8 hours & a lunch

business owners, make the most of what you've got

If you’re smart and good at what you do, you know that it’s not necessary to grow to be more profitable or to get more done.  It’s about making the most of what you’ve got.

Interestingly, Sonia Simone just sent out an email newsletter today in which she says, “Those perfect Martha-Stewart type people who actually get it all done? They're either gigantic liars or they're exceptionally good at delegating.”

As much as I like Sonia, there’s another option.  

There’s another way that people get it all done.  

It’s About Making the Most of What You’ve Got

Forgive the ‘corporate-speak’ and feel free to get out those old ‘corporate-meeting-bingo’ cards if you’re someone who has ditched the day job if you wish, but it’s what we call streamlining.

You don’t have to extend your reach or do more of what you’re doing now, you just need to find and get rid of wasted steps, wasted activities and wasted money.  

It’s Not Just About What You Do - It’s Also About How You Do It

It’s also about getting smarter about how you do what you’re doing.  And then continuing to get smarter about how you do what you’re doing moving forward.

Processes.  Structure.  You might be entrepreneurial and think you don’t need this, but you do.  The difference between being highly efficient and moderately efficient can be the difference between making money and closing your doors.  

Personal Productivity

Solid efficiency tools do apply to personal productivity as well.  So it’s even more important that solopreneurs learn these skills so they can apply them across the board.

But I Have A System

You have a system, you have a workflow, you have processes.  Maybe you bought a productivity or planning process that was designed by someone else.  Maybe it even works okay for you.  You can still take that and make it better, tighten it up, saving you more time.  And you can design the system to make it work for you - and make it work better.

Uh Oh - A Sports Metaphor

As if using corporate-speak isn’t bad enough, I’m going to use a sports metaphor.  Tiger Woods.  Best golfer in the world, right?  Right.  Does he go out and just hack away at the ball?  Is that how he got so good?  

No.  If you know any golfers at all, you know they know every detail of their swing.  (I don’t play golf, I just was raised by golfers.  Sorry.)  They know every detail of their swing.  And they drill it down to the smallest detail and that’s where they get better.  They adjust their stance.  They adjust their grip.  They adjust their follow-through. 

I could go on if you’d like.  Runners.  They pay attention to things like their stride.  

It’s the small things that make the difference between weekend-warriors and those doing it for a living.  And it’s the small things that makes the difference between being a touring pro and cashing those big checks winning tournaments.

I Get 35% of My Clients From Twitter

Even those who take the time to measure their marketing efforts sometimes get it wrong.  Working with someone recently, a client was excited that she knew that 35% of her clients came from Twitter.  That sounds great, doesn’t it?

Until we looked at the real stuff.  The real deal was that those 35% of people who ‘came from Twitter’ had simply followed her to Twitter from her blog.  So she was spending all this time on Twitter talking to the same people who were buying from her anyway.  And wondering where her time was going.

If you knew that, where would you spend your time?  What would you cut out? 

True Costs  & Fixing Problems For Good

Have you ever signed up for a service because it was cheap?  You think it’s great because you’re saving money.  But the thing crashes and it takes you an hour a week to fix it -- every week.  Maybe you think it’s worth that hour because the service is cheap.

But it’s not.  That’s an hour you could spend with clients, or building a new product.  That’s an hour copywriters could spend writing or photographers could spend shooting.  Sometimes spending a little more money, when you calculate the true cost, is worth it.

Stop fixing the problem over and over, fix the real problem for good and get on with spending your time where you need to be spending it.  Not on the problem, but on doing that stellar thing you do for your clients.

Close the Gaps & Then Get Better At What You Do

You can save time and money right now while making your business stronger simply looking at where you are now and closing the gaps where time and money are seeping out, and fixing problems once and being done with them. 

Then you can improve the way you’re doing what you’re doing and spend your time and money in the right places that lead to growth.

