knew his habit. He decided his when and where and he has been crushing it. He's quick to admit that he hasn't been 100% since he started, but he has already finished 2 books in 2022 and we aren't even out of January yet. So what's your habit? And what is your when and where going to be? Ask yourself this question over the next week, and see if there is a habit you need to take on that will yield a high return this year. Thanks for listening. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.

The final details were settled around 8:17 this morning when Gerrick Taylor looked out over the room filled with Taylor's 41 employees and was about ready to kick off Taylor's fourth annual full team offsite training day. Just four years ago, he thought he had lost his mind at the idea of closing down all Taylor's retail locations. The calculation was steep; full wages for all Taylor's employees that day while posting zero revenue throughout the entire day. The model did not make sense on paper, but he knew a larger investment needed to be made; an investment in people…in relationships. Taylor's began almost twenty years ago on the side of the main road in Lexington, SC when Gerrick received a tractor trailer load of pine straw from his Dad. As a High School teacher and football coach, Gerrick was looking to make a little extra cash on the side. His goal was to sell four trailer loads of pine straw that summer. Summer ended with over thirty trailer loads being sold by one person, with one phone number before and after summer football responsibilities. It was a grind. After trying to juggle school, coaching, and the entrepreneur's reality, Gerrick decided to leave teaching and coaching and put all of his time and attention towards growing what would eventually become Taylor's Landscape Supply and Nursery. For years Gerrick led a small band of employees with a grinders spirit; do what needed to be done when it needed to be done. If you run into a problem, cross that bridge when you come to it. It worked… for a while. Over a decade later, Taylor's was becoming "too much plane for one man to fly". Back in 2015, Gerrick went through a process where he made an intentional decision to begin working ON his business, taking time to step off of the lot, out of a tractor, and sit down to articulate where he wanted to go (vision), how he would get there (values), and why it was important (mission). After articulating the purpose of Taylor's he then began the long, methodical, weight-lifting-like process of identifying and building the necessary systems and processes that Taylor's would need to bust through the ceiling and grow. Gerrick realized that people crave structure…they also crave repetition and clarity. Taylor's became a hallmark of weekly team meetings, stand up team huddles, helpful checklists, and accountability. Something deeper was still needed in order to create a glue-like connection among the team. In 2018, Taylor's held its first ever full-day, shut-down-the-business, all-get-in-a-room, offsite team training day. It was good. It was not life-changing, because it did not need to be. It was not cause for a circus. It was simply…good in a very healthy, solid, beneficial way. Gerrick realized that thoughtful, repetitious, fundamentals are often more powerful long-term, than short-term bursts of creative brilliance. Aesop reminds us the "Tortoise kept going slowly and steadily, and after time, passed the place where the Hare was sleeping…(and the Hare) could not overtake the Tortoise in time." Slowly and steadily. Year one… two… three… now year four. The only magic in a Taylor's training day is this… it happens each year with purpose and an agenda. Your team needs a time to break away from the day to day, and to be trained together. Other conferences are fine, but not like the value that a business team only gathering can provide over the course of one full day together with learning, conversation, workshops, meals, and happy hour. What are the keys to building a great annual offsite? First, articulate the purpose of your one day off-site. What do you want to accomplish? What do you want your team to walk away with? How do you hope they feel, think, or act? Whatever… WHATEVER comes to mind, write it down and allow that to determine the next key to developing a great one day off-site meeting. Second, set the day on your calendar and draft a simple agenda. What day will it be? Look at the flow of your year, is there a day or time that may be a bit less disruptive for your team? Consider seasons, times, family calendars, and workflows. There is no perfect day and there will always be some conflict. Once you have considered all things, set the day and begin communicating that day and let the team know this is both exciting and mandatory. Client meetings, vendor meetings, and other meetings must be scheduled around this time, and only the most personal of conflicts should interfere with this day (weddings, funerals, births, etc.). Your agenda should include a timeline of the day and the major elements of meals, opening and closing sessions, any keynote sessions (no more than two), and a variety of breakout and workshop opportunities (large or small group discussion times). Again, align your agenda with your original purpose… allow that to guide the content. You can always bring in 3rd party voices (speakers, workshop facilitators) to help with bring a unique perspective. Also, don't overlook your own team member

Is your Vision Polarizing? Does it help decide who is in and who is out? Well, let's talk about that today. Good morning friends, Thomas Joyner here with Business on Purpose. At the end of every year, we ask business owners to write a letter to their teams. They highlight things like where you've been, where you're going, and how grateful they are for the team. One of the key pieces is always Vision for the next year. And we'll get into the why here in just a minute. So, a couple of weeks ago, one of my clients did just this. Spent hours writing his letter to his team. They had a great year! And are positioning themselves for another great year. So, he laid it all out… the vision for the next year. How much work they had on the books, who they were as a business, the accountability they would put in place to keep the bar high, and the reward for the team if they reach their goals. Even his wife came home after reading it all fired up, saying that she wanted to sign up to work for the team after having the letter read to her. 3 days later, 3 employees came in and quit. Why? Because the vision was so clear, so polarizing that they decided it wasn't what they wanted to be a part of. They decided it wasn't where they were heading and so they left. Now, you may be thinking to yourself. Ouch! That stings! You put all this work in and your team up and quits on you. Should have been more vague…should have made it easier to hear and lowered the bar. Are you kidding me? Not. At. ALL!!! The business owner called me more pumped up than I've heard him in over a year. I know exactly where we're headed and our entire team is on board. This is the first time I've known we were all pulling the same direction in years! He was absolutely floored… even though his team had shrunk by about 20 percent. Because he knew, that these guys would have fought him all year long and probably robbed his team of performance, profitability, and morale every day that they came to work. That's why we work so hard on Vision. It's polarizing. It separates those who want to be there and those who don't. It sets the destination and the standard and then allows people on your team to make a decision for themselves, which is a service to them even if they don't know it! I've never been more proud! Because it energized the business owner, and the rest of his team, to go out and do what they are uniquely equipped to do! That's a powerful vision. So, if I was to sit down and listen to your vision for your business or team. How polarizing and clear would it be? If you were describing the destination to me, would it be something like this? "Well, we're gonna head up to the northeast and find a town that we're kind of excited about. We may drive fast, but it may take us another day or two to get there. That's ok, though. At least we'll be in the vicinity?" No! You could arrive somewhere you don't want to be! But if it's the city, the neighborhood, the street, the address, the room inside that house or building. Your team can decide if they're on board or not! It's not vague in any way, but crystal clear. And here's the beautiful thing about it. If the team comes to you halfway through the year and says, but we didn't know this is what we were signing up for, you can hold them accountable. You can say, grab your letter I gave you in December that outlined where we're going. I even took the time to write it down for you so you wouldn't forget. And retrain to hold accountable. That's powerful! Imagine how exciting it would be to arrive at your destination a year from now. Or even to slightly miss it, but to be able to look back and say, well, we're way closer than we would have been had we not written it down, shared it and planned for how to get there! That's Vision that changes you. It's powerful, polarizing, and transformative. And that's the vision you want for your team. Anything less opens the door for chaos to creep back in and for your ceiling as a business to get lower and lower and lower. So take time to revisit your polarizing vision today. It's so so worth it. Thanks! Have a great day

