My Business On Purpose

Why I Can't Focus And Get Clarity My wife and I were at a gala recently...it was a socially distant, sparse crowd celebrating the culture-changing work of Martin Luther King Jr. A business owner came up to me and said, "I'm reading your book and want you to know that I feel like you are writing directly to me." Curious, I asked, "what's in the book made you feel that way?" Her response, "I'm in constant chaos." We regularly poll our clients and those who attend our in-person live events and online workshops and the number one piece of feedback we receive from business owners and key leaders is, "I cannot focus." Focus is an interesting word that carries with it the ideas of clarity, center, core, or bull's eye. We blame the current culture of screens, screams, and scram. The truth is we don't have to scroll the devices (screens). We don't have to turn on the news and noise (screams). We don't have to do everything we have been invited to do (scram). Hundreds of years ago the word focus was synonymous w/ a fireplace in a home... a hearth that was the center of the room where people gather. I love a (controlled) fire. Honestly, one of my favorite places on earth may be wherever there is an outdoor fire that we can stare at. I've heard it called "nature's tv". It's true. I cannot stop staring, constantly stoking this dancing stage of contorted and vivid flames; never the same shape or rhythm and yet in constant motion. Business owners tell us they feel like they are constantly trying to put out little fires that always exist. But what if those "little fires" are not threats to the business, but instead are lights along the path towards the vision that has been laid out. What if those are fires not meant to be extinguished, but instead meant to light the path to the real destination. We cannot focus because we do not want to put in the effort to focus. Please don't be offended, but for most of us (save our first responders whose job is to intentionally respond to chaos), we react to chaos because it makes us feel needed; harrowed. Robert Cardinal Sarah in his book The Power Of Silence says, "Without noise (chaos), man is feverish, lost. Noise gives him security, like a drug on which he has become dependent…noise is a whirlwind that avoids facing itself." We get to tell people when they ask how we're doing, "I've just been so busy." Busy is not envied. Busy is not the goal. Helpful, meaningful, transformational, impactful, useful….those are worthy goals. Busy is... busy. How do we stop succumbing to busy, loosen our addiction with the "feeling needed" that chaos brings and instead be content in who we have been made to be? We need to introduce more silence into our day-to-day. Sarah goes on to say, "Without the capacity for silence, man is incapable of hearing, loving, and understanding the people around him. Clarity is born of silence." Clarity is born of silence. Do you want clarity? You will need to make more time for silence that Sarah contends leads to a heart "that is able to hear, to listen, and to welcome." One you go silent, all the sudden you will begin to hear the things that truly matter instead of just the things that are busy. Silence used to be a societal value, now noise has assumed the podium. You can take it back... and gain the clarity you are looking for. Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose, author of Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters. Scott also hosts The Business On Purpose Podcast and can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.

What does it mean to "Turn the Corner" as a business? What are we aiming for when you come on as a BOP client? What's the goal and how do we get there? Happy Friday friends, I'm excited to talk through that today it's Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose. A few months ago I had a couple come in to talk about potentially taking them on as clients. They had great numbers. Great sales and revenue, a solid team, a thriving business, and satisfied clients. But they were exhausted from wearing all of the hats in their business and feeling like they could never take a break because 100 different balls would drop if they did. So, I looked at the husband and asked, "So what happens if you keep going like this." He looked at me with full sincerity and said. "I'll die, no literally I'll probably have a heart attack." And I don't think that feeling is foreign to you if you're a business owner. The constant pressure to keep things moving, to not let a single ball drop, and the pressure you feel to help provide for your employees and their families... it's a HUGE burden. But it doesn't have to feel like you're going to die. In fact, we prefer that it didn't. Fast forward almost 5 mos. That same couple is sitting in a coaching meeting with me last week and were absolutely beaming about a new hire. But not just any new hire. A new hire that they had prepared for and were able to offload so much extra work to. We've spent the past almost 5 mos developing a system for their new admin to thrive in, so that now that they made a great hire, this person is fully able to do the job she's hired to do, EXACTLY the way they want it done! They looked at me in our coaching time and said, "Thomas, we feel like we've turned the corner." Obviously, I'm smiling as it's just fun to be in the room and watching them so excited about where their business is headed, but it was more than that. Because they are above the chaos right now and could dream about where they want their business to go for the first time in years! We got to talk about new neighborhoods they wanted to serve and new services they could offer. They can pour back into their team as they finally have the time to offer them. They can even focus on the little details that always slip through the cracks as they had the margin and the capacity to handle the little things again. And THAT, is what we want for businesses. That's "Turning the Corner" as a business owner. Being free to work ON your business and not simply in your business. We went on to talk about a lot of things last week, but as I gave them a heavy load of things to jump on, he looked at me and laughed. He said, "I'm going back to the office to jump on this right now," because his business was in a place where he was freed up to be the owner and work ON his business. That's freedom folks! That's being liberated from chaos! And the fun thing for me to watch is now he's a better husband, a better father, a better employer, and has 10x the life satisfaction he had because he's not running around 24/7 in panic mode. He put in the hard work, and trust me it's hard work, to build systems that work whether he's the one doing them or not. And HE WILL NEVER GO BACK!!! Stories like this are why we do what we do. We want to be a part of your businesses story...your businesses liberation from chaos! To partner with you and provide perspective from thousands of hours of business coaching across an incredibly broad collection of industries to help you, as a business, turn the corner. If we can help in any way or you just want to hear a bit more, please feel free to reach out on here, or check us at out mybusinessonpurpose.com. Subscribe to our podcast and youtube channel and begin the journey. And know that we hope to do it alongside you! Have a great weekend!

What's your word for 2021? How do we stay laser-focused and provide personal accountability moving forward in 2021? Well, we've got some great ways to help this morning… Happy Monday friends! Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. So, a few years ago, my brother in law and I were sitting around the pool over the 4th of July just talking about the year. He was asking me a few questions about my year and how I stay focused on the direction I want to head. I was a little confused about what he meant, so I asked him to elaborate a bit on what he was asking. "Well, my word for the year is ____ and it's been a great way for me to stay focused on what I want for our family and for me as a man." I was kind of embarrassed because I didn't have anything like that. Now, I'll be the first to say that I like being a free spirit. Putting labels on things feels so constricting and feels like it sucks all of the spontaneity out of life. Just ask my wife about the battle it was to just get me to click that little box on Facebook about being "IN A RELATIONSHIP!" I felt like it would take the fun out of life and lock me into a life of boredom. BUT...what I've realized as I've begun this practice is it doesn't lead to a life of boredom, but a life of freedom. Freedom to choose what really matters in life and to go chase it. Freedom to stay focused on what I really want to focus on and not get distracted by the junk that tends to get in the way! So...the past few years I've started to take the first week of the year to think, pray, marinate on the word or phrase I want to use and chase after for the year. Some years I've knocked it out of the park and others I've looked up in June or July and realized I haven't even thought about it since January. Having a baby or two will do that to you. This year, my phrase for the year is Disciplined Peace. Disciplined Peace. What does that mean? Well, I felt like 2020 was marked by a lack of peace. The entire year felt like anxiety was constantly right below the surface. Chaos was forever in our face. For me, my discipline went out the window as I felt like I was putting out whatever fire was right in front of me and just trying to survive. What I've seen at the start of 2021 though, is that the fires are still burning. They aren't going away. So how can I have discipline in my faith, with my family, with my fitness, with my friendships (man a lot of F's right there)...with having fun, with learning to rest, with my work. All of that! How can I be disciplined in the areas that matter, so that it frees me up and leads me to Peace. At the end of the year, I want more peace in who I am, who I was created to be, where my family is headed, in my marriage and in living life. So...Disciplined Peace. Knowing that if I'm disciplined in the things that matter, it will lead me to a life of peace. Ok...let me turn it back on you. What's your word for the year? What's the phrase you want to hold onto to push you where you want to go this year? Don't just make something up. Take a couple of hours or a few mornings this week to process it. I've actually set aside time in my weekly calendar to ask the question, "Was I disciplined this week in a way that led me to peace?" I want that question before me all the time. So far, the answer has been yes! I'm excited! I'm motivated. And I'm making time for what truly matters. How can you do the same? Please feel free to comment your word for the year. I'd love to hear what you've got and see how we can encourage each other over the next few months! If you'd like to hear more and get more content, please make sure to bounce over to mybusinessonpurpose.com and subscribe to our YouTube channel and podcast. It's gonna be a great year! Have a great week!