Spend One Hour & Save Four Hours a Week

All of this stuff?  They’re all skills.  They’re learn-able.  You can learn how to do this and apply it to making your marketing better, your sales process better, working with your clients better.  You can even apply this to how you manage that unmanageable email. 

And I've written before about how this is where it all starts.  It applies to any place that your business has 'moving parts', which is everywhere.  

Smart business owners and solopreneurs know that it’s about making the most of what you’ve got.  Getting a true look at where you are now, closing the gaps, and then tightening it all up is how you do that. 

All the best!

deb

are you a fire-fighter? (or a problem solver?)

Jonathan Fields recently shared that while speaking with a COO of a public company, that COO had identified one single quality that makes someone “precious and indispensable.”  That quality?  He initially called it “the ability to create” but as he went on to describe more fully what he meant, it was “creative/problem solving.”

Problem solving, creating solutions, is the essential skill that can make you precious and indispensable.

You Need To Be a Problem-Solver

If you’re a solopreneur or a business owner, you know that you need to be a problem solver.  Whatever service or product you’re offering needs to solve a problem for your clients and customers.

But what about those fires that keep coming up in your business?

You know, the glitch that comes up again and again.

What Do You Do?

Being terribly busy and since you’re juggling so many balls in the air, you patch it up.  You get the thing going again and run off to the next problem or the next thing on your to-do list.  At least, you move on until the problem crops up again.  

Now you’re frustrated because it’s happened again and you thought you fixed it.  But you fix it again.  You fix it the same way you fixed it last time.  

And it happens again.  This time, at the worst possible time it could happen.  Now, you’re in the middle of something big.  And since you have no time, you fix it the same way you fixed it before.

The problem with that is that the core issue at the heart of the problem isn’t being fixed.  You’re not really fixing it, you’re just getting it running again.

Or maybe you’re trying a whole new thing. That last productivity tool didn’t help, so maybe this other one will.  But since you don’t know what the cause of the problem really is, you can’t really solve it.  And you keep spinning your wheels.  

And over the long-haul, you’ll end up spending more time than if you’d taken the time to fix it to begin with.  

Look For Problems

When we talk about problem-solving in business, we shouldn’t just be looking for the things that are obviously broken.  We should constantly be looking for problems.  

We should constantly be looking for problems and how to fix them at the place they’ve taken root, in our businesses, in the marketplace, all around us.

Why?

Not only is that where you find the opportunity to make your business stronger and make it thrive.  It’s also the way you end up saving time in the long run.  

More than that, though, it’s also the place where you just might find another solution that your clients and customers need.  

Why I Love Apple

As a proud member of the Cult of All Things Mac, I can’t tell you how many times they’ve come out with something only to have me make the comment, “Wow!  They solved a problem I didn’t even know I had!”  

I didn’t know I needed a tiny mp3 player to go running with.  Or a phone that does so much that thing I’d actually use it for the least was....as a phone.  (OK.  Maybe I don’t need those things, but they sure do make my life more enjoyable, and that’s worth something.)

But I’m Just Me

I know.  You’re thinking, “But it’s just me.  I’m not that big and I don’t want to be that big.”  That’s okay.

But consider this.  Who would you rather be?  The person chasing down potential clients trying to convince them your latest thing is the greatest thing ever?  

Or would you rather have people clamoring at your door-step with a waiting list a mile long of people dying to work with you because you solved the problem other people haven’t solved yet?

The Problem With Problem-Solving

The problem with problem solving is that most of us aren’t taught how to do it effectively.  We aren’t taught at school or when we enter the workforce.  (There are companies who teach problem-solving to all of their employees, and even their suppliers.  But they are few and far between.)

So we don’t know how to look for problems, how to begin to find problems   We don’t know how to get ahead of the curve and solve problems before they become a crisis.  (And once it’s a crisis, we’re be to reactionary mode, slapping a quick fix together again.)

Really Fixing It

The other thing we aren’t taught is how to get down to the core of the problem and fix it where it’s taken root.  We only know how to fix it on a superficial level.  This is why we fight the same fires over and over again.