What Is Grit And Why Is It Necessary? In order to rekindle the daylight of clarity, the roadmaps of vision, and the motivational sounds of collaboration, support, belief, and courage, we need to become aware of the impending darkness and choose to replace it with the light of grit. A recent business owner was hosting her regular check in with one of her key leaders. The key leader made mention of feeling "burned out". After realizing that the team member had only been a part of the mission for less than 24 months, the owner had an honest narrative in her head saying, 'you don't even know what burnout is', but chose not to say anything. Instead, the owner made a decision to call the key leader to a higher level of leadership and to encourage the leader to realize that she was not even close to the ceiling of her capability telling her, "there are so many others waiting to be served and impacted through your work, we will not allow the public narrative of burnout to become the dominant narrative in her head. Instead, she chose to replace that narrative with one of potential, opportunity, risk, adventure, and work. She chose to help her key leader bust the ceiling of her upper limit challenge. Grit is defined as "courage and resolve, strength of character". Courage is tied directly to fear… courage cannot be displayed where fear is not present. In order to achieve courage, you must go through fear. Resolve is an unyielding commitment to a specific direction. Character is the person you are when no one else is looking. Grit is courage, resolve, AND character. Without grit… Race cars never go fast Athletes never break records Business never drives to new horizons Parents don't produce kids that turn out to be awesome adults Marriages dissolve Mars doesn't get explored The printing press is never created In his enlightening podcast How I Built This, Guy Raz brings powerful stories from some of the most successful and sizable companies around the world. Dave Dahl from Dave's Killer Bread tells of his story of how he went from a prison conviction to building a powerful bread brand. Or across the street in Milwaukie, Oregon, where sits the famous Bob's Red Mill. Bob explains how his life's work went up in flames one night and how he led a lifelong comeback. Guy Raz certainly talks about the success of each company, and yet does a remarkable job of taking you into the underground of each. You start to realize that it is not so much that money that is interesting, but how each person had to show a constant display of grit, and cultivate a culture of grit in their team. We've been sold a lie. Work a little, play a lot, retire early, and ride off into the sunset. It's a lie! I'm giving you a warning now. The… "Work-till-you-drop-now-so-you-can-play-golf-till-you-drop-later" strategy …doesn't satisfy. Not to mention, there is no guarantee that "later" comes (one of the more unfortunate lessons from a pandemic). If you live in a retirement community, you will see what I mean. We have got to learn how to work well, play well, love well, and live well… ALL AT THE SAME TIME. That requires courage, resolve, and character… it requires GRIT. How Do We Cultivate GRIT in the workplace? Grind At The Right Time Grind… Critical Thinking (drill down deeper and deeper) Active Listening (writing, repeating, responding) Giving 10% more than what you think is "enough" Look forward to feedback (ASK FOR FEEDBACK, SEEK IT, WANT IT) check-ins! At the right time Weekly Schedule Being ALL there (in that meeting, at that site visit, at that lunch meeting) Don't cut corners… use the corners as time to bust through your upper limit challenges Role Clarity (aka Do Your Job) If you are doing the wrong thing at the right time…that is frustrating As long as we know that our work is not in vain, it allows us to maintain the fuel needed to know we are doing the right work If you do not currently have a written role, even if you are the owner… WRITE IT DOWN! Identify Fear And LEAVE THE HARBOR Aristotle said around 300 BC, "Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil"...even when the evil never comes Around 64 AD, Paul, a middle eastern vagabond, author, and teacher said plainly to one of his students, "God simply has not pre-installed you with fear or a timid soul. Instead, your life BOOMS w/ power, love, and a sound mind" Nelson Mandela - "The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." Fear has been a theme of every generation in different expressions How do we conquer fear… Steer out of the safety of the harbor into the open ocean Of course, plan, use navigation, make sure you have supplies… THEN GO! Trail A Mentor And/Or Coaching Right now… I have a business coaching group I meet with weekly, a psychologist monthly, and a speaker coach, two wisdom mentors I meet with 4 times per year, and two guys locally that we meet together for breakfast about 25 times per year …And I'm a professional coach! Everyone needs

Hey, y'all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose. I was coaching with a client this week and we were talking about his first team meeting of the year. He was excited about it. After the holiday season, he was excited to get all his employees and agents in the same room, to get on the same page, to talk about the upcoming week, month, and year. He then told me he wanted to take it a step further this year. After he gathered with his entire team, he had set up one-on-one meetings with each of them over the next week. Something he had done in the past, but had stopped during the pandemic. He said he felt like it was time, and in a safe and healthy way…he wanted to get his time back with his team members. I think this is brilliant. And needed. I'm not a huge fan of much social media, I don't have accounts of most platforms (not against them, just not for me)... but some clips become so viral that you can't help but see them at some point. Whether it's my wife, friends, co-workers, even on the news… you name it. There was a video I saw a couple of years ago from a 5th-grade teacher out of Charlotte, NC that was incredible. The video was simple, it showed the teacher, Mr. Barry White Jr., standing at the door of his classroom and his students in a single file line waiting to enter. One at a time each student walks up to their teacher does a handshake and then walks into the classroom. Every single student. And when I say handshake, I don't mean any kind of simple stick your hand out, firm grip, 4 seconds of eye contact handshake. These were complex and fun and usually had a little dance move at the end of the video. Each student, and if memory serves me correctly, there were at least 20 kids in his class that got that personalized handshake from their teacher. That didn't just happen. That took time for Barry to learn and engage each of his students in a way that celebrated them, and made it personal. In your business, I am not telling you to do what Barry did with his 5th graders in North Carolina. That wouldn't translate the same to your employees like it did for an elementary school kid. I am saying there is a lesson to be learned. One-on-One time matters. Take some time to meet with your team. And don't just talk about numbers and goals. Or problems and solutions. Yes, those topics do matter and can also be discussed. But spend a little time getting to know them. What makes them tick. What motivates them to walk through your door (or since it's 2022 maybe turn on their computer and open that phone from their home office). It can make a difference, and get you on the right track for a 2022 year of FLOURISHING. Thanks for listening. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.