Get Rid of Resolutions... Lean into habits! Any idea what percentage of Resolutions are still intact after the month of January? Well, let's get into it. Happy Friday everyone, Thomas with Business on Purpose here. Recent studies have shown that just under 30% of resolutions stick beyond the month of January! That's wild! More than 2 out of every 3 New Years Resolutions are given up on by the end of January. I laughed when I read this, but there's even a day called "Quitter's Day" where Scientists expect you to fail on your resolutions...and it's January 19th! So, make it past the 19th and you can successfully say you beat quitter's day! I'm kidding, but the obvious question stands to be asked...how do you follow through? How do you make it? How do you implement change? Well, if you subscribe to our podcast, which you should, or if you've followed along on Facebook, which you need to be doing, you've heard us talk about Habits. Habits are what is left over after your resolutions have failed! So... STOP MAKING RESOLUTIONS!!! Start making habits. So how do we do that? How do we make sure to instill habits that will work for a long period of time instead of ones that are quickly over on "Quitter's Day?" Well, I'm going to give you a book to read, and 3 practical ways to begin implementing habits that last instead of resolutions that fade. First, a book to add to your list. It's called Atomic Habits by James Clear. It's powerful, practical and a quick read. We don't get any kickbacks from them, just want to help you on your way to accomplishing your Vision for 2021. Ok, so the first thing I want to do is touch on a pitfall that keeps people from creating habits and combat that with a practical strategy. The first Pitfall I see is people focusing on the finish line instead of the process. People spend all of this time thinking about the destination, the end result, the losing 20 lbs, the doubling your revenue. But you can't lose 20 lbs if you can't lose 2. You can't double your revenue if you can't grow sales this week. It's why we focus so hard on the 12 Week Year! It's splitting your BIG goals into bite-sized chunks and doubling down on the process instead of the end result. Do you know what happens? You build daily habits for achieving those goals. You find ways to get it done today...instead of getting overwhelmed with getting it done for the year! Habits start with baby steps and it's so easy to get overwhelmed and defeated by focusing on the end goal that's so far away. Number two...have no skin in the game! This is why 90% of the machines are sitting there empty at Planet Fitness. There's not enough skin in the game. If you don't go work out, what's the big deal...it's only $10 a month! It doesn't sting, it doesn't propel you to go and make good on your investment. Now, don't go and throw money away! But there is something to taking a step that you FEEL. I spent years saying...I'll get in shape. But not until I spent my hard-earned money did I start going 4-5 days a week. But the cost forced me to make a habit! And that's what counts. So, what are the investments you need to make that will force you to develop a habit? That will sting until you do something about it? Is it investing in a new employee? Is it spending money on an estimating software that you know you need? Again, don't throw money away, but put enough skin in the game to force yourself to learn a new habit and get moving! Trust me, those motivating factors can get you going immediately. The last thing I see all too often is people trying to do it alone. It sounds like common sense, but having someone to push you and hold you accountable is paramount to establishing habits that last. Who have you shared your resolutions with? Who have you told your Vision/your dreams with? Is someone checking up on your progress weekly? That's why we speak about our 12 week plans every single week in our team meetings! It's accountability. There's nowhere to hide! But if I know I'm going to be asked about my goals...I start building habits to get there. So who do you need to invite in? Who will help you on your journey? Encourage you when you're frustrated? Pick you up when you need it? Find that person or that group and do the same for them. We can't do it alone! We weren't designed to do it alone, but were created to do life in community. Don't believe the lie that you can do it alone. So get after it today...revisit those resolutions that you set for 2021 and figure out what habits you need to implement to reach them. Again, your habits are what's left after your resolutions fall by the wayside. So use those habits to push them all forward and accomplish your Vision for 2021. I promise you it will be worth it. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast and YouTube channel for tons more content this year!

How To Make Time For Everything Amidst the various equalities throughout our world; wealth, culture, educational opportunities, food security, etc., there lies one resource that will always be provided in equal measure. Time. Every week our clock resets with 168 units (hours) of time that systematically tick off each second for 604,800 consecutive beats. Tick. Tick. Tick. Edward called me last week and asked simply, "why does Cynthia stay till 630 every night to get her work done? Every week, she is logging overtime in a role that has never needed over time." Business owners around the world are asking, "how do I make time for everything?" Key leaders and employees ask the same, "how do we make time for everything?" Before we suggest a helpful strategy, it is first crucial that we dive into why we can't seem to make time for everything. The answer lies somewhere within the not-so-forgotten path of silence. During the year 2020 the American culture played its part in a pandemic that was plagued by rhythmless noise without the solid drumbeat of coordination, vision, and planning. Within that pandemic lodged a feverish height of social, political, and racial topsyterviness. The beginning of 2021 did not relent as the Government spiraled in response to an insurrection within the Capital building fueled at the highest level of power. The headline for each evening news program became a ping pong match of interchangeable breaking news revolving between COVID and protests. Over time, although both were incredibly serious and important, the coverage became noise...not sound, not information...noise. Interesting to look at the evolution of the word noise. It is said to have meant "quarreling" in the Middle English voice. More insightful, though is the Latin room that noise is birthed out of... nausea. You know that green feeling you get when you are on a boat in the ocean and it just won't stop pitching and yawing? That is what incessant noise does to us. It nauseates the mind. It causes a seasickness of sorts for the brain that creates a fog where our only goal is to stop feeling sick. I heard recently a couple say this of the importance of our physical health, "when you are healthy you have a thousand dreams, but when you are ill you have but one dream." Why can't we make time for everything at work? Why can't we make time for everything at home? Why can't we make time for everything regarding our hobbies, interests, and relationships? We have mind-nausea in response to the breaking news of everything. We have only one next step...turn the noise off and embrace intentional silence. In his reflective book The Power Of Silence, Robert Cardinal Sarah writes, "Without noise, man is feverish, lost. Noise gives him security, like a drug on which he has become dependent. With its festive appearance, noise is a whirlwind that avoids facing itself." Sarah goes on to write, "Agitation becomes a tranquilizer, a sedative, a morphine pump...But this noise is dangerous, deceptive medicine, a diabolic lie that helps man avoid confronting himself in his interior emptiness. The awakening will necessarily be brutal." Wow, "noise is a whirlwind that avoids facing itself." Why can't I make time for everything? Because we do not want to do the hard work of facing ourselves...facing our real work. It is so much easier to bang out some emails in the name of work. It is so much easier to watch a tutorial video in the name of work. It is so much easier to do the easier thing in the name of work. It is so much easier to listen to the latest, loudest voice asking us to do something that seemed important in the moment, just to find out it was another distraction along the neon-lit path of noise. Noise to me is a lot like Vegas; a lot of lights, a lot of motion, a lot of activity, a lot of busy… And a lot of regret. All the while noise rages and the important work gets left undone. Still, Blaise Pascal's quote remains one of my favorites, "All the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot sit quietly in their own homes." Noise is hitting refresh on the news site. Noise is scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. Noise is a life on auto-piloted repeat with no thought of stopping or interjecting. Noise is whatever is taking you from your real work. In one of the great parenting moments in history, Manoah, a Jewish father at the time that Israel was led by a series of judges, asks God, "what is the mission of this child to be?" In other words, what is the important work you have created this child to carry out? That is my question for you today, what is the important work that you have been created to carry out? It might be bookkeeping, teaching, sweeping, coordinating, calling, documenting, estimating, bidding, flying, diagnosing, or calming. Noise will most certainly keep you from that important work and lock you into a nauseating diet of ick. The question remains, how do you make time for everything? You don't. Instead, ma

Greenlights Well, happy new year friends! I hope you were able to relax over the holiday season and rest with those you hold dearest. I hope it was a great time of reflection on the past year and a time of eager anticipation for the year to come. My holiday was spent wrestling with my kids, trying to run the sugar out of them at every turn, and being genuinely thankful for everything my life consists of. It's far from perfect, but I've realized that a heart of gratitude is where I want to be no matter what life throws at me. I spent a good bit of time over the break reading and reflecting. One of the best books I've gotten to absorb is called Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. If you haven't picked it up yet, do yourself a favor and listen on audible. McConaughey reads it himself and adds so many nuances that you cannot get in the printed text. He's an artist in every sense of the word. You will be shocked, you will laugh, you might cry. But you will also be left in awe at a man who has kept a journal for the past 40 years...from someone who has WRITTEN his life down and has taken the time to look back on his successes, his failures and the lessons learned along the way. It's spectacular! Now, a small/large disclaimer. This book is not for kids, it's full of foul language and quite a few adult situations...please know that in advance and if that is not your thing, this may not be the read for you. But, if you can push through some of that, I was amazed at some of the things shared and left to process through what I've heard in a way that makes me a better man. One of the most powerful vignettes he shared was from one of his first movies. He had spent years grinding and living off his talent. Years just winging it and letting his "true self" shine through. Until one day he showed up to set and 5 minutes before they called action, he looked at the script. Not one, not two, not 3, but 4 pages straight of a monologue...IN SPANISH...was sitting before him. Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. He was exposed. I was listening to this in my truck as I drove up to a family farm and I was moved by something he said. It was so powerful I played it again. As it rang in my ears I pulled the truck over to the side of the back country road and played it a third time so I could write it down. I didn't want to miss it. Here's what he said after his embarrassment. "We have to prepare to have freedom...we have to do the work to then do the job. We have to prepare for the job so we can be free to do the work!" That's it! I can't put it any better myself. Preparation...for whatever 2021 throws at us. It won't just happen. There is no shortcut to success, it's brick by brick. So what does that look like for you today? Is it taking the time to write down goals? Is it building a weekly schedule so you can focus on what matters? Is it recording a process or two and building systems that work? Maybe it's all of the above and you need to set a time to just begin working? All I know is EXACTLY what McConaughey said…"We have to prepare to have freedom!" The freedom we're looking for is just on the other side of the preparation and the work. Don't miss that and also don't be intimidated by that. If I or BOP can help you with that, please reach out. 2021 is going to be a great year. There will be many twists, turns and unexpected surprises along the way. I don't know about you, but nothing monumental happened at midnight on New Years Eve...much of life is the same. But, if we can focus on what we can control…"Preparing for the job so you're free to do the work," then whatever is thrown at us this year we will take it in stride. Know this year that we are for you and will do whatever we can do to help you succeed. As always, check out our website at mybusinessonpurpose.com, we're offering one month free to our member site. There's zero excuse to not give it a shot. Head over to mybusinessonpurpose.com/thomas28 if you want to. Subscribe to our podcast at the business on purpose podcast and check out our youtube channel for TONS of new content this year. Let's get it! Have a great week.