Ahead of the Game

Businesses, and entrepreneurs, that get ahead of the game are the ones who learn how to problem solve in a big way.  You may not be the COO of a publicly owned company, but effective problem solving is still the precious and indispensable skill you need to learn.

So, are you a fire-fighter?  Or a problem-solver?  Which would you rather be?

All the best!

deb

 

Photo credit: Deb Owen

take the leap to success

"We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success." - Thoreau

Long time readers of this blog will recognize that as one of my favorite quotes that used to appear in the sidebar.  Coaches talk a lot about the ‘walking consciously’ part, but the time comes when it’s time to leap.  

Many life coaches are starting to talk about using the business concept of kaizen, still talking about ‘small steps’, and applying it to your life.  It’s true that this can work.  

But as someone who has trained people on the Toyota Production System, I want to tell you that kaizen is one piece of the puzzle that makes kaizen work.  It’s a part of a whole.  It works, but only if other concepts and practices are in place as well.  

Swinging For the Fences

The company also has stretch goals.  There have been times when they’ve set goals as aggressive as improving customer service by 50-percent and pulling $100 million out of the supply chain within a 3 year time frame.  That meant changing the ways things had been set up for 30 years, deeply ingrained and embedded processes and practices, in just 3 years.  (In Toyota time?  That’s like 3 months to you and me.)  And doing so in a way that drastically improved customer service while saving big bucks at the same time.  That's huge.

When Jane Beseda, vice president and general manager of Toyota's North American Parts Operations set that stretch goal, she made it clear to her team that, “Targets should be aggressive and in conflict.”   

Yep.  Conflict.  You know what conflict means.  It’s uncomfortable.  

Allow Me To Translate

There’s a time to weigh the options.  There’s a time to plan.  And then there’s a time to go for that stretch goal in your own life.  

And when we’re honest, we know.  We know that there are things that are the right things for our lives, and for our businesses.  We’ve been thinking about it for a while now.  We already know it’s the thing we need to do.

What we’ve really been doing is using ‘small steps’ to convince ourselves that we’re doing something.  While in reality, we’re still feeling fears and still holding ourselves, and our businesses, back.

There’s a reason you hire a personal trainer.  The personal trainer is going to not only hold you accountable, but they’re going to push you farther than you’ve push yourself and help you get there faster.  Much faster.

It’s the same reason you hire a life, career, or business coach.  They’ll tell you things you’ve not thought of before, and they’ll have tools to help you.  They will also, like that personal trainer, hold you accountable and push you farther than you currently push yourself and help you get there faster.  Much faster.

It’s Time to Leap

And yeah.  Just like companies leaping toward their stretch goal feel moments of chaos and conflict, just like that personal trainer will push you until you’re sore the first few workouts, it’s going to feel uncomfortable.  

That’s okay.  If you need someone to help you through the uncomfortable time, get someone.  It’s that easy.  Problem solved.  

It won’t feel uncomfortable forever though.  Just as you get stronger in those workouts and a new norm is established, the uncomfortable part won’t last as long as you think it will. 

So go ahead.  You’ve thought it through.  You know there’s something you have either been putting off or just ‘chipping away at’.  You’ve been “walking consciously towards your goal.”  But now, it’s time to jump.  It’s time to go drastic.  It’s time to “leap in the dark to (your) success.”

All the best!

deb

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improving efficiencies in office environments

There's a common misconception out there that improving efficiencies or streamlining processes only applies to production or manufacturing.  Often, the word 'lean' is associated automatically with 'manufacturing.'  But that's inaccurate.  Some studies of manufacturing facilities estimate that as much as 80% of waste does not occur on the production floor.  

So how does streamlining apply to office environments?  

Well, how many of us have experienced any of the following:

1)  Accounting prints out 20 copies of a report that only 3 people really look at 

2) All-staff meetings are held, or emails are sent to everyone, when the information only pertains to a few people?  (Or how many meetings have you held to 'talk about the meeting'?)