On Sunday, January 2, 2022, a wildly talented wide receiver in the National Football League decided to remove his jersey and shoulder pads, throw his shirt and gloves into the stands, and simply walk across the field into the locker room all while the game continued to be played. Throughout 2021, the world, and primarily the western world, was subject to what has become known as The Great Resignation; a record number of people leaving their jobs for reasons not entirely known. Call it a re-evaluation, or a reset, we're not quite sure, but we do know it was and is real. Antonio Brown simply played out on a very public stage what many employers have seen privately in commercial kitchens, construction sites, and entertainment venues throughout the United States and other parts of the world. On the same day, Antonio Brown walked away from his work with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers professional football team I heard of another worker at a local entertainment venue in our town walking off of their job mid-shift. No major announcement, no obvious "incident"... they just turned in their gear and walked away. Earlier in 2021, a client of ours had two significant office staff members leave in the middle of the day. If this is happening with reasonably well run businesses, it is bound to be happening on a larger scale. We are in a season of culture where many seem to be in "fight mode". Fighting for this niche hope, or that niche desire. Many of these fights are societal discussions that need to be had. In most cases though, it is not the leaving that is the problem, but instead the fight method and forethought that goes into it. We want things to change and yet find ourselves unwilling to go through the hard, long, patient work of change in favor of abruptly walking out assuming that it will fix things either with the organization or with ourselves. There is one skill that stands in contrast to the "walk off" mindset that could bring massive value to you, your business, your community, and your family. Grit. Grit is defined as "courage and resolve; strength of character". Grit is a visible endurance of something that is not ideal, yet by enduring it can create a next-level maturity that, without grit, will not be achieved. It will be easy in the Antonio Brown situation to focus on the underlying conditions that were the catalyst Brown used to exit his role, and then begin to put ourselves into jury mode in determining the validity of his grievance in contrast to the actions he took and declare, "Right" or "Wrong". Instead, maybe we should ask, "what opportunities were missed by not allowing grit to play a role in sticking it out through the end of the game, and having a sit-down conversation without the cheap air support of a cryptic social media post?" Grit is a face-to-face conversation. Grit is riding out the shift and then having a reasonable conversation. Grit is wading through emotion and objective reality. Grit is seeking wisdom before making a decision. Grit is putting in the reps and realizing there is no such thing as an "overnight success" Author John Sowers says simply, "hurry ruins everything." We are working so hard to get so much more and many times missing what is right in front of us. Remember this wisdom statement, "to whom much is given, much is required." We work with a lot of people that have significant access to wealth and can tell you with great experience, the ones who "have it all" many times feel like it all has them. Many times we see anxiety increase with net worth. Grit is the gift of realizing that whether you have plenty or little, the gift is in being part of the team, being on the field… being in the arena. President Theodore Roosevelt had completed his two terms in office and was touring the world. He passed through Paris, France, and offered a speech entitled "Citizenship In A Republic". It has come to be popularly known as the "Man In The Arena" speech and was meant to refute a society that had become a collection of arm-chair-quarterbacks, instead of participants in real life. Roosevelt famously says, "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." As Antonio Brown theatrically left the arena, it was an interesting contrast to look back at the field of play and see twenty-two other men rema

What is your mindset going into 2022? What questions are you asking yourself to ensure that you think differently this year and keep growing? I've got 3 that I'd assume you haven't thought of yet and I'm excited to ask you today. Happy New Year to you friends! Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. So excited you are joining us and tuning back in for another year of the My Business on Purpose Podcast. Each year I try to think differently. To walk down different paths and view things from another perspective! It helps keep things fresh and new and keeps me from getting bored. But, it also helps me to keep moving forward. To keep growing and continue being shaped and resist stagnancy. I may come to the same conclusions year after year, but at least it will be reinforced by a new perspective and foundation for those same beliefs. So, after thinking through some new perspectives with my clients at the end of 2021, I started asking some questions that are moving me towards some new actions in 2022. I'm excited to take this on as it's a new opportunity to be intentional in everything I do. Alright, so after taking some time to craft these questions last week, here's what I want you to wrestle with this week. Question number 1. 1. What do you consider wealth? I stumbled across an interview with Bob Marley from around 1970 and a reporter was asking him if he made a lot of money. "What's a lot to you?" Marley asked back. "Millions," the reporter came back. "No." "Are you a rich man?" The reporter then asked. "What do you mean rich?" Marley looked genuinely confused. "Do you have a lot of possessions, money in the bank?" Here's where I was captured… Bob Marley finished with this…"Possessions make you rich? I don't have that type of richness. My richness is life, forever." And you can hear it in his rastafarian accent. It's amazing. And yet has to make you think right? What do I consider rich or wealthy? What do I consider wealth? Am I chasing someone else's version of "rich?" or wealth? Or am I running after something that I know, if I catch it, I will be content and happy and joyful and satisfied? I'd wager that a lot of us have never truly stopped to think about how we define wealth. Or what you want your wealth to consist of. And what Bob Marley says is a bit ridiculous right? Life, forever. What is that? But at least he's living his version of rich. That's all you can ask for. Now hear me say this. Wealth has to be separate from monetary goals. It can be a part of it. But if you are not happy without it, Money never stands a chance to truly make you happy. In fact, a lot of times it just brings on more and more problems. Accents the hole within. So take some time today to work on your Vision for this year and Define wealth! Question number 2… 2. If someone looked at the way you spend your time and money, what would they say you value? I almost didn't write this question as it's so personal. It's a shot to the heart right? It always hits me in the face at the end of the year when I look back at how we did on our budget. We spent what on what??? Are you kidding me? We don't even like that! Why are we spending our money on that? Or when I look back on how we spent our time last year. Is it with the people we love and care about? Was it doing things we want to be doing or having experiences we will remember? Or did we waste time? Are we locked into habits that we're sick of? Are we spending time places out of obligation that in now way bring us life? What does the way you spend your time and money say about what you value? And what do you hope your time and money shows your value? Where's the disconnect? That leads us to our last question… 3. What do you need to do to intentionally change that? The time is now to make a change. Is it hopping online and canceling all those tv subscription packages that add up! Is it putting time parameters on your iPhone to keep you from scrolling your way into oblivion with all the social media crap you inhale? Is it building a weekly schedule and truly time blocking your week so that the things you value truly have a time and a place and are built into a rhythm for your week? Is it setting your alarm earlier and placing it across the room so you can't hit the snooze button? Is it signing up for a class or sitting down with your calendar and putting the things you value on there RIGHT FREAKING NOW, so you make sure to prioritize what you value? I know if you don't do it now, you will look back on 2022 with regret. Because either you own your time and spend your money intentionally or your time and money get spent for you. There's no in between. And no, you don't have the time, you have to create the time. It will not just happen. So, think through those questions this week. 1. What do you consider wealth? 2. If someone looked at the way you spent your time and money, what would they say you value? 3. What do you need to do intentionally to change that? Enjoy! As always, if we c