Your Preparation informs your performance… How prepared are you for the work ahead? Well... let's find out. Hey, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose. I was sitting in a men's breakfast this morning listening to a good friend of mine share about his experience serving in the Marines. He's been through things I've never dreamed of and we're blessed to have men like him defending and serving our country. His name is Joe McNamara and he has some amazing stuff on leadership, so make sure you check him out. He said 4 or 5 things that stuck with me...things like "It's called Leadership, not Likership." This thought of our job is to lead our teams, not necessarily be liked by them. He said, "Attitude is a weapon." Your mindset is a weapon that you can use to combat any situation. But the one that stuck out most to me was this…" There's no such thing as rising to the challenge." There is no such thing as rising to the challenge. Your performance is always an indicator of how well you prepared. I thought about how true that is. I have seen countless talented people just wing it... expecting to "rise to the challenge," and time after time their performance is less than it should be. I was reading an article recently about a basketball player that has been playing some really good ball recently. His coach was bragging on him saying, "You guys have just now seen what we've been watching for months." The reporter asked him to go a bit deeper and the coach elaborated. "He won't leave the gym until he's made 300 3 pointers after practice." That's where his success is rooted. He doesn't just wait until the game to try to show up. No, he knows that he will fall well below his performance ceiling if he does that. So, he spends hour after hour, with no fans watching, so that he knows he's prepared when his moment arrives. My friend speaking this morning, was talking about how proud of his men he was. As some really, REALLY intense stuff starts happening, they remained calm and performed, BECAUSE THEY WERE PREPARED! Because day after day, they trained in the morning, trained in the evening, tried it in light, in the dark when they were rested, when they were exhausted. Until they could perform at any point. And when the moment was upon them and it really mattered, they were ready for it! How prepared is your team? Is your sales process documented in a way that frees your sales guys up to perfect it and REALLY be prepared to capitalize. Is your Admin team ready to take on the constant barrage of phone calls with customer complaints that they get every day? Or do you just leave them along, hoping/praying that no one calls and complains about...Is your team trained to be able to handle the business without you if something were to happen to you? Trust me... it's happened to normal people just like you. My purpose in saying these things...is all of this preparation happens when you do it ON PURPOSE! It's why the name of our business is My Business on Purpose. Because we know that to be successful it doesn't just happen in crunch time. No, it's day after day of doing things the right way, so you're ready to capitalize on opportunities. I hope that makes sense. And I hope you go connect with Joe McNamara. I really look up to him and the way he's served all of us and the thoughts he has to share on leadership. Have a great rest of your week!

Stop Making Resolutions And Start Making Habits For some it's a book, for others it's a cigarette, and for others, it's a phone call. Each evening throughout the world a sequence of nighttime habits are taking place in every home, apartment, flat, and dorm in the world. For me the routine is to enjoy something sweet; a cookie, a small piece of pie, a handful of chocolate chips. Not just a quick bite, but instead a long sit down alongside an ice cold glass of milk. That's my routine. At the beginning of each new year, I consider a resolution to do something different each evening moving forward, maybe some fruit or a cup of hot tea. But I never do. Why do I do that? Why do I do the same thing every night? In fact, why do I repeat most things most days over and over again? The good things and the bad things? It's like they are on repeat. What is going on? In his powerful book The Power Of Habits, Charles Duhigg lays out a three-step "loop" that we all experience that creates the habits we repeat. After I share this three-step loop from Duhigg, I'm then going to challenge you to ditch resolutions which have a history of not lasting, and instead replace a resolution with a habit. What habit? Email. There. I said it. Email. A McKinsey analysis found the average worker spends 28% of their workweek "reading and answering e-mail." I can hear many of you right now, "but you don't understand...my job revolves around email." I hear you loud and clear. Let's OWN your email and do something different. If there is no plan, or habit, email can come to a place where it dominates your day, dominates your mind, and dominates your ultimate agenda, and keeps you from transforming your business on to the purpose that you intended in the first place. I heard someone say once, "email is someone else's agenda for your day!" What a horrible truth. Let's not just resolve to change it in our minds, but let's actually change it in our habits. Duhigg shares a powerful three-step loop that will help us. The three steps: cue, routine, reward The cue is the thing that provokes or sets off the actual habit...it's what launches you into the very habit you do. The routine is the actual behavior that you are looking to change. The routine is eating the chocolate before bed, drinking three cups of coffee before 7 am, or checking email obsessively throughout the day. The reward is the feeling, emotion, or response you receive as you complete the routine. It's that immediate gratification or satisfaction you feel, see, touch, or experience. Duhigg makes the case that simply by replacing just one part of the three-step loop, you can transform your habits. It is difficult, and in some cases impossible for us to control the cue. The cue might be a time of day, or something that happens naturally in our course of life (i.e. bedtime). You cannot change that...you will always have a bedtime. The reward is tied to your psychology and physiology which of course can shift over time, but again, much harder to master. Duhigg suggests that replacing the routine, the second of the three-step loop, will provide the key to changing your habits. Let's apply this to our email challenge. With email, the cue may be "arriving to work" or "scrolling my phone" or "don't know what task to do next". In fact, think through your last few days at work and answer this cue question, "why and when do you check your email?" Is there any rhyme or reason? Some habits are very methodical like eating sweets before bedtime but not as much throughout a normal day. Some habits are erratic like scrolling phones. Simply being aware of what drives you to email, or coming to grips with the reality that maybe it is unrestrained, will be an important step in you owning email rather than email owning you. Now that you know the cue, let's now change up the routine. For most, the cue that launches you into email is erratic, not scheduled. You keep it that way under the false truth of "but I have to be on email all day because that is how people communicate with me". No problem! Let people continue to communicate with you that way, but YOU change the routine. Instead of being on email throughout the day on other people's schedule, YOU SET THE SCHEDULE. "Can I do this?" YES!!! YOU can set your own routine for email (or anything else for that matter). For many business owners and key leaders we have seen a three-times-per-day routine work really well. They read and respond to email for 30 minutes in the morning, 60 minutes mid-day, and 30 minutes at the end of day. It is still around 20-25% of a typical workday, but it is blocked in focused time so you are not distracted from the real work. For other business owners and key leaders, we have seen an every-other-hour-for-30-minutes strategy work. For both of these strategies make sure to literally set a timer on your phone. This is part of making a new routine which will eventually make a new habit. From now on, align your cues to a new routine,

How To Write An Annual Letter Like Jeff Bezos Sometimes we can get lost in the repetition of the process, a good thing, to the neglect of the humanity that can be found in our words. Your team wants to know what you are thinking. They want to know your ideas, your plans, your real-time thoughts, and your reflections; they want to know what you are seeing. 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 doubt. 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 a 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 founders' 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. To help you, we are going to walk you through a simple template you can use to write your powerful annual letter. 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, the 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 an 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 something important." Near the end of the letter, Bezos then goes into full on vision casting and goal setting mode. It is a sentence by sentence power punch to the soul of each team member as if to say, "I so value you that I'm going to stretch our horizon, so you will always have a place to RUN by doing your highest and best work." Where are you headed? What are the broad steps that it will take for you to get there? Remember the words to the Jewish Prophet Habakkuk, "write the vision down so those who read it may run!" Finally, Bezos signs

How To Help Employees And Yourself With Money Problems Through our work with business owners, we have seen some who have had access to significant money. Not all, but some. A few weeks ago I was on the phone with a business owner who has what some would consider to be "life-changing" money...meaning, he wouldn't have to work anymore if he didn't want to, and he still has at least half of his life left to live statistically. He has houses, boats, cars, toys, investments, commercial real estate, and access to a lot of other people who have the same. We talk frequently, but this one particular conversation he ended with, "it's ain't what everybody thinks it is". When money becomes THE thing instead of just A thing, then EVERYthing changes. Lynne Twist wrote a great book entitled The Soul Of Money. In her book, she writes of money, "Money alone does not guarantee a fulfilling life, and excessive amounts of money more often become an obstacle to it." "Money is the most universally motivating, mischievous, miraculous, maligned, and misunderstood part of contemporary life." "Money has only the power that we assign to it, and we have assigned it immense power." How do we know when money has become THE thing? It was said this way of a rich person. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter into freedom." Why can money be so dangerous? Why is it warned against and yet lauded and cheered? What's our obsession with money? SO WHAT'S BEHIND OUR OBSESSION WITH MONEY? It's not the joy that money brings, it's the fear that we might not have it. Scarcity. Twist calls scarcity a lie, and even goes on to define the lie as "the mindset that tells us we can never have enough and drives us to strive above all and against all for more and more." Scarcity is not only a lie, but it thrives under the umbrella of three myths… Myth #1: There Is Not Enough To Go Around Like musical chairs...when the music stops, somebody will lose The truth is, there actually is enough to go around, although the systems to distribute may fall behind... the resources are there. Myth #2: More Is Better Twist said, "more is better is a chase with no end and a race without winners" All we have to do is evaluate our demeanor 24 hours AFTER opening Christmas presents. Are we really happier? Myth #3 That's Just The Way It Is... Stroll back to the perms and rat tails of 1986, Bruce Hornsby and the Range Reflecting back on Civil Rights and the gap between rich and poor they sang over and over "That's Just The Way It Is...something will never change" Can you imagine telling MLK Jr or John Lewis…"that's just the way it is" Martin Luther The Reformer Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill Rosa Parks Oprah Winfrey Chimamanda Adichie The boy who harnessed the wind Ema and Tofunmi Solako "Awe, but don't you believe it" You CANNOT believe these myths It will rob you of your skillset It will rob you of your soul It will rob you of the gift that you have to share with the rest of us...when you BUY IN to a mind of scarcity, you buy yourself a pair of mental and emotional handcuffs You're bound, limited, stuck, unnecessarily handicapped How can you help employees with money problems? Train them about the myths of money. Embrace the mindset of sufficiency and abundance, and live your own life in a way that shows that money is not an obsession, but a tool for generosity! Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose, author of Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters. Scott also hosts The Business On Purpose Podcast and can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.