3) You have twelve projects piled up on your desk because your boss can't prioritize. ("They're all important!")  (This is always one of my personal favorites.)

4)  You spend time waiting for approvals - lots of them - to buy paper clips.

5)  You wait at the copier because someone is printing out 50 copies of a 70-page report (that only 3 people really need to read).

6)  You aren't provided with the complete or accurate information

7)  You just fix things yourself instead of bringing it up with the person or group that caused a problem or did something incorrectly

8)  Rather than truly fixing a problem, your boss creates additional paperwork or additional signatures as a 'solution'

These may sound like small things.  But small things add up.  I'm not advocating being 'penny wise & pound foolish', but if your office did all 8 of these things, how much time and effort has been wasted?  (Not to mention paper!)

There are ways in which office environments can apply streamlining efforts that will make a company more operationally sound, and pay off in the long run.  Can you find three forms of waste in your office today?

All the best!

deb

P.S. ( Just want to remind everyone that....we've only got 5 spots left on the next 14 Principles teleclass & the early registration price ends Friday -- and the pre-sale offer for the online version for the month ends this week  All the best! deb)

you can't fix your processes without your people (& a note about a thing that ends tonight)

I know we're all suddenly consumed with news of the swine flu.  And I know we tend to be a reactionary society, focusing most on the 'crisis of the moment'.  But Chrysler is still shutting plants down for 30 days as they file for bankruptcy and we're still not sure what GM is going to do next.  All while some analysts are starting to predict we'll see signs of economic recovery this summer.

There are a couple of things I hope we've learned through all this so far.

1)  Short-term thinking gets us in trouble, even when responding to a recession.

2)  Doing the same things we've always done, even when it comes to a recession, will result in repeating the same vicious cycle.  (That includes laying people off as a first response.)  You know the cycle I mean.  Companies have laid off some of their best talent and will eventually start to bring new people back in to use the same processes that were in place before, the company will get 'fat' again.  That is, until it hits hard times and starts slashing marketing, R&D, training, sales initiatives and laying off people....again.

3)  Finding better ways of doing things, being committed to continuous improvement, is necessary -- even when times are good.  (It might not keep a company from feeling the effects of a recession, but it might make those effects less deep and a lot less painful.)

And here is one problem that many companies will be facing going forward.  They just laid off a good chunk of their people, the people who had been there for years and who knew what improvements were there to be made.  Now, they'll bring in new people and it will take quite some time for those new people to come up to speed in that company -- and to be able to find those same improvements they could already be tapping into.  

Because that's the key.

You can't improve your processes without your people.

The typical approach of a few at the top deciding how to make processes better is not the most effective.  The person actually doing the job knows more about that day-to-day operation than anyone else. 

Of course this applies to manufacturing & to production.  But it's also true in any business.

It works for the spa owner whose stylist identifies a quicker way to get a client (comfortably) from one station to another, increasing the number of clients who can be booked.  (Or who identifies a way to have multiple clients in at a time without either client feeling rushed.)

It works in a restaurant where one of the chefs thinks of a way to make ingredients more easily accessible so that the most popular dishes make it to the table more quickly.

It works in a retail store where a guy in the warehouse figures out a system to identify the most popular products & adjust needed inventory (and warehouse space required) accordingly.

It works for any business in any industry.

Because every business has people - and every business has processes.

And while sometimes big changes can be made, often the adjustments identified might seem insignificant, but those small savings of time and money here and there add up over time.  

Most often, the reason that many companies fail to see a big impact as they try to improve processes is that they leave their people out of it.  That just sets the whole thing up to fail.  Teaching your people how to problem solve, identifying and standardizing your current processes so they know where to look, and then letting them come up with the answers -- that's how it works.  Committing to continuous improvement while treating your people with respect.  One can't happen effectively without the other. 