Hey, y'all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose. Do they know… who are they? And what do they need to know? Let's talk about your employees. Basically, we want to know if your employees know what is in your head. Or a better question, are you on the same page? I just finished a call with a client of mine (he's a builder), and for the first time since we have been working together, we got his project manager on the call with us. Not the first time I have heard about him, but the first he was able to join us. I have heard about him… a lot. I have written his name down in my coaching notes… a lot. I have taken calls from my client about this PM… a lot. By now you can see where I am going with this. My client is good at what he does. This project manager is good at what he does. But there was something off in their relationship. The work being done was inefficient. They were slow to complete jobs. A job or two had to be revisited because of some simple oversights. The amount of trips to Lowe's, simply baffling. Again, they know what they are doing. But these misses were costing the company time and money. So the question we had to answer, what do we do? After we chatted for a bit, it became clear…these two were not on the same page. Now, if this story sounds familiar at all, it's because at some time or another you as a business owner have probably felt this way. Actually, it would be hard to imagine if you haven't felt this way. You have been there. If you have been listening to Business on Purpose (via your coaches, podcasts, YouTube, etc.) you have heard us say that 2022 is going to be a year of flourishing. Part of flourishing is being on the same page with your people. It is essential to your business. It is essential to you. This client is indeed going to flourish in 2022! And for this to happen, he and his project manager need… no have to be on the same page. So where did we point him? The first… vision! You must be able to communicate the vision of your business with your employees. How do you do that? Simple, weekly team meetings. They are essential. A few excuses I have heard over the past few weeks from business owners when asked about why they haven't been doing team meetings… I don't have the time My employers won't show up They don't seem to be effective Let me stop us there. If you are running a weekly / effective team meeting… these excuses don't even make sense. We would love to help you. We would love your feedback. We would love for you to be doing team meetings in 2022. You will not regret it. Thanks for listening. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.

We mix our own SOIL and get it ready FIRST: Schedule Time For People: Howard Shultz, Starbucks CEO for so long said, "Want to build for one year from now, grow wheat... 10 years from now grow trees... if you want to build for 100 years from now... grow people" REMEMBER: The product is a commodity, the process is the product, and the people are the linchpin... without people, there would be need for neither We are not built for commerce... we are built for relationships... commerce is merely a stage by which relationships can connect, form, and thrive Here is the reality... you are scared. It's ok... just admit it. It can be awkward We know in order to meet on the stage of commerce, we need to sync our calendars and actually shape our time to have the conversations that matter most But we're scared of… Not saying the right thing Not saying the right thing the right way Not being sensitive enough Being mocked... or being called out for not being sincere Not having enough emotional energy to listen well Having the implement another thing that you don't have time for That it could get out of control... I AM TOO Imagine a Coach who busied themselves with administrative things (schedules, jerseys, tickets, etc.).... but never actually coached players? 2022 is the year that the Owners will make time in their schedule to be the Chief Training Officer of the business... doesn't mean they are leading training sessions, but it means that they are making sure training and development is happening year-round! How do we MAKE time? BOP TOOL: That's what the Culture Calendar is all about... its the reminder you need to do the things that matter most SECOND: Optimize Process: How do plants flourish? How do they grow? A PROCESS... photosynthesis... the leaf acts as a solar panel drawing in the energy needed for all other parts of the plant Here is what DOES NOT happen... Plant A only does 3 steps, and Plant B adds six additional steps today, but tomorrow will only do two of the steps How do we optimize our process in such a way that it brings LASER CLARITY to our teams? We will MAKE time to review our processes as we go! How? BOP TOOL - in our weekly team meeting agenda, we will have a 3-minute segment where we simply take a look at the Master Process Roadmap and see if anything needs updating THIRD: Implement Accountability: Kayce Dutton. A ranchman who grew up as the black sheep of a proud, but dysfunctional Montana family. He once said, " I'm always in a position where I need to kill or be killed" His father John Dutton, played by Kevin Costner places nepotistic expectations on this lone ranger soul to be the male heir apparent to the family ranch. He often assists w/ his father's dirty work in the hopes of preserving their family's land. After one particular fight, he responded this way, "I like having somebody to fight for rather than something. When you fight for a thing, the thing doesn't care if you win or lose because the thing ain't alive. But when you fight for people, they care.." - Kasey from Yellowstone When we set parameters and schedule accountability... and then follow through on it… we are fighting FOR people instead of being distracted by things… When you spend time with people... they care Things don't Part of spending time with people is having honest conversations about How they see the business living out its mission and values What they are seeing and thinking What blind spots they may recognize that you don't What they need from you And what you see and need from them? How do we do that? BOP TOOL - that's where we begin scheduling those brief, intentional, check ins with each person Which leads to the L of SOIL... Lifelong Learning: When you ask, you learn When you look, you learn When you make time, you learn When you are present, you learn Learning requires pausing and listening... and more importantly MAKING time to learn and listen Learning is passive (initially)... we have to learn to sit quietly in order to learn None of these are skills that you were told were priorities when you start your business or started your job. We live in a pedal to the metal society... go, go, go