How To Prepare Your Business Financially For 2021 Order cannot come out of disorder and yet we cross our fingers at the end of each year in hopes that next year will be better. 2020 punched us all in the mouth forcing us to play our cards and either set processes aligned with the vision, or plunge deeper into chaos and disorder. For many of our clients, this has been a year quietly spying on their financial resources and being more aware of where it is all being allocated. This goes beyond simply pulling an Aging Report from Quickbooks or running a Profit and Loss Statement and staring at the Net Income number to determine success. We had a client who started the year with a dangerously low amount of cash and a dangerously high amount of payables. We began tracking their cash accounts, receivables, and payables every single week on a single, simple spreadsheet. No fancy apps or software, just a simple spreadsheet. In August of 2020, after nearly running aground just 10 months prior, this owner exclaimed in a meeting, "I feel like we are printing money." What he was really saying was, "before we tracked it through a simple process we spent whenever we wanted to". It's as if untracked bank accounts have holes in them and money leaks out. Pay attention to the leaks and you'll begin to plug them and it will soon feel like your business is growing at a pace you have not experienced before. As the year is winding down, we have walked each of our heroic business owner clients through a two part "2021 Readiness Plan". Part One is the readiness of the owners' vision, mission, values, systems, and structure. We go through and re-read the existing vision, mission, values and make updates and tweaks, or in some cases wholesale changes so there is massive clarity for the next steps. We then take that vision and open up the organizational chart and master process roadmap to ensure that the "vehicle" or structure of the business is aligned with the ultimate destination for where the owner desires to go. Part Two of the "2021 Readiness Plan" is to focus your attention on the simple financials of the business. We ask each of our clients to subdivide their bank accounts so they can partition resources into various buckets; profit, taxes, owner's compensation, operating expenses, and others where it makes sense. Then we make sure that each business owner is simply documenting those cash accounts each week in a spreadsheet; we call it a dashboard. Add to that their receivables and payables each week and you have an ongoing snapshot throughout the year. We then work through simple revenue projections and a matching budget that align with the vision worked out during Part One. From there it is asking them to think through where they are at with estate planning (wills, trusts, power of attorney, etc.) and insurance. Finally, we ask each owner to write an annual letter to celebrate and reflect back on the prior year, while also offering a vision for the upcoming year. These annual letters are encouraging and allow the team to mobilize around the words of the visionary. For the owners that have written annual letters each year, it has become a hallmark of their leadership and is an incredibly powerful history lesson for each business. You may think, "but I don't have time to do all of this!" Order cannot come out of disorder, but you can choose to stop disorder and create a new environment of order for you, your team, your customers, and your family. I challenge you to do it. Make the time, create order, and you will begin to be liberated from chaos! Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose, author of Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters. Scott also hosts The Business On Purpose Podcast and can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.

A work worth doing… What do we mean when we say... A work worth doing? Well, we're about to get into it. Happy Monday everyone, Thomas here with Business on Purpose. I was talking with Scott, the founder of Business on Purpose the other day, and we were talking about how my transition has been over the past year. To be honest, there have been days that have been great, days that have been easy and other days that have been a struggle. In Young Life, it was such a great organization to work for. There were tough days and boring days, but at the end of it all was a mission I was so excited about. I knew the why behind it all and that made the tough days 100% worth it. Back to my conversation with Scott. I was explaining that to him and the words that came out of my mouth kind of surprised me. I don't know if that ever happens to you, but I can be an external processor, so sometimes I'll say things and think... yeah that's it! Scott had just talked about how he wants this to be MORE than a job and one of the things he hopes never comes out of my mouth is this thought of…" Oh, it's just a job." As we were talking I assured him, "No, that's one of the things I as excited about with this... is working with business owners and key leaders feel like a Work worth doing." And that's the phrase that stuck with me. "A work worth doing!" I wonder how you would describe your day to day. Is it just a job? Is it a clock in clock out job with no real direction behind it other than bringing home a paycheck? Now, hear me say this... supporting your family and working hard to do so IS a work worth doing. But you come in contact with too many people, are training and encouraging and overseeing too many people to just clock in and clock out without any real idea that it could be so much more than just a job. What if your mission was to positively impact every single person that works with you. If every single team member were to come into work knowing they were valued and invested in. It would change your day to day. You spend ⅔ of your waking hours at work...why not make it more than just a job... why not make it a "Work worth doing?" So what is a work worth doing? Well, it's like one of our clients putting their employees through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. Helping them get out of debt and get freed to make wise choices with their finances. It's like another one of our clients letting their kids come in during pandemic schooling and creating a learning space for any of the kids who need to do school from home. It's like another one of our clients using his success to pay for a nice lunch for local teachers so they can feel appreciated in the midst of one of the hardest years on record to try to educate our kids! Maybe it's as simple as recognizing great work when it's seen, and like another of our clients, using their team meeting to formally recognize an employee of the week (recognized by customers) and rewarding that team member with a gift card. These are business owners who invest IN their team members and don't just show up expecting them to impact their bottom line. A work worth doing means taking hold of all that you have been entrusted with and making sure the mission is to maximize it in whatever way that looks like. I know, if you're anything like me, that makes the hard days of work worth it. Having a mission that's bigger than yourself and a "work worth doing" gets me excited to engage with business owners and their team leaders every single day. If you need some more ideas of how to do this with your team. Don't hesitate to check out our website and podcast for more free tips. Mybusinessonpurpose.com and the business on purpose podcast Have a great week everyone!

What's Your Standard? Happy Thanksgiving week everyone! Thomas Joyner here with BOP. I want to talk about culture a bit today. How do you protect it, nurture it, and build it on purpose? I was sitting in on a coaching meeting the other day and a business owner was talking about experiencing an employee fly off the handle in a business meeting. There was someone they worked with in the room and the employee dropped an f-bomb towards the other guy in a heated discussion. Nothing was said to address the behavior at the moment, but the question was posed to our team... what do we do about that? We asked a few more clarifying questions, but at the end of the day, we knew this couldn't be tolerated. You can't live that emotionally and expect others to continue to do business with you. That's what is so important about culture. A great quote came to mind that a friend had shared with me months back and it's this…" What you allow in your presence, IS your standard." I'll say that again, what you allow in your presence is your standard. It's that important! In essence, by saying nothing when the employee dropped an f-bomb, you're not explicitly cheering them on, but you are subtly giving your approval of their behavior. You're saying "I watched this happen and that is fine by me" when you stay silent. Now we went back to the businesses Vision story and looked at their culture section. We asked the question if this is the culture you wrote down...the one you want others to see and experience, can this behavior be tolerated? The answer was a quick and decisive, NO! Ok, so let's put a plan in to talk about this with your employee. Now, this was the first time they had ever blown up like this. So, it was a great time for the owner to check in and see if there was something else going on at home or something going on that day. It's a PERFECT time to nurture the culture of your business with a personal touch. Your employees aren't just soulless, emotionless chess pieces for you to move around, but are real people with real lives! They've got to be cared for and known. So, what the business owner did was set up a meeting and lean in. Not take their hands off. Not condemn the person, but condemn the action as a way to care about them AND the culture of the business. Casting vision for how he will see him in the future and pushing him to realize that potential! Said another way, how you allow your employees to act, treat one another, treat other businesses IS your culture. It's the little memories that other businesses point towards to decide who they want to work with. It's what's said about your business at a casual lunch that either propels someone to call you or sends them to the next person on their contact list. It has to be fought for! So, you have to ask yourself. What am I allowing to be said, acted on, or accomplished in my presence or business that is slowly becoming the standard. Culture isn't created or destroyed all at once. It's a series of tiny corrections along the way to arrive at a destination. Use your Vision...use your mission statement...use your core values to put up barriers to keep yourself on track towards your culture goal. It NEVER just happens… Hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving...as always if you want to see more of what we do, head on over to mybusinessonpurpose.com and check us out! Follow our podcast, too, for some free coaching. Take care!