There is a system out there that can show you how to do these things.  It can you and your people how to 'think' and can make your business stronger and healthier in the long-term.   (In the meantime, using certain tools and principles the right way can help a company grow their bottom line without an immediate increase in sales, which might be nice during economic times like the ones we're in.)  We've been teaching this system for some time now, and are offering a program online.  

I mention this today because it's available now -- at the lowest price we'll be offering it for.  And the price goes up tonight.  So waiting to buy it later at a higher price seems - well - silly at best, right?  I'll not go into the details here.  Go here to check the whole thing out.

Thanks!

All the best!

deb

standardization is not a dirty business word (eliminating waste & the basis of creativity)

Often people think that standardization is a dirty word.  They think it's about turning people into robots so they're doing the same thing over and over.  They think standardization leaves them no latitude for the unforeseen.  (Or, in HR circles, standardization leaves no room for the 'human' part of human resources.)  And for those who lean more towards 'thinking outside the box', they believe standardization is the death creativity.

It's not any of those things.

Standardization is simply a beginning point.  It's the basis of creativity and problem solving.  It's the way you start to find improvements.

Think of standardization as a recipe.  When you cook, you probably start by using a recipe, right?  And no one gets weird about it, thinking you're stifling creativity.  Why do you use the recipe?  Because you know it will bring about the desired result.  If you're trying to make smoked paprika chicken stroganoff and have never made it before, are you just going to go by trial and error until you get it right?  No.  You'll look up a recipe that will give you step by step instructions on how to make smoked paprika chicken stroganoff.

It's the same in business.  If you want to deliver a product or a service, you're already using processes whether you think about them or not.  Let's say you decide you want to improve the times of delivery.  How do you know where to start?  You define & standardize your process.  You create the recipe, so you can consistently achieve the desired result.

So let's say you've mastered the smoked paprika chicken stroganoff recipe.  People love it.  You can make it without looking at the instructions, you've committed it to memory.  But then what?  Maybe you decide that adding a different ingredient or two will suit your tastebuds a little better.  You think, "what if I add this?  Or take away that?"  And you do.  And now that dish, delicious to begin with, has your own stamp on it.  You've been creative, identified an improvement, made it your own, and made it better.  And that becomes your new recipe - your new 'standardized process.'

Again, it's the same in business.  After standardizing & communicating those processes to everyone, it opens up possibilities for improvement.  The guy in the warehouse can say, "Hey, you know?  I was doing it like 'this' and it was faster."  And then you can change the standardized process so that everyone is using his 'best practice' across the board.  Starting with a defined process is the thing that allows you to begin to find areas of waste and be creative in finding better ways of doing things.

Just because you standardize a process doesn't mean it's set in stone.  It doesn't mean you want people to be robots.  In fact, it's quite the opposite.  You're simply clearly defining things so that your people can help you come up with a better way. 

All the best!

deb

P.S. (In the meantime....space is limited on our upcoming course on the 14 Principles -- and the pre-sale price on the online version goes up at the end of the week.)

P.P.S.  A disclaimer:  I'm obviously using the 'recipe' as an analogy here.  But don't take my cooking advice.  No.  Really.  You've been warned.  ;-)

toyota's 'why not?' contest

Toyota, as always, is looking for ideas and ways to continuously improve.  In their first principle of the Toyota Production System, they also talk about doing what's right not only for the customer, but also the economy and the community.  Now, they're looking for ways to be more 'green'....and they want your help.  So they're running a contest.  (By the way, TMMK?  The Kentucky plant?  Pretty friggin' impressive.  ;-) )

Take a look around!

All the best!

deb

it's a recession, we always do this in a recession

As long as we're talking about the perils of short-term thinking, and the first principle of the Toyota Production System......

If you're a leader of an organization in trouble right now (and whose isn't), what actions are you taking?  Are you doing what you always do in a recession?  Do you automatically start looking to lay people off?  Do you cut marketing efforts and training programs?  Do you hunker down and wait and hope for the best, thinking the storm will pass and you'll do what you always do when the economy rebounds?

