Profit by Design

Are you waging emotional battles that may be blocking you from managing your employees properly? The whole “people side” of running a business can be baffling, especially if emotions cloud what you should be asking of your team members, or are preventing you from coaching their behaviors that need to change for the good of your business. Mike and Dr. Sabrina share their personal experiences of managing team members and even tell us about a few mistakes they made along the way. It is so important to have the correct mindset as an employer in order to manage team members effectively so that your company can stay sustainable and profitable. But how can entrepreneurs keep their emotions in check? Show Highlights Business owners already wear many hats, so adding the task of managing employees can be challenging. Dr. Sabrina advises us to guide and shape team members in our businesses so they come into alignment with our values and expectations. Mike shares personal struggles he had early on with managing employees when the lines between friendship and employer were blurred. Dr. Sabrina says many times business owners find themselves getting very frustrated when they don’t have a healthy mindset. The mental rock bottom was a difficult space for Mike early in his business but changed when he reached out to coaches and others in order to work on his perception of the employer/employee relationship. If an employee doesn’t work out, it doesn’t mean he is a bad person. Mike says letting an employee go can help improve a business and actually can be seen as growth rather than something negative. Mike emphasizes that from day one, let a new employee know how important it is to communicate with you. Set specific roles for employees and tell them to let you know how you can help them. Dr. Sabrina adds that one on one, weekly, team meetings are imperative to maintaining clarity and open communication between you and your team members. Moving forward past any negativity in your business is important. Mike says employers need to learn from mistakes and move past them. Resources: Dr. Sabrina’s ‘Short & Sweet’ Weekly Meeting Agendas and Blog Post with Meeting Best Practices The 4 Week Vacation™ Program Tap the Potential website Mentioned in this episode:Jumpstart Your Business - Jumpstart Your Life!You’ve built a successful business—but it’s still running you. Join us to reclaim 10 hours a week and finally step into your role as the owner—register now. We get started April : http://tapthepotential.com/jumpstart

On today’s Profit by Design, Dr. Sabrina Starling talks with her good friend Donna Leyens. Donna is the President and Co-Founder of the Provendus Group. She is on a mission to save small businesses from extinction, by providing business tools, strategy, training and support to business professionals who want to make a big impact by becoming small business growth strategists. This mighty team of strategists uses The Pumpkin Plan Action Guide, a business growth program Donna developed based on the methods in the book The Pumpkin Plan written by her Co-founder Mike Michalowicz. Pumpkin Plan Strategists help small businesses to not just stay afloat, but to scale and grow in both profitability and size, while allowing the owner to have time for a life as well. Today, we will learn how to make your business more sustainable using the Pumpkin Plan. Show Highlights: Donna gives us a brief overview of how the Pumpkin Plan is so helpful to business owners. The 3 crucial elements in your business. How you know if you need to find the Sweet Spot in your business. The Client Assessment for ranking your clients. What questions to ask your best clients to find more clients like them. What the Pumpkin Plan offers for business owners who are overworked and spread too thin. Why Profit First needs The Pumpkin Plan. An example of narrowing what you offer to get better pricing on what you sell, increasing profitability. The Blueprint for Growth Resources Profit by Design Podcast Website The Business Growth Blueprint: 3 Things You Must Know to Grow Profit by Design Facebook group Provendus Group Website Tap the Potential Website The Pumpkin PlanMentioned in this episode:Jumpstart Your Business - Jumpstart Your Life!You’ve built a successful business—but it’s still running you. Join us to reclaim 10 hours a week and finally step into your role as the owner—register now. We get started April : http://tapthepotential.com/jumpstart