We are back… as many of you are watching Yellowstone, like my wife and I. I always leave the show thinking. While it's driven with action and filmed in the heart of a breathtaking landscape, it's the dialogue and sometimes lack thereof, that drives the show and causes you to think. So, we'll dive back in here in a moment but just wanted to thank you for listening or watching. My name's Thomas Joyner and I'm a business coach here with Business on Purpose. If you haven't seen this week's episode of Yellowstone, I am going to discuss a scene from it. So, if you need to pause this so you don't freak out at me and get upset for spoiling a 30-second scene… that's on you. At the end of this past episode, Jimmy, one of the guys who's kind of being redeemed over the past several seasons. Going from meth addict to miserable stable hand, and now sent to Texas to learn how to be a cowboy, is at the end of a long workday. The last conversation with his boss, they're sitting there watching someone work and he looks at Jimmy and says this. "Jimmy, if you really wanna be a cowboy… learn to rope." So that night, Jimmy comes home to his little bedroom. Eats the plate of dinner left for him and notices a rope on the wall. He picks it up, walks outside and pulls the little fake bull into the yard, and starts practicing. As the scene progresses, it's daylight. First throw with the rope? A miss. Second, a miss. Third, and fourth, and fifth. All misses. This goes on for hours as it's late into the night…more and more and more misses. Until finally, the last shot is him roping the bull and pulling it tight. Now, what are we supposed to take from this? What does some fictional former Meth head turned cowboy learning to rope have to do with you running your business? I think it's all about what work are you willing to do in private. What work are you willing to do when no one is watching? THAT… is the work that truly matters. That truly gives you a leg up. In the scene with Jimmy, they zoom out and there's no one watching. No one encouraging him. It's just him. Because he knows deep down that the only way to be the cowboy he wants to be is to put in the reps. To put the work in. To do the stuff that's no fun and so far from any type of predictable success that it's frustrating and downright discouraging. So, what work are you willing to put in that no one may ever know that you do? Is it taking the time out of your week to pour over your books, your numbers, to make sure you're making wise choices? Is it the hard work of recording your systems and processes to be able to train your team in a repeatable and accountable way? Maybe it's getting in to work before anyone knows you're there to map out the day and logistically save your business money by getting everything organized. Or maybe you, like Jimmy, just need to put in the technical reps to get better at your craft. To take rep after rep after rep knowing that there is no shortcut to success. I think if I could take something from this scene, it's that there's no shortcut to success. No get rich scheme out there. There are businesses out there promising that you'll crush it if you'll follow this 5 step program. It's all fake! There is no shortcut. You have to pay the price and put in the reps. But here's the good news. The encouragement in all of this. One day instead of stringing together one success, it will be two. And then three. And then onward and upward. I'll never forget the story of Kobe Bryant before a scrimmage at the Olympics in 2008. He called his trainer at 4:15 am and asked him to come to the gym with him. Even though they had a noon scrimmage. So, they got in a 90-minute workout and Kobe told the trainer, he could head out if he wanted to. The trainer left, went and got a few hours of sleep before the scrimmage and when he got back to the gym, he went up to Kobe to encourage him on a great workout that morning. "Great job Kobe!" Kobe just looked at him and said, "Huh?" "Great job this morning. What time did you get back to the gym?" Kobe just laughed. "I actually stayed here. I wanted to make 500 jumpers from the corner before I stopped and then just decided to make 800 instead." Kobe, a guy who was born with more talent than probably anyone, realized the value of putting in the reps while no one was watching. He didn't just put up 800 shots, but actually MADE 800 corner 3s BEFORE a scrimmage to make sure he was prepared. Because here's what Kobe knew… and what Jimmy is in the process of learning in Yellowstone. You don't rise to the challenge. That's a myth. You fall to the level of your preparation. What are you doing when no one is watching to raise your level of preparation to a place where everyone else notices when it's time to perform? That's the important question. Have a great day everyone!

Jessie, who has been the longest-serving team member at Business On Purpose, and started almost from the beginning, was sitting quietly staring to my left. We were in the middle of a very familiar time, our formal weekly check in. It is a prescribed, 20 minute or so time where we stop what we are doing, and I ask four familiar questions of Jessie (and our other team members). At the end of that time, I make a statement. I had just asked the fourth question, "what do you need from me", and Jessie thought for an unusually long time before saying anything. Then she said this, "the second half of our mission is 'making time for what matters most"... I feel like we do that with conversations like these." We chatted a bit more about the challenge of owners investing in their team, and the return they should expect. What really caught our conversation was the reality that most owners likely don't have a targeted plan of team investment outside of a couple of special events per year, and maybe some last-minute bonus items around the holidays. We asked ourselves, "how do owners invest in their employees?" In short, it's likely the total opposite of what you think. The bean bag chairs, free food, the team building... those are commodities and are meaningless without the true investment of at least these four items: TIME ATTENTION REPETITION IMPLEMENTATION First, your time is a non-renewable resource which strikes at its value. The time I am spending writing this post is time that I will not get back, so I have to determine if it is worth the time writing. Our mission is to liberate business owners from chaos to make time for what matters most. I believe this article will help liberate you from chaos, therefore it is a good investment of time. Unfortunately, we often give our time to things that are time-wasters. The easiest way to determine the resourcefulness of your time is not necessarily looking at checklist-able productivity (although I do love a checklist), but instead determining if the task you are working on is aligned with your mission. When you make time to spend with or for your team and their growth towards the vision, and mission of the business, that is time well spent. Do a mental audit of last week, how much time did you actively (not passively) invest in your team? Second, your attention is another non-renewable resource. Attention is bound directly with time. It is quite possible to spend time with an employee and yet your attention be elsewhere. In order to fully give your attention to something, it is helpful to have mapped out what you wish to accomplish while with that person/place/thing. Obviously, you can over schedule a relationship; but most of us are guilty of the opposite, having very little purpose for the engagement of our team. The best, simplest, and easiest tool to put in place to aid with attention is to simply write a BASIC agenda for your time. How long, what will be discussed, what is the follow-up? That's it. The check in discussion I referenced earlier follows a very basic outline and each of our team members knows exactly what I'm going to ask... because I ask them every week! That leads to the third element of investing in your employees; repetition. Zig Ziglar said, "Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment." I'll ask a business owner, "did you all start doing your team meetings (or whatever)?" More times than I care to remember the response is, "yeah, we tried that (once) but it didn't work." Even untalented actors get gigs. Why? They repeatedly continued to ask long after the rest of us gave up. Monster biceps come not from a long, extended 8-hour workout at the gym. They come through long, extended 8-hour workoutS (plural) at the gym day after day. It may not be fun...but it is effective. Finally, Joe Calloway says it best, "vision without implementation is hallucination." I have a Monday checklist that I work through each Monday morning. Some of the "tasks" on that Monday checklist directly impact our team members; small investments of time, attention, or repetition. The Monday checklist does not pull itself up on my computer...it does not scream and yell at me for attention. The Monday checklist sits there lifelessly until I pull it up and use it. Business owners... we must implement the tools we have access to. There is no silver bullet, but there is time, attention, and repetition...if you wish to implement. These four things make the bean bag chairs, the ping pong tables, and the team-building not a farce, but something of real value for your team.