A Season of Expectation Why do we limit our vision and excitement to just the holidays? Well, let's talk about that...it's Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose I hope you're having a great Thursday! It is November 19th! Yep...you heard that right. November 19th! If your household is anything like mine, you're fighting over 1 thing and 1 thing only currently...is it time to put up the Christmas Tree??? I'm dead serious. Every year, it never fails, we go back and forth about when we can start decorating for Christmas. Now, I'm a firm believer that no decorations can go up until after Thanksgiving. I know, I know...I'm a Scrooge at heart...jump in the comments and tell me how horrible I am. But seriously, I put my foot down on decorating before thanksgiving. My wife has already told me her plans for decorating and where we're going to put the tree, how excited she is about the stockings and what she gets to put in the stockings. When we're going to hang the lights and are there any new decorations that we can grab on the cheap to make this Christmas the BEST EVER...well that is until Christmas 2021, at least. I have to admit, though, her excitement is contagious. All the things she wants to do and the picture she paints is so vivid that it gets me excited, too! It should be no different for the year 2021. Why do we limit our vision and our excitement and planning to holidays? It's ridiculous! If excitement and energy are contagious around the Christmas season, don't you think it would work the same way around the rest of the year? Absolutely! And THAT is why we put together the financial barn. So, what is the financial barn? Well, it's a conversation between you and your spouse, or just you if you're not married. It's setting your sights on what you want to do with your finances in 2021. Now, we at BOP firmly believe we are stewards of the resources we've been blessed with, so this is not meant to be a shopping spree or a 2021 wish list. No, it's a system built to look at all of the things you want to spend money on in the next year and then formulating the plan for how to reach that goal. It starts with simply drawing a barn on a piece of paper and listing the things you spend money on in different rooms in the barn. Things like Living expenses, travel, hobbies, savings, retirement, kids college, charitable giving...subdivide it however you want! Here's the beautiful thing. When you list out how much you will need to comfortably chase after those things, you set your sights on a goal and can put a plan in place for how to reach it. So what are the things you get excited about? Is it taking a trip as a family? Is it maybe finally doing a home renovation or getting a car upgrade? Is it giving to a ministry above and beyond what you normally do and really making an impact with your finances? Is it setting aside a chunk for your kids college or maybe investing in something along the way? Whatever it is, write it down so you can know what your all in number needs to be. Once you add up all the things you would need in 2021, you know what you need to earn to reach those goals… Now I'll break from here for a second to remind you that these goals need to be realistic. If your household income is currently $75k and you look at your all in number and it says you need 125k to reach it, you may need to trim some things...or trim a lot! But if your number is close, then it's finding ways for your business to support you in the ways it needs to. Here's the best part about this. It puts a bullseye on the board, so if you do wildy better than you had hoped for financially, you can put a plan in place for what to do with it. It frees you to be wildly generous with your funds as you already hit the bullseye. It keeps you from hoarding your cash in a way that only benefits you as you see how incredibly blessed you have been. That's the reason behind all of this. Set up reasonable goals for each category and then allow that to push you to be generous in every area of your life. At the end of all this, the message is clear. Life is not about stockpiling assets. It's just not. There will always be another room to fill in our barn or another toy to buy. Life is found in stewarding the things you have and earn to make the lives of those around you that much better. The FInancial Barn! Do it...do it with your spouse. Feel free to reach back out and tell us how that conversation goes! We'd love to hear about it. As always, you can check out more about this at mybusinessonpurpose.com Have a great week!

Chief Executive Officer or Chief Everything Officer? What kind of CEO are you? I can't get enough of sports. My wife rolls her eyes at me consistently as she wants to watch a new show together, but it's playoffs for baseball, basketball, football...whatever! The scheduling of major sporting events is masterful as it's nearly year round. I can't help it...I LOVE IT! As I've watched sports over the years, there's one phrase that's consistently spoken about young players. He's just trying to do too much. I was watching a game with Young Quarterback, Daniel Jones of the New York Giants playing. Over and over he would make amazing plays, but then he would set his team back when he, "Tried to do too much." Announcers use this term so much, because for young athletes this paralyzes their teams. They realize that you can have all the talent in the world, and STILL not be able to do it all. I don't think it's any different in the business world. In fact, it's no different at all! I was reading a great article the other day about how small business has changed over the past 25 years. It spoke of this evolution of the business owner and how they have moved from the CEO meaning the Chief Executive Officer...to CEO as Chief Everything Officer. It's a subtle change, but one that dictates the entire existence of your business. Just like in sports, young business owners are so particular that they have to have their hand in every piece of the business instead of training and trusting their employees to get the job done. Where does it lead? To underperformance every single time! Why? Because you can't do it all and scale your business. You have to trust people to do the job you hired them to do. And if you can't, why pay them to do a job in the first place? It's robbing you of profitability if you're both trying to do the job. So, where does this lead us? If you look up the definition of executive in the dictionary it has two definitions I love… Having the power to put plans, actions or laws into effect. a person with senior managerial responsibility in an organization You have to do both of these as the executive. You have to become the manager of the organization and put plans and actions into effect. You don't have to do it all yourself, but you have to find a way to effectively train your team to do it the way you would do it, so you can free yourself up to do the things ONLY YOU can do. It's doable...in fact, we're coaching businesses every day that are doing just this. Building the systems and processes in their business to free their employees up to do the job they were hired to do. Then, and only then, can you go from the Chief Everything Officer who "tries to do too much," to the CEO that your business needs. Have a great week everyone!

What Are Soft Skills And Why Are They Important Democratic cultures endure a multi-year barrage of political campaign noise that has left many citizens dazed and depleted and yet appreciative that options are available. It would be a shame if the only product of the election cycle was a defined winner and loser (although we never want to take that for granted). There are also valuable principles to learn from the political process that we should be investing into our business. We can watch how citizens are impacted by political candidates and draw insight and empathy into what members of your business team might be seeing as they look at you and your own leadership. That is the core of what political elections are about; leadership. Political positions are less about task-completion and are far more about people-motivation. What can we take away from the election cycle that will give us special insight into our business? There are three lenses by which we view a politician; policy, politic, and personal. Policy is the lense of the specific things they will hope to do. Understanding policy leads to agreement or disagreement with the method. Politic is how they will communicate the things they will do. Watching politic helps us determine who we like or do not like. Personal refers to the character base from which each person operates. Knowing the personal helps us determine who we trust and don't trust. Three lenses, the lens of agreement, the lens of likeability, and the lens of trust. I can assure that candidates are trained in great repetition on the first two lenses of policy and politic. It is not always as evident if they put as much training into the personal. Those same three lenses are present and necessary in your business. In business, instead of policy, politic, and personal, we will suggest three renamed lenses with similar function. First, every business owner must view their business, their team, and themselves through the lens of business awareness. Being business aware is knowing and investing into the systems, process, and purpose every business relies on as fuel to push towards the ultimate destination. If you are a trustworthy person, a great presenter, but are clueless about your vision or your process, then the business will break down. Second, every business owner must invest in social and emotional awareness (politic). Many would call these "soft skills". It is the ability to present things in a way that will be most effectively digested for implementation. If you are hyper aware of your vision and systems, and have great character but struggle to communicate, then your message will never be heard and your team will lack motivation. Finally, every business owner must invest in their own (and their team's) personal awareness. Spending time working towards personal discipline and health in your family, faith, finances, fitness, friends, and fun! You may have a clear head on your vision, systems, and a world-class communicator...but if you lack character, everything else will eventually fall apart. The hard work of a business owner is two-fold… Make a commitment to personally work continually on refining all three lenses for yourself Make a commitment to equip your team to look through the three lenses for themselves Balance is not the goal because balance is impossible. On the other hand, a consistent rhythm of investing in the three lenses of business is a worthy pursuit.

I remember my first Big Boy job... I was interning at my uncle's Marketing Agency in Connecticut. I spent all this time studying marketing in college and I figured, "Ok, if this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life, I might as well go test it out to make sure for a summer!" So off I went on my 14-hour drive to see if I could cut it in the business world. Let me tell you right now... I was woefully unprepared!!! I remember sitting in staff meetings with no note pad or way of remembering all the things I had to do for the week. Id scribble something on a post-it note here or there and then go back to try to figure out what I was doing. I'd forego recording future meetings and due dates on any type of calendar because it was "too restrictive" and thought I honestly had it. And here's the thing...I did have it... for a couple of weeks. But as the work started to pile up and the graveyard of dropped spinning plates started to pile up around me I realized my "system" or lack thereof wasn't working. I needed something to keep me on track and as time started to slip away I realized I needed structure around me to help me thrive. What I've realized in coaching 10-12 businesses is that I'm not the only one living this way. Most business owners simply respond to the threat in front of them all day every day. Their schedule is nothing more than going from one fire to the next until it's time to go home for dinner at night. But that's NOT how you build a successful business. You might be able to make it work for a few weeks, months, maybe even a year! But what I'm seeing lived out in front of me is that business owners and key leaders who tell their week what it's going to look like, are the ones who actually build something they're proud of . The ones who sit down and plan it all out instead of getting distracted by the problems at hand. Let me tell you about the BOP solution to this...we call it...drumroll please, the "Master weekly schedule!" Boom...now if that name doesn't get you excited I don't know what will! I'm kidding, but seriously it is what you need. All of you. Why? Because it keeps you on track to accomplish the things you want to accomplish instead of just being blown about by the winds of chaos every single day. So what does it look like? Well, here's a picture of my Weekly Schedule. Blocks of 30 min for the entire week. Split up into specific tasks each week for admin, sales, marketing and coaching. I've got time for sales lunches and recording these videos, I have time built in for professional development and team meetings. It's all here. I don't let chaos pull me from this for a second! But it keeps me locked in on the things I need to be focused on to grow my business. So what are the things that pull you off track? Is it sitting on a job site for too long? You look up and it's 2 o clock and you haven't finished your estimates or answered emails or called back your voicemails? Well, then you need to use the weekly schedule to tell yourself how long you want to be on the job! As soon as that time is up, you need to be moving again! E-mail! Gah you'll notice on my weekly schedule I have 2, 30 minute blocks for email. I took it off my phone, so I don't even know if I have an email until I look back at it during my email block in the afternoon. Now here, some of you are thinking I'm crazy...but here's what I've found with email. The more you answer it, the more people want you to answer it. But half the time when it's been 2 hours without me answering, I see that people are smart and they answer their own questions half the time! Same thing with talking to your team. What if you set up a 30 min check-in time with your admin or your Superintendent or your Project manager. If you looked at them and told them, we will touch base every afternoon at 1 pm. That's your slot to ask me all the questions you need to ask. Because what happens all day? You're locked in working and the phone rings, It takes you 5-10 min to answer the phone call, then another 5-10 min to lock back in on your task...but then bang another call comes in and you never finish what you were doing! STOP it!!! Set a time for your crew to check in with you...where you can be fully present with them and then let them do their job. If you're thinking that CAN'T happen, then you need to train them better to do their job so you can do yours of actually running the business. This stuff is not rocket science, but it can give your business the jet fuel it needs to take off and get where you want it to go! I know, because I've built this out with business owners who are sick and tired of living in chaos! Now, it's work to implement it. It doesn't just happen! Chaos doesn't like to leave you alone for long. But when you build the system to deal with it and put it in it's proper place...you can have the freedom to work ON you business! That's what it takes. The Master Weekly Schedule...jump on it and let me know if I can help. Have a great