What has your business done for you lately? Is your business running you rather than you running your business? On today’s Profit By Design, Dr. Sabrina Starling hosts a special Ask Dr. Sabrina segment to answer an important question asked by a listener. You’re going to absolutely love this episode because Dr. Sabrina takes time to really dive deeply into answering the all-important question relevant and important to each of you: How do you actually start freeing up your time in your business to work toward that 4 Week Vacation? Show Highlights Dr. Sabrina discusses interrupting your patterns of behavior so that you can make well-thought-out decisions, rather than making decisions while in a fight or flight mode. It may feel awkward to put your phone down and step away from your business for even an hour, so expect it. Dr. Sabrina suggests it’s easy to just get into “busy mode” and solve problems rather than creating a system to take care of the problem if it should occur again. Remember why you began your business and the lifestyle you wanted to create? Dr. Sabrina says there are questions you need to ask yourself as to why you are not yet reaching your goals, and many are included on Dr. Sabrina’s webinar. What is Context Switching? Context switching deals with how unproductive it is to have multiple projects going simultaneously. Dr. Sabrina describes the process developed by Gerald Weinberg in the early 1990’s, and recently, Todd Herman created a fantastic YouTube video related to it. If you are working on 3 projects simultaneously, you will experience a 40% loss due to project switching. Context switching can help you realize that your projects are competing and that you really need to focus on the most important project in order to get you the most forward momentum. Dr. Sabrina discusses the $10,000.00 an Hour Webinar and how you take steps to work toward it. What areas of your business can you automate in order to free up your time? Dr. Sabrina suggests taking a long look at this and to put systems in place to automate what you can. Resources Gerald Weinberg’s book describing Context Switching, Quality Software Management: Systems Thinking Todd Herman’s YouTube video on Context Switching 10K An Hour Webinar The 4 Week Vacation™ Program How to Hire the Best Tap the Potential websiteMentioned in this episode:Jumpstart Your Business - Jumpstart Your Life!You’ve built a successful business—but it’s still running you. Join us to reclaim 10 hours a week and finally step into your role as the owner—register now. We get started April : http://tapthepotential.com/jumpstart

On today’s Profit By Design, we are excited to have Chad Hatfield, owner of Chad Hatfield Builders and Remodelers in Plano, Tx. Chad and his team have won many awards, and recently won 6 ARC awards from the Dallas Builders Association. Even though Chad’s company has endured its share of setbacks, it continues to do stellar work. Chad, Mike and I have a candid conversation about overcoming problems in your company by incorporating the right screening, onboarding, and evaluation processes. Show Highlights Chad tells about setbacks, from morale to the bottom line, he had when team members quit unexpectedly. Chad discusses the worst thing that’s happened to his business including having the wrong people on the bus, not recognizing that fast enough, and allowing them to poison aspects of the business and his life. Chad shares how he screens new employees, what he looks for when vetting, and cues that help him make a hiring decision. Know exactly what you’re hiring a person to do and have a written job description. Have a hiring system before interviewing someone. Know how you will evaluate someone in a particular position before hiring. If asking questions to someone in a job interview makes them uncomfortable, then question why they’re uncomfortable and whether they are the right person. Chad discusses how many small business owners perform many tasks and often wait until the very last minute to hire someone. Dr. Sabrina suggests slowing down and taking your time hiring someone. Onboard new employees in an intentional way. Chad shares how to continue accountability after 30, 60, or even 90 days. Chad discusses how employees need to know how they are being successful or where they need to improve. Chad gives great advice to business owners who find themselves in difficult situations. Chad stresses the importance of business owners having good mentors and friends to call on when needed. Mike discusses the importance for business owners to reset their mindsets. Sabrina shares why she is passionate about creating great places to work. Resources Hatfield Builders and Remodelers in Plano, Tx Hatfield Builders on Facebook The 4 Week Vacation™ Program How to Hire the Best Tap the Potential Leadership Bootcamp Program Tap the Potential website Mentioned in this episode:Jumpstart Your Business - Jumpstart Your Life!You’ve built a successful business—but it’s still running you. Join us to reclaim 10 hours a week and finally step into your role as the owner—register now. We get started April : http://tapthepotential.com/jumpstart