Hey, y'all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose. So, what is your word for 2022 going to be? As I am recording this, it is December 1st, we have officially made it to the last month of the calendar year. In a few quick weeks, we will be closing the books on 2021, and heading straight into 2022. When I joined the Business on Purpose team earlier this year, one of the first questions Scott Beebe asked me was about "my word for the year." Now I'll be honest, I had never done a word of the year before, so I didn't have one at the ready. It felt like a big decision, one word that would define the year ahead. I wasn't sure where to start, or how to narrow down my outlook on the upcoming year to just one word. But nonetheless, I started the process. I wanted first to take a look at what others had to say about choosing a word for the year...here are a few quotes I came across.. The website Mountain Modern Life says, "I don't know about you, but I love the idea of choosing a Word of the Year vs. New Year's Resolution because it helps bring focus and clarity to what we want to create in our lives." Elizabeth Rider says, "Use your Word of the Year to help guide your decisions and continue moving towards what you want." A different Elizabeth, McKnight, states, "The practice of choosing a "Word of the Year" is that, instead of setting a lot of different New Years Resolutions, you select one single word to be your focus for the year. You can use that word to set goals or intentions for each area of your life, but have them all tie back to the single word." There is even a popular website that has popped up recently around this idea...oneword365.com So again, I want to ask you, what will your word for 2022 be? I mentioned earlier that our Business on Purpose team takes this idea to heart. Some of our words for 2021 included… Abundance Heart Explore Disciplined Peace Transformation Embrace Normal Each of these words holds a special place to us. A word that we can keep coming back to in the midst of this year. So do me a favor today. Take a few minutes and pull out a pen and a piece of paper...yes we are going old school here. I want you to write it out. Take 3-5 uninterrupted minutes (phone on airplane mode, no music or podcasts, no calls or emails...just you and a piece of paper. Jot down some ideas. Some thoughts. You can start with phrases or sentences. But look back over your year in 2021, and start to get some ideas of where you want to head in 2022. Thanks for listening. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.

There's a hit show out right now called Yellowstone, and while I can't fully endorse it due to there being quite a bit of language and adult content, there have been some amazing quotes that have caused me to think. So... for the next several weeks I'm going to dive into some of these quotes and talk through their application to business and life. Good afternoon friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. Ok, so why Yellowstone? Why pick a show that's basically a Wild West version of a soap opera? Instead of sarcastic words, using guns... Well, Because all of life is learning. And I feel like in watching it, I'm learning and using this stuff to make sure I'm not off-axis in any area of my life. That's why one of our core values here at BoP is Relentless learning. Because in every situation in life we want to listen first, process, and then learn and implement from that. So that's what we're going to do today. So... before the quote, some backstory in case you haven't watched it. Kayce, one of the main characters is haunted by his past and is trying to save his marriage. He takes a new job as livestock commissioner in helping the rural farmers and cattle ranchers in any way possible. He comes home one afternoon and his wife looks at him and says this. "You really love this new job don't you?" Kayce's response is what struck me. "I feel like for the first time I'm fighting for people. I like having somebody to fight for rather than something. When you fight for a thing, the thing doesn't care if you win or lose because the thing ain't alive. But when you fight for people, they care." How powerful is that? "When you fight for people, they care." I wonder what you're fighting for? When you look out over the next several years of business, what is it you want? And if you get it, can hold onto it, in your hands... do you think looking back that it will make you happy? Will you be satisfied? Or will you just kick the can further down the road knowing you missed the mark? Here's the interesting thing we've seen over the past several years. Money can't be that object. History is littered with people who made it financially and they are just as miserable today as they were 10 years ago. We have seen numerous businesses "make it"... doing more business than they ever thought and bringing home life-changing money. But... if the relationships in their business aren't sound, if all is not well at home, if their marriage is struggling, it may help, but it doesn't satisfy. Look at shows like Shark Tank. These billionaires sit in on these presentations just trying to add a few more millions to their portfolio because all they know how to do is add more. What if we flipped the script and started chasing after what we really want. And that's healthy relationships and equipping people. Because you never sit with someone at their death bed and they say…"I wish I'd made more money in my life." Or, "I wish I'd worked 5 more hours a week." No! That never happens. People always wish they'd spent more time with the ones they loved most and invested in the people around them. So, what does that look like practically? Is it sitting down with your employees and hearing them out? Figuring out what their dreams are and help them achieve them? Is it planning some team days where you do speed dating or team day at the go-kart track to promote some laughter and community? Is there some serious work that needs to be done on the culture of your business so that your team knows you care about them? Do you forget birthdays/anniversaries, do you acknowledge big wins, and celebrate hard work? Or is your team just punching in and punching out, just waiting for the next Friday afternoon or next week-long holiday? You spend too much time at work to NOT invest in the people around you. That's why I love that quote, money, products, your business, it doesn't care if you win or lose... it's just a thing. But people... PEOPLE always care. So start fighting for the right things. So that years from now, you can look back and realize you were working for the right stuff all that time. So that when you see people succeed and success is lying in the palm of your hand you won't be wishing you fought for something else. People care if you fight for them... Man, that's good. Have a great week everyone!