Do you own MORE than "Just a business?" We were working on mission statements with several clients recently and the question came up, "why not just come up with a catchy slogan that we use as our mission statement?" That's what most places do, right? Find some group of words or a phrase that is catchy, repeatable, and gets stuck in the head of whoever hears it? That's as far as most mission statements go. Mission statements need to be so much more than that... why? Because it's what fuels you every single day. It's what keeps you moving on the days you have to pull yourself out of bed. It's the "Why" behind everything you do. It's so much more than a catchy slogan that gives your sales some juice. At the end of the day, so many people think the same thing about their business. Just like they say, it's just a mission statement, they say…" It's just a business!" It's just a way to bring home a paycheck and finance my lifestyle. But what if your business could be more than that? What if there was an amazing "Why" behind it that led to something much much greater? Well, then that would touch all areas of your life and your community. It would lead to a sense of purpose that not only impacts you, but every single one of your employees and their families. Which is Exactly WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO DO! How do I know? Because I get a front-row seat to it with our heroic business owners every day. Once they realize their why, it turns a simple landscaping company into one that teaches their employees about finances enough to tell them they are getting ripped off by cashing their checks at a local grocery store. They worked with them to actually open bank accounts and are saving them hundreds of dollars a year (per employee), by taking the time to teach. I've gotten to sit front row as I see local nurseries pay to put their employees through financial peace university and help them get driver's licenses to help get them out of debt and gain some ground financially in life! I've watched a client of ours at Pay Proudly take a portion of every sale and give it away to non-profits that desperately need the money. I've seen mortgage companies take a portion of their profits and invest in local schools and teachers to let them know they are valued and important in the eyes of the local community. I've watched as employees grab hold of the vision and see a destination that they can achieve and then set out to go and do it! To grow and not just settle into a job. You see it's amazing when business owners see their work not just as a business, but as a way to invest in people and a community. That's the why you have to capture. Something that when someone looks at you and hears your mission would want to ask, "Ok, but how do you do that." And you get to tell them what you do. That's a "Work worth doing." That's something that will keep you excited for years to come. That's what our world needs more of. Is people with a work worth doing, willing to view their work as more than just a business, but an investment into everyone they come into contact with. I hope you can grab ahold of that and figure out your why in your day to day...

How To Find A Professional Mentor On my first trip to Nigeria back in 2006 I met a man who was unpretentious, slow, deliberate, and available. Abraham Dada, known simply as Pa Dada, would eventually become for me a standard-bearer of life and leadership. He was a sage. He was a man who lived out the challenging invitation to have "eyes to see, and ears to hear". Imagine if Yoda were a Nigerian man. That's Pa Dada. His words were few, each one cutting consciously like a razor-sharp blade, causing little pain while exposing the inside. Mr. Dada was never the loudest person in the room, but his presence alive, known, and decisions always traveled through his unspoken filter. His life was spent serving... at times with words and actions, at other times with simple presence. Each time I visited Mr. Dada at his unpretentious home in Egbe, Kogi State, he would be sitting thoughtfully in a blue plastic yard chair on the aft side of a small plastic table. Rarely was he wearing something other than a simple linen set of shirt and trousers. He would usually have his crooked reading glasses on while reading or writing. Within five minutes of arrival, we would always be welcomed with a warm bitter lemon and a soft "e'kaabo" and "e'dupe". If I was visiting without Ashley and the kids, Mr. Dada would kindly ask, "How is Mommy?", and of the kids, "How are my little friends?" One of my favorite images that Ashley captured was Mr. Dada thumbing through my book. The teacher humbly offering a generous moment for the student. In 2014 and 2015 Mr. Dada and I spoke often by phone when I was not in town due to some strain that was taking place within an initiative for which both he and I were committed to. I remained in a state of foggy confusion and did not hesitate to verbalize bewilderment, and I believe Mr. Dada did as well, although he never spoke a crossword or thought to any person or scenario. It was a real-life, in the moment lesson in "considering others better than yourself." It was a moment of transparent grace. On Wednesday night October 28th my phone rang with Mr. Dada's number. Answering, his daughter called and said simply, "Pa Dada passed in the midnight and he wanted me to let you know." "He wanted to let me know." Of all the conversations I remember, these may very well be the words that stick. "He wanted to let me know." Two significant mentors have passed on from this life in the past decade. The first is the man who invited me to look through the telescope of the nations and see God's creation beyond my own borders. Dr. Mike Barnett summoned me to embrace the nations. Mr. Dada invited me to enjoy the wisdom and grace God has placed among the nations and to do it slowly and methodically. With Mr. Dada, I did not sign up for a global mentor program, and I did not ask that he formally "mentor" me. I just went with a blurry, poorly planned vision to "work in Nigeria" and over time a friendship developed that provided me with a 5 foot 2-inch man in his nineties who just "wanted to let me know" with limited words and maximum presence. What is that place, or those people, or that thing that you have an unreasonable, blurry desire for? What if you just set up lunch or booked a ticket and just went regularly so you too can look up fourteen years later and realize that you too found a true gift whose ambition was to "let me know"? How do you find a professional mentor? Many times is by not signing up for the professional mentoring program and instead of being bold, proactive, courageous, and a bit unreasonable to make friends with some unlikely people who are older and more experienced than you. Who do you need to go see today? I wish I could go see my friend and just sit for a while. Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose, author of Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters. Scott also hosts The Business On Purpose Podcast and can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.

The Five Questions Every Entrepreneur Must Answer For Their Employees...And Themselves My son and I were on an 18-foot center console boat on the edge of the Port Royal Sound in the lowcountry of South Carolina when all of a sudden a thunderous squall line formed just to our west and bared down on us. We had a decision, sit in the middle of the torrential rain and lightning, or make a run for it. We were about 20 minutes from the boat landing. Within 2 minutes of going full throttle on our Mercury 150, we were surrounded on all sides by the summer squall. Hindsight being more sober than the present reality, we continued throttle down at 30 knots with what seemed like a 10-foot visibility. Equipped with a simple Navionics boating app, I kept my head down, focused on the GPS map while my teenage co-captain had his head up and eyes peeled so he could call for a last-second "swerve" maneuver if needed. The storm was relentless. It felt like we were riding blind for 30 minutes, but was probably more like 8 or 10...it was confusing, chaotic, exhilarating, and probably not wise looking back. Amidst the uncertainty of that moment though, here are some truths that we could count on… We were headed towards a defined destination; the Lemon Island boat launch. We knew what route we were taking; the Chechessee River. We knew what vehicle we were committed to; an 18 foot Henry O center console. We knew what kind of engine we had to work with; a Mercury 150 horsepower two-stroke. We knew exactly WHY we were headed in that direction; to stay alive and make it back home to tell the story! Owning a business is peppered with days just like that. The surprise squalls of unexpected tax bills, frustrated customers, misaligned employee expectations, and a lack of perfect efficiency. To help you navigate through the chaos of business ownership and the life of an entrepreneur, here are five questions every entrepreneur must answer for their employees...and themselves. First, where are we going? Fortunately, there has been a surge of good teaching, training, and resources around building a powerful vision story. Your Vision is a detailed snapshot of the future of your vision. Not a pithy statement, and not a paragraph of haiku. Your vision story should be detailed, multiple pages, and meaty with details. Second, how are we getting to the vision? It's silly to imagine that you will hit the road without aiming for a destination. Every road trip is a series of following turn by turn directions on specific streets while passing by many others. Your unique core values are nothing more than intentional street signs along the route to your destination. For most, you will avoid turning right on Apathy Lane, or left on Muddy Expectations Blvd. Instead, you will use Intentional Relationships Street or Relentless Learning Circle. Know your unique core values and you'll know the streets to take towards your destination. The third question every entrepreneur must answer is, what does the automobile look like that we will be driving towards the vision? When a new team member comes into the business, they need to know where their role fits within the larger whole. The good ol' fashioned Org Chart is a visual representation of what the vehicle of your business looks like so they know what they are riding in. Fourth, what are the specifications of the engine used to motor you to your destination? One of the most powerful tools in your business is the Master Process Roadmap. Imagine this, your entire business on one sheet of digital paper. Broken down into four systems - Admin, Ops, Sales, and Marketing - the Master Process Roadmap spells out all of the processes needed to send your business vehicle motoring down the road to your destination. The final question every entrepreneur must answer for their employees and themselves is "why?" Why are we going to that destination? What is the emotion...the magnet...the draw that is pulling us to that particular destination? WHY ARE YOU GOING THAT WAY? Whatever your answer is, that is your mission. Five questions that every entrepreneur must spend time on… Where are we going? How are we getting there? What vehicle are we taking? What engine is powering the vehicle? Why are we going in the first place? Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose, author of Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters. Scott also hosts The Business On Purpose Podcast and can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.