Why?

Doing things the way we've been doing things are only going to continue getting us the same results.  That's true of the way we react to the recession too.  It's time to look at things differently.  Why not take a page from the Toyota playbook?  In tough times, their leaders have taken responsibility for leading the company and took pay cuts.  They've stopped production, but kept employees working.  They keep training the employees and put them to work on improvement projects.

And why wouldn't you?

Think about the talent that you lay off, for instance.  When the economy rebounds, how much time, effort, and money are you going to spend hiring new people?   And then how much time, effort, and money are you going to spend training those people to get them up to the level of the people you laid off?

There is a way to slow things down, but continue to improve, and hang on to talent all at the same time.  You might take more hits, more losses, right now than you want to.  But where would these types of actions put you in the future?

All the best!

P.S.  If you're one of those who has been laid off, see my series on layoffs here, here andhere

Oh.  And there's another one here.

If you're a leader in a business laying people off, see my post on how to lay people off the right way -- and training programs that you can use to help your business going forward  - including a program based on the management principles of the Toyota Production System,which can help any business, even yours.

short-term thinking gets you in trouble

In this video from CNN back in 2007, Jim Kilts, former CEO of Gillette, talked about avoiding the 'circle of doom' that is a result of unrealistic forecasting.  Once leaders of an organization set unrealistic expectations, they then start throwing resources they can't afford at reaching those expectations in the short-term, and head into a downward spiral as the cycle starts over and over again and those targets become more and more difficult to reach.

I wrote about the downward spiral, it's link to integrity in leaders, and the effects on employees in 2007.  And I still wonder if leaders of organizations are too busy trying to keep Wall Street and the 'powers-that-be' happy, only worrying about where they'll be each quarter.  One quarter at a time.  Where would companies be now if they followed the Toyota Production System principle of taking the long-term view?

In fact, the first principle of the Toyota Production System states:  "Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term goals."

Unfortunately, in a crisis, short-term thinking is a necessity.  You have to stop the bleeding first.  But leaders have to realize that doing the same thing is going to keep us where we are.  (Crazy, right?)  While we're addressing immediate issues, we also have to take the time to take look out to the future and begin to build stronger, healthier organizations that can withstand economic downturns like the one we're currently experiencing better. 

All the best!

deb

P.S.  Click here for information on how the Toyota Production System can apply to any business, including yours.  Or take a look at my online programs here.

toyota takes #1 sales title from GM

GM has held the number 1 global automotive sales spot for almost 80 years.  Until now.  Toyota sold 610,000 more cars to take the number 1 spot.  This comes at a time when Toyota has also announced it's first operating loss in 70 years.  

What types of measures might we see Toyota take head off as much of the effects of a global recession as possible?  They might take more action like they did in August, when they stopped production at their San Antonio plant.  Despite production ending, the permanent employees continued to work.  They worked on quality improvements, and began to re-learn tasks.  That's right, Toyota's commitment to training, which is repeatedly emphasized in the principles of the Toyota Production System, continues.

It will continue despite being named number 1 in global sales too.  Why?  Because Toyota doesn't focus on sales.  Their goals are to be first in things like quality and customer service.  

So while GM also starts putting out the word that they may need a 2nd installment of bailout money before March, Toyota is in a position of having little debt and is still able to invest in training their employees so that they can continuously improve over the long-run.  (That's in one of the other principles.  Toyota keeps the long-term view, looking well past March.)

Wouldn't we rather our own companies be in a position more like Toyota's?  Maybe we can learn from them.

All the best!

deb

P.S.  If you're one of those who has been laid off, see my series on layoffs here, here andhere

Oh.  And there's another one here.

If you're a leader in a business laying people off, see my post on how to lay people off the right way -- and training programs that you can use to help your business going forward. Or   Click here for information on how the Toyota Production System can apply to any business, including yours.