You know that moment when you open the mailbox and you see the letter with your name on it? Not the spam mail, the credit card offer, or the latest internet bill. That feeling you get when you open a letter personally addressed to you, Hannah or Jason. Behind those words are thought, courage, joy, laughter, tears, surprise, or motivation. Words are powerful, especially when they are directed to you. Words matter. The thoughts and intentions behind those words matter. The way those words make you feel or react matter. Think about this. Every major global religion is all based on a holy book. Writing. The door to every major global movement or cause has typically stemmed from a book, a song, a poem, a prepared speech, or manifesto. Writing. One of our favorite phrases is, "if it is not written down it doesn't exist." So why don't we write more often? We're scared we're not that good at it. Novelist Louis L'Amour said, "Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on." One of the most powerful, durable, and recordable ways to share your human thoughts as a leader is to write them out, personally addressed to your team. Of course, you have doubts. Poet Sylvia Path helps us confront our doubt saying, "... By the way, everything in life is writable if you have the outgoing guts to do it... The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." When you write a letter to your company you have immediately created recorded history. When your business is two, or ten, or forty years off into the future, those future team members and leaders will be installed with the founder's or previous owners' principles, ideas, innovations, and foundations. When you do not write a letter to your company, it gets lost to time. We are encouraging you and challenging you to write a letter to each member of your business every year and personally mail it to their home with their name on the top. The first exposure I had to a powerful annual letter is Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos in his 1997 Amazon Shareholder letter. I used it in my first-ever coaching session with a client as we built out their Vision Story. In his letter, Bezos works through some key elements that we can put into a simple template to help you think through your powerful letter. First, Bezos begins his letter with key milestones that Amazon has achieved throughout the year. It is short and sweet and very powerful coming right out of the gate. No fluff, dive right in. You may say something like… Dear Hannah, We saw ACME, Co. grow beyond our projections by about 5% and YOU were a huge part of that. Our goal is to move beyond where we are at now and for next year become the second largest XYZ company in our county... Next, Bezos then goes on to discuss multiple opportunities that are in front of them. Even if you are staring down the barrel of a recession, opportunity is in front of you. What is it? What could your business do even if you don't know the "how" quite yet? Writing this letter forces you to see opportunity and then take the risk of sharing that opportunity. Use wisdom, use discretion, and be bold. You can do all three together. Third, Bezos begins sharing true stories that are aligned with their unique core values of "long term" and "obsess over customers". With each of those stories, he is also diligent to layout bullet points of what the impact will be to Amazon from those stories, both the fun parts and the challenging parts. For instance, an impact of "long term" is "When forced to choose between optimizing the appearance of our GAAP accounting and maximizing the present value of future cash flows, we'll take the cash flows." He's honest and discrete. Bezos shares what he can share, but I'm sure doesn't share everything. Also, remember that Amazon is a publicly-traded company so they will tend to be more open about their financial numbers due to their public transparency. You may wish to not share those. With whatever you write, just ask yourself, "how will this impact particular team members when they read it." The overall goal is to celebrate, encourage, inspire, motivate, show appropriate vulnerability, and vision-cast through your annual letter. Use your discretion with how much information to share. Next, Bezos shares some key metrics that make sense to the Amazon team. What will make sense to your team? Is it the number of increased contracts signed this year compared to last? Is it the user ratings that have increased this year over last? Your performance rating? Safety metrics? What are those key metrics that matter to your team? This may be a great place to share them. Fifth, Bezos devotes an entire section just to the Amazon team... to celebrating them. He is aspirational, saying things like, "The past year's success is the product of a talented, smart, hard-working group, and I take great pride in being a part of this team." Bezos is also sober mentioning, "It's not easy to work here... but we're building somethin

Hey, y'all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose. Let's take a look at where you are as a business. I am going to keep my content short and sweet today because I have a homework assignment for you…. Yes, you! Have you assessed your business? Lately? Quarterly? Yearly? Ever? Maybe you have, and maybe you haven't... But there is a good chance this is a good season for you to take a little time to get a fresh look at where you are as a business. And good news... Business on Purpose has a tool for you. I don't know about you, but I'm not a huge fan of going to the doctor. No offense to any in the medical profession, it's just not my jam. The waiting room, the needles, the sitting on the table where my legs can't quite touch the floor and did I mention the needles? It's not my favorite place to be, but I know the importance. Just a few weeks ago I was back at my local doc getting my annual check up. The whole kit and caboodle. I even let them take my blood to check all my levels. I wanted to be anywhere else, but I also want to make sure my body is healthy and functioning at its best. Sometimes assessments aren't the most fun experiences, but they can provide us some incredibly valuable insight. And so here is your homework. Right now, head over to boproadmap.com/healthy One more time, that is boproadmap.com/healthy, and get started. It's that simple. Should take you 5-10 minutes to complete and get your score. And the good news, whatever your score may be, we have some ways to improve on what you have going on. Take the assessment to see where you are as a business today. Thanks for your time, we know how valuable it is. We are thankful for each and every one of you. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.