5 questions to ask every new hire...EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK! It never fails to happen after hiring...the honeymoon phase is over, the patience is wearing thin with the new employee, and they seem to maybe have fibbed a bit on their resume. Well, they're your problem now...YOU HIRED THEM! We see it so often with our clients. A business owner gets so excited to hire someone and thinks they're going to magically fix so many problems just by existing in the business! But, as you and I know, that rarely happens. New hires come with baggage! They come with bad habits and different ways of doing things. So often, business owners tolerate things that drive them nuts until finally it all boils over and they blow up...ok, let's NOT do that if we can help it. This is the reason we put together an incredible onboarding process for every new hire. I know this process backwards and forwards, because I've been participating in it weekly for almost the past 6 mos. That's right...every week. For 6 months! Here's what I can tell you… it works! It has given me radical clarity for how to do the job I'm being asked to do and also has helped shape me into the employee that my boss desires. So, here's 5 questions to ask your new hire...every single week! Carve out some time and get it on the calendar for onboarding time. Never cancel it and watch the results! 1. How are you seeing us live out our Mission/Vision/Values? Give your employees a chance to tell you if they even know the mission/vision/values of your business. You might be shocked to realize you've never communicated that to them. Hopefully, you hear a little bit about how your business is accomplishing these things and it's an encouragement to you as the owner, but if they can't point to anything you need to swallow your pride and figure out a better way to show these in the day to day. 2. What are you seeing? You'll never get your employees eyes back. Now, what does that mean? Well, they will see things and experience things that you want to capture. Things that seem a little off or things that they're probably asking why do we do things this way? You want to give them an open ended question to be able to ask about them. WHo knows? It may give you perspective you need that you had never considered before, since you've see it done one way forever! It's so valuable to capture their experience and what they're seeing from day one. 3. What questions do you have about your Job Role? This ones simple, give them a chance to tell you where they're struggling and where they lack clarity in their role. So often new employees just want to act like they have it all together, but this gives them the chance to admit where they're struggling so you can get them up to speed faster! It also helps you record processes that are unclear or ones that you need to have written down! 4. What do you need from us? Again, this ones simple. Give them an open ended question to ask for help, if needed. This is relational more than anything. Ever week they will hear that you are for them, on their team, wanting them to succeed and willing to do what it takes to help them succeed. That's all you can ask for as an employee. 5. Here's what we see… Here's your moment to offer encouragement and critique their work. Notice that it needs to be BOTH! But too often, we wait for a year end review to offer critical performance reviews. This gives you a weekly time to make small tweaks along the way. It makes job performance normal instead of it feeling like the end of the world when your boss unloads on you! It also keeps you from sweeping things under the rug and building up resentment towards employees. Let's talk about it, get it out of the way, fix it and move forward! That's it. Record the answers as you go, so you can come back to them and have documentation from all of these answers. It's life changing for your employee, too. Imagine having a boss that gave you a voice to speak out on what you see, gave you clarity about what you're being asked to do, offered to help whenever needed and then offered constructive feedback each week. That's what your business needs! That's what your employees need from you, as the owner. Don't wait for them to figure it out, but take control of the onboarding process today...even if your employees have been around for months or years. It's never too late to start. Have a great day y'all!

What matters most? Here at BOP we have a mission statement that is the why behind everything we do. It's "Liberating business owners from the chaos of working in their business…" but we also add this on at the end, "and freeing them up to concentrate on what matters most!" It's something we stand by and something that fuels everything that we do. Yes, business coaching is a passion of ours, but it's the "what", not the "why." It's the freedom to concentrate on what matters most that pushes us. You see, when you're locked into chaos, you're blind to the needs around you. You're blind to what you're supposed to be doing because you're stuck putting out fires and doing what you HAVE to do. So what is that? If you were to fill in the blank of what matters most to you, what would that be? That's why the Vision story is so important! It's doing the deep work of figuring out what you truly want once the chaos is gone! What happens if you find yourself free from the chaos and watching afternoon talk shows, snacking on Cheetos every day. Or binging the next Netflix series that adds nothing to your life because you have nothing else on your to-do list. Is that what this is about? Now, there's a real story there and it's hilarious, but No! It's so much more than that. It's taking that time free from chaos and figuring out what using that time for what matters most is all about. Is it coaching a kids sport team or driving them to dance classes? Is it taking your wife on a date regularly and investing in your marriage? Is it being engaged with your family, not just physically present as a business owner told me last week. Is it setting up team development meetings to actually pour into your team and invest in their professional and personal development? Is it hiring new team members and providing jobs for your community? Maybe it's getting engaged in your church or a local non-profit, maybe mentoring a younger business professional and sharing what you know? Is it giving generously because you have more than you need? I cannot make these decisions for you, but I know that there is freedom to be had from chaos and I know that when that comes...you have to know what you want to do with that freedom. It's worth it! Your work is more than "What" you do...it's how it frees you up to make an impact on others and what you do with that margin that makes such a difference in your family and your community. And THAT, is what should drive you out of bed in the morning. Have a great weekend everyone!

Do your employees have clarity? I played high school lacrosse growing up. Loved it! And I was new to the game when I first started playing...barely knew any of the rules, but I was a decent athlete, so I got on the field early on. I remember our coach yelled almost non-stop at the games. He would be hoarse at the end of every game because he screamed the whole time! I'll never forget, during the first half of one of my first games, he started screaming at me after I picked up a ground ball. "GET IT IN THE BOX! GET IT IN THE BOX! GET A TOUCH IN THE BOX!" I had a guy guarding me, and by this point I was tuning out my coach and the non-stop noise being yelled from the sidelines. Next thing I knew, the referee is blowing his whistle and it was a turnover going the other way. I immediately get pulled out of the game and the coach is just ripping into me. Veins on the side of his neck popping out...and I learned a few new 4 letter word combinations I'd never thought of before. "Joyner, why didn't you get it in the box? What's wrong with you?" I'll never forget what I said as I yelled back at him, "Coach what does get it in the box even mean!" I'm laughing right now, because my coach had never explained this rule to me before. Whenever there's a turnover, you have 15-20 seconds to carry the ball through "the box" on the field and establish a possession. His anger immediately subsided and he laughed as he realized I couldn't be responsible for something he had never taught me. He just looked at me and said, "That's on me Joyner, we'll get you back in there in a minute." I laugh at this, because this situation is no different from the business world. I sit in Coaching meetings with business owner's that are ready to fire an employee because their work is trash and they won't do this or that. My question is always, "Well have you trained them on that?" It's always so funny to see there reaction. 9 times out of 10 they realize, I'm trying to hold them accountable for something that they don't even know is on their job role. So why does this happen so frequently? Well, typically we assume things are common knowledge...typically we assume that they SHOULD know that. Listen to this please, they SHOULDN'T know! What is common to you is not common to me! And, ultimately, your employees cannot be responsible for things you have not communicated just like it wasn't my fault when I didn't know the rules on the lacrosse field. That's why job roles are so important. We have every client build crystal clear job roles for every position in their business. It's that important. They go over it with them, ask for any questions and record every process that they're responsible for. Why? So that when you go back to critique their work you can know if 1) They're being lazy and not doing it correctly, 2) The process needs to be tweaked, as it doesn't work, or 3) There is lack of clarity on the totality of the process. It's so important to give your employees the gift of training so they can adequately accomplish the job you've hired them to do. It keeps them from being frustrated and you from being frustrated with them! So, the next time you are upset with an employee, ask yourself where the blame lies. Is it actually your fault, as the owner, for failing to give them a 100% clear job role and training? If so, you've got work to do on your end. Don't let your employees underperformance be a result of your unwillingness to help them succeed. It matters and will be a GAME CHANGER for your business! Have a great day!

How To Restructure A Company To Increase Profits The golden ticket in business is to figure out a way to increase profits without having to increase revenue. Speaking to a variety of business owner groups virtually or in-person, owners want to know the "secret" to generating higher profits while selling the same amount of product or service. It is straightforward: the less you spend, the more you keep. The more you generate, the more you can either spend or keep. That's about it. As with most things in life though, the way you structure your business accounting can provide some powerful efficiencies that can lead to better outcomes. Here are three systems that we have embedded into our business workflow to help ensure that we have healthy profit, while also working to pay appropriate taxes, and reserve cash for rainy days. First, subdivide your bank accounts. If you are running your business from just one or two bank accounts then you are in a state of constant temptation to spend money that may not be yours. Just because cash is in your account does not mean it is yours. Some of that cash is for debt payment, taxes, payroll, reinvestment, and other responsibilities. If all of your cash is kept in one account bucket, then it all looks like it belongs to you. Subdividing your bank accounts (we have nine!) will allow your mind to see where the different dollars are to go. Call me crazy, but we actually get excited when it's time to pay our quarterly estimated taxes knowing that we have done the hard work of setting it aside. Second, track the ABC's of your business. The A stands for your cash Accounts. The B is for Bookkeeping. The C is for Customers. Each week on a simple spreadsheet, you should record the balances of your accounts. It allows you to watch the flow of cash in and out of your business, and to make sure that each of your accounts is being funded at the level of the budget that you have set for your business. Tracking your accounts each week allows your business to "speak to you" and tell you where your business is thriving, or where it is struggling. Each week you should also be tracking on the same spreadsheet your bookkeeping numbers, particularly outstanding receivables from your aging report, and any known payables due from your business to others. Finally, it's a great idea about once a month to run a calculation of the number of days of cash you have on hand at any given time. It's a calculation of actual cash, known receivables, payroll and payables in-and-out in the next 30 days, and number of working days in a month. We have a calculator that we have built that allows us to see what that number is at any given time. Jim Lewis, owner of Vision Stairways And Millwork, talks here about how implementing these practices allowed him to grow his profits while his revenue actually decreased! We have put together a webinar tomorrow Tuesday, October 13th at 3pEST/12pPST and will be walking you through each of the three steps I just mentioned; subdivision of bank accounts, tracking your weekly ABC's, and determining your cash runway. Registration for this webinar Masterclass is free here at bopwebinar.com Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose, author of Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters. Scott also hosts The Business On Purpose Podcast and can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.