On today’s Profit By Design, Mike interviews co-host, Dr. Sabrina Starling. Dr. Sabrina is The Business Psychologist™ and author of the How To Hire The Best series. Dr. Sabrina discusses her new book, How To Hire The Best, Construction Edition, which will soon be released. Show Highlights: It is not sustainable to pursue opportunity for the sake of pursuing opportunity if you know all that work is going to be on you and you don’t have a reliable team behind you to do the work Dr. Sabrina shares why she decided to write the Construction Edition of How to Hire the Best. Dr. Sabrina tells a story about the difficulties of running a business and hiring in rural Wyoming, which was the inspiration for her first book, How To Hire The Best. The lack of trades being taught in schools contributes to the lack of workers in the construction industry. Surprising solutions to hiring challenges Growing businesses need the owner focusing on a system for attracting A-Players Mike discusses his experience with changing his mindset about hiring. What worked in the past isn’t working now. “I’m paying someone why shouldn’t they just do what they’re supposed to do?” Hiring PTSD. Do you have it? Always be recruiting. Dr. Sabrina’s shares the story behind the 4 Week Vacation pledge and why we NEED to take vacation. The 4 Week Vacation is about the business running without you. Resources: The 4 Week Vacation™ Program How to Hire the Best Tap the Potential Leadership Bootcamp Program John Bates Executive Speaking Success Tap the Potential website Mentioned in this episode:Jumpstart Your Business - Jumpstart Your Life!You’ve built a successful business—but it’s still running you. Join us to reclaim 10 hours a week and finally step into your role as the owner—register now. We get started April : http://tapthepotential.com/jumpstart

Maybe you’re an entrepreneur just starting out or, like Mike Bruno, perhaps you’ve been doing it the past 27 years. Today, Mike and I talk about a few examples of where your business can be once you commit and focus. Mike has been a successful entrepreneur for years, and now he’s here to share how he’s been so successful at juggling so many obligations. Show Highlights Mike’s unexpected career pivot while owning three separate companies What led Mike to join a Construction & Development company What it was like working for someone else after 27 years How entrepreneurs make 99.9% of the “fires” up in their heads Why it’s important to protect your time How Mike got his businesses to self-sufficiency in 3 months How we define ourselves as entrepreneurs and owners of the business Planning your business with the 4 Week Vacation in mind Mike talks juggling 3 businesses, working for another company, and participating in a podcast Resources: The 4 Week Vacation™ How to Hire the Best Mentioned in this episode:Jumpstart Your Business - Jumpstart Your Life!You’ve built a successful business—but it’s still running you. Join us to reclaim 10 hours a week and finally step into your role as the owner—register now. We get started April : http://tapthepotential.com/jumpstart

It’s exciting to start a business, but most business owners don’t anticipate cashflow problems and the time poverty that can come along with owning a business. Your business doesn’t have to take over your life, and today’s guest is here to share his own roller coaster ride with his business and how he finally fixed his time and profit issues. While many people get into entrepreneurship for different reasons, one reason they all have in common is this: they want to succeed. Success can mean different things to different people, but most often having enough time and money to do what you want in life ranks near the top of the list! Today, we talk to Mike Michalowicz about how to define success and how to positively talk about business profit. Show Highlights: How Mike aims to eradicate entrepreneurial poverty Mike talks about how we define success The controversy around “profit” How to get employees motivated about company profitability Mike compare profitability to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs The benefits of journaling for growth and vision The 4-Week vacation and why every entrepreneur should plan one Mike shares some of his Clockwork principles Resources: Mike Michalowicz's Website Profit First Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself Mentioned in this episode:Jumpstart Your Business - Jumpstart Your Life!You’ve built a successful business—but it’s still running you. Join us to reclaim 10 hours a week and finally step into your role as the owner—register now. We get started April : http://tapthepotential.com/jumpstart