6 weeks left in 2021! Supply chain issues everywhere, in-laws on the way in town next week, presents to order for Christmas! Take a deep breath, carve out some time for some Personal Prep for 2022. Good morning everyone, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. Two weeks ago, we talked about tweaking and refining your Vision for your business. Last week we looked over your finances and built out a budget for next year. Today, we tackle some personal things in life you need to have a grasp on before moving on, along with a very important conversation with whoever shares your home. So let's not waste any time, let's dive right on in! The first thing you need to make sure you are ready for is with a few simple Estate Planning items. A few years ago Scott sat in the Mikkelson Law conference room and told them the truth…" clients have NO IDEA of what they need when it comes to Estate Planning, and they get even more confused when they walk into an Attorney's office. Can we build something that makes Estate Planning clear?" They built a powerful tool that allows you to get the conversation started with your Estate Planning Attorney. Here is the tool and how it works. For key leaders and other employees who do not own the business, they should begin by looking at and discussing the two columns on the left side. For business owners, you begin looking at the 3 columns on the right side to begin the conversation with your Attorney. Ask them, "what do I need" and they can use this tool to put an Estate Plan together for you. It is simple, it's easy to understand, and ready-made. So if you already have your will, your power of attorney, but just want a copy of this, please let me know and I'd be happy to send to you. Estate Planning can feel a bit like going to the Dentist, you know you need to, but you don't like it. Please schedule time, and don't put this off. Estate Planning is an important part of your 2022 PREP for both your home and your business. The next piece of prep work to dive into is all based around Insurance. I sat in with Landon Papay of Papay Allstate AGency and asked a similar question. Insurance is so nuanced, but this document is at least a starting point, so you can know what to ask your particular insurance agent about. Everything from personal lines, life insurance, accident plans, and Key Employee Life can be discussed, but you need a starting point. Schedule your call with your insurance provider today or get in touch with us and we can connect you to ones we use. Lastly, We want you to have a conversation we like to call the Financial Barn! The financial barn is a conversation WORTH having. It's powerful to connect and dream a bit about what the next year will hold. Here is how it will work. Get out a blank sheet of paper and a pen, and begin drawing out a stick figure Barn. Don't get crazy, it's intentionally going to be simple. In a very BOP-like way, let's go ahead and address the elephant in the room…"What if I don't WANT to have this conversation with my spouse or partner?" Seriously, if that is you, then we as a BOP team are asking you to come speak to your Coach directly for advice and a plan. The number one reason for the breaking up of relationships is a lack of communication about finances. Remember, we care about you as much personally as we care about your business. Start adding in rooms to the barn. Living expenses, rent or mortgage, giving, tithe, college fund, 401k, vacation...everything you plan on putting money towards next year and a dollar amount next to it! Now add those numbers up to see what you need to earn to reach your goal. Is it reasonable? Is it attainable? So many people just earn and earn and earn and don't tell their money where it needs to go. If you go over, you can be incredibly generous, knowing you hit your goal. Let's get on the same page financially in your own home and it will be a powerful jolt for the financial health of your business and family too! So those are the 3 areas to knock out before the end of the year. Estate Planning, Insurance Planning and the Financial barn. Stop what you're doing and do it right now! Set up meetings with professionals and a time to discuss your home with your spouse or whoever shares your home. It's that powerful and that worth it. As always, let us know if we can help! Have a great week and a great thanksgiving! We have much to be thankful for.

Near the end of each calendar year we walk our heroic business owner clients through a powerful three-day experience we call BOP Prep Week. For those of you who were High School football players, think back to the dedicated week known as summer camp, or two-a-days. It was intense, grueling, and wildly necessary. Those are times that teams grow in their camaraderie, intuition, trust of each other, and anticipation of how to handle a variety of situations. It prepared you for a long, exciting season where you would experience ups, downs, and everything in between. An upcoming calendar year for your business is filled with the same twists, turns, blindside hits, and touchdowns as a regular sports season. Amidst the business preparation that you must pay attention to (vision, culture, systems, processes, finances, team, etc.), there is another, as important conversation that must be had headed into a new business season; a conversation that is rooted at home. Anytime we bring up the idea of home, or family, within a business conversation we can hear the sub-conscience of those around us beginning to ask, "but wait, I thought we were just keeping this to business?" Indeed, a conversation about home is very much a conversation about business due to the reality that business and life necessarily intersect. Rarely does a woman or man have the capability to keep "work at work and home at home." Hands-down, the most common reason for the break up of relationships is conflict in arguing. The number one topic of conflict and arguing is… money. A key feature of prep week each year is that on the third day we have each of our heroic business owners make time to spend with their spouse or partner if they share the home, and walk them through a simple and thoughtful framework around their personal finances. We do not lead the discussion, and we do not make decisions, we merely invite two people to have a thoughtful, facilitated, guided, human discussion about money together. How can you talk to your spouse or partner about money and not get in a fight? Here are four elements that can help you get started. First, commit to having a thoughtful conversation instead of a heated argument. Your goal is not to win, your goal is to get on the same page and to create clarity around the idea of money. Imagine that you had a miniature jail cell sitting on the table in front of you. That jail cell exists only for your thoughts. Imagine that every thought that pops into your head as you were in conversation with the other person first gets locked in that cell so it can be analyzed and thought through before it ever comes out of your mouth. Incarcerating every thought in a holding cell before it comes out and becomes official takes great emotional strength, but will lead to a more human conversation. Second, acknowledge openly your own biases and predispositions to money. There is a Wisdom saying that says, "where your money is, your heart is there also". You may have grown up where the responsible idea was to put your money in a savings account. Because your money is in a savings account, means that your heart is with the idea of saving and potentially storing up. For others, you may have grown up with a responsible idea was to spend what you had, therefore your money is with things, or experiences, which means your heart is there also. How did you grow up, and what biases have you brought into the relationship regarding money? Third, set a goal of what you want to discuss and communicate that goal. Do you want to discuss saving more? Spending more? Traveling more? Moving somewhere else? How to spend what you currently have? Why do you want to have this conversation? For me, I want to have a conversation with my wife because I want to have a meaningful mix of spending for the things that we wish to experience, great generosity for the things that we wish to contribute to, and thought for saving and investing so we can build appropriate wealth and be prepared appropriately for the future. With that goal, it allows my wife and I to set a number that meets all of that criteria, and then try to create a plan to shoot for that number. Where things get dangerous is when the conversation is left open-ended and the goal is either endless savings or endless spending, with no floor or no ceiling. One final element that will help when having the tough conversation around money is to schedule the conversation, the location, and grab a pen and a piece of paper. We like to go to a hotel for an overnight, and sit at the bar and begin to map out a stick figure barn. In that barn or multiple rooms. We have the "living expense" room, the "401k" room, the "hobby" room, the "generosity" room, the "college savings" room, and so on. Within each one of these rooms we place a number, and that values the value that we believe that we want to shoot for this year to fully fund that room. Once complete with all the rooms, we simply add up all the numbers, and tha