Why BIG Wins? When I grew up, life felt so much slower. Long days spent playing in the woods or playing games like kick the can and manhunt. Just being a kid! Days felt like they wouldn't ever end, I didn't really mind it at the time. Now? Well, it couldn't be more different. It feels like our performance is measured by the minute and the good old days are gone for good! We're owned by our phones and never sit around long enough to actually celebrate. If there's one recent trend, ok there's about 50 things that could make this list, but if there's one recent trend that bothers me... it's our lack of celebration for things that truly matter. Now don't get me started on kindergarten graduations and birthday months and things in our society that are OVER celebrated... that could take a while, what I'm talking about is our inability to step back and celebrate hard work and achievement without looking forward to the next thing that needs to be accomplished. We've forgotten how to celebrate things that should be celebrated in the workplace! Now, this goes back to the book of Genesis right...it's a Biblical concept as old as time! When God created...he stepped back and said this is "Good." Right? He took a minute to pause, to celebrate. When he created us, he said...this is VERY GOOD! His masterpiece. He didn't sit there and say, "Ok, so what's next...what's on tap for tomorrow?" No, he stepped back and celebrated the fruits of His labor. So why do we have a tough time with this? Why can't we stop long enough to celebrate a job well done, a deal closed, a new venture? Well, I think it's because our society feels it is ineffective and worthless if we're not working towards something! It's not about what have you done lately...it's about what are you doing next! Our attention spans are so teeny tiny, that what has been accomplished is quickly forgotten about and what is yet to accomplish becomes the "White Whale" we chase after. Think about the iPhone or the newest gadget you've bought. As soon as it's released the question is brought up of what the next one is going to look like! It's madness. They even are working on the next release before the current release is out, why? Because you're only as good as your next release... your next achievement... your next innovation. I'm here to tell you that's simply not true. Yes, we should be building new releases and innovating, but not if it costs us celebration in the process. Not if it robs us of ever enjoying what we're working on in the moment. Life cannot be lived in these mountain top experiences, but is lived in the margins. It's the conversations you have with a coworker when you're at lunch. It's the quick little glimpses we get as we're walking into a meeting with some people instead of scrolling on Instagram waiting for the meeting to start. One of the things we love to celebrate at BOP is BIG Wins. It stands for Begin in Gratitude and if you've ever sat in on a team meeting of ours or sat through a coaching time, you know we always ask you what your BIG Win is. It's a Unique Core Value of ours because we believe that celebration needs to be an integral part of who we are. You work too hard to not be allowed to celebrate and celebrate regularly. Many of our clients have started BIG Wins in their team meetings as they've realized how critical it is to morale and how tight it draws their team together. It's a moment of humanity in the midst of a grueling efficiency battle. It pulls the curtain back a bit to remember that our coworkers or employees are humans and not just chess pieces to move around. It's a way to celebrate the PROCESS of achieving a goal, not just the goal itself!" Because your employees want to be celebrated...so how are you doing that as a business? That's what I want to leave you with today? What's the culture of celebration and wins feel like in your business? Is it go go go and never stop for recognition? Or is it one that pays attention to the little things? One that celebrates the wins along the way? One that isn't playing the game of always looking forward, but is willing to slow down enough to celebrate the daily and weekly BIG Wins? I hope so… Have a great weekend y'all!

Four Steps To Setting Crystal Clear (As Mud) Expectations Human beings long for clarity. We want to know precisely when the train will arrive, exactly when school will resume in person, and definitively when my Instacart order will show up. Large corporations have entire departments focused solely on communication; communicating with the public, with employees, with customers, with regulators, with vendors and suppliers. What about a small business? Typically, it is the owner who will have to embrace the banner of clear communication for the business team and begin thoughtfully and repetitively empowering others to generate their own clear communication. Communication is one of the kindest actions we can take as business owners to bring clarity to all of those partners. The very root of the word communication simply means, "to share". Oh if Mom could see you now as you recall all of the Kindergarten cliches about how sharing is caring. In fact, sharing is caring, but only if sharing is done in truth, kindness, generosity, shrewdness, and discretion. We've all met the "keep-this-between-me-and-you" guy who you know has spread what they are about to share with you, to plenty of others before you. And we've spent time with the "I-hate-to-gossip" lady when she pivots with a simple, "but…" and then drops a gossip bomb. That is not careful sharing. Careful sharing means laying the foundational concrete of forethought, timelines, impact, and outcomes. Here are four steps to creating communication that will be helpful and set some powerfully clear expectations for everyone involved. First, remember that it is going to take longer than you think. If I had a dollar for the number of times that the expectations were clear in my own head, and yet still led to confusion to others. It's not their fault, instead my expectations have not had the necessary time to build clarity for others. Expect questions. Expect curiosity. Expect confusion. Just because it is clear to you does not mean it is clear to me. Many business owners are driver-personalities prone to rush results. Results of clear communication often come with slowness and time. Second, write down your expectations. The simple value of writing things down is proven every time to read an important historical document; the Constitution, Luther's ninety-five theses and his volumes of other writings, or the history of trees. Oral cultures have existed in the past, but the ones that have endured have transcribed the oral stories into written histories. Many business owners and key leaders are even taking the peculiar step of writing out a simple outline before they go into a hard conversation with an employee or with a customer. They will even use their written outline to show the other person that they have truly thought through their words. Write down your expectations so others have time to digest. Third, set a formal time to share your expectations. It is not uncommon to hear a business owner frustratingly respond with, "but I told them (the process) the other day!" If all Ashley and I did for the health of our marriage was to talk "in passing", then it would be a long marital road. We must have intentional times to sit down and discuss and dream and ideate. After you have your expectations written down, schedule a time to formally present them. Finally, realize that sometimes you will never be fully understood...and that is ok. This morning I was reading accounts of a few stories that Jesus was sharing with his apprentices. Once he wrapped up, he walked to his hometown of Nazareth (which is halfway between the Sea Of Galilee and the Meditteranean Sea). Some of the towns people he grew up with were curious as to how he had become so famous, and frankly were offended by his fame, and he turned to the small group following him and said simply, "A prophet is honored everywhere except his own hometown and among his own family." Sometimes, regardless of your clarity, you will simply be misunderstood. I have yet to find the magic elixir of how to reconcile that feeling, but it makes me feel better knowing that even Jesus himself was not able to bring clarity to everyone. Neither will I, but for the ones who do find clarity it will be worth the effort. For the rest, it may be clear as mud. Part of setting clear expectations is having both thoughtfulness, and a process. We have unlocked the entire Business On Purpose Roadmap coaching experience to help you build those necessary processes in your business, including your communication process. You can go to mybusinessonpurpose.com/free to get started setting clear expectations! Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose, author of Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters. Scott also hosts The Business On Purpose Podcast and can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.

What do customers expect when they do business with you? I've always loved small businesses. I love supporting them! I love how you're treated when you walk in the door. As the more you go, the more you they get to know you and know what you like! I lived in Greenville about 8 years ago and there was this tiny little restaurant that we would walk to from our house called the Soda Shoppe. It was amazing! I went there and would order pretty much the same thing every single time because I liked it so much. One day, I walk in and the owner, who's name was Ren, just waved at me and didn't walk over. That was not like him at all and I just chalked it up to the fact that is was pretty busy at the time. Less than 5 min later he walks over with my exact order and drops it off at my table. My jaw almost hit the ground! He knew me, knew the sandwich I wanted, with the correct dipping sauce and he just dropped it off and said, "the usual right?" That's where small business hits it out of the park. When they provide an experience and service at or above where you can find anywhere else. From there on out I'd just wave at him walking through the door, give him a thumbs up and it would be at my table in less than 5 min! I felt known, I felt cared for and honestly that was my spot from there on out! So, what happens when the opposite happens. What happens when you frequent a small business and you do NOT receive superior service? Well, it happened to me the other day. I needed something for one of my various hobbies...and I decided that instead of jumping on amazon and saving a couple bucks PLUS my time, I would drive 15 min to this store to see if they had it. I walk in...and the store was empty. 3 guys working unloading a few boxes and restocking shelves. I walked straight up to the owner, who I've talked to about 5-6 times recently and asked for what I was looking for. "Ah we've had a hard time keeping that in stock. There may be some in these boxes but there's just no way to tell." I kind of looked at him stunned, no problem solving, no let me look in the box real fast to see if I can make this sale. He simply said…"I'm sorry man, you may just need to come back tomorrow." Let's just say I didn't go back the next day. Now I get it, some days it's tough, but you have to ask yourself some serious questions about the culture of your business. Now, more than ever, the customer has convenient options for how to get what they need! Now, more than ever, you have to find ways to exceed your customers expectations. That's why they buy from you in the first place instead of going the convenient route. So, how do you do that. Is it hand written notes, is it working as hard as you can to remember someone's name? Is it a follow up survey you can create in google to make sure their experience was excellent in every way? This stuff matters! Do you know how many people I told about the soda shoppe? It was my go to lunch spot for 3 years! I took everyone there and the word started to spread. All because the owner took the time to build a culture at his restaurant that made me and the rest of his customers feel known, appreciated and cared for. That's what it takes! You've got to create customers that sell for you as they share the stories of their interactions with your business! That's what makes you worth the drive, worth the inconvenience, worth the price difference. Hey I know I've mentioned this a handful of times, but if you haven't signed up yet...what's stopping you? 28 days free to our online platform. All the trainings, all the templates for free for 28 days! Go to to mybusinessonpurpose.com/thomas28 to sign up and start jumping into all the stuff we have for you. Do it...RIGHT NOW! I promise...you need it and it's free so do it! Have a great rest of your week everyone!