Paddi Lund, Christie Scott and Michael Gerber do this. Do you?

Paddi Lund (www.PaddiLund.com) has some great advice today in his newsletter. He is a dentist gone entrepreneur, but is most known for changing his reality by firing D clients, only accepting new clients upon referral, and insisting that he receive a certain number of referrals from each client! Here are some payoffs he experienced when he first fired D clients:

Simply “firing” his D customers immediately freed up 30% or more of your time … time which then is used to focus more attention on A and B customers with an instant increase in sales results as a consequence. Fewer hassles, more money – all good, right!

This has had a dramatic effect that is virtually responsible for every great innovation that followed in Paddi’s business.

Here’s why. Here’s the secret: S P A C E !!!

You read that right. Space. Time. Freedom from pressures.

Quite often when we start out in business we struggle to find the model that pays off. That’s just business. It’s hard. Very few people jag it and produce massively profitable businesses right from the get go. But even for those people, a similar process occurs. We get so busy, so caught up in the frantic pace of getting everything working that we get completely lost in the day to day pressures of it all.

Bills to pay, customers to see, people to hire, people to train, people to fire (because we never got around to training them!), marketing to write, advertising to try to forget (because it’s not working and you don’t know why), family to please, fatigue to fight … in business it just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on …… and on and on and on and on!!!

Before you know it, you have absolutely no S P A C E to think, let alone work on the business.

But that’s exactly what Paddi found when he “fired” his D’s. He was making just as much money, or more, and now he had S P A C E to truly start thinking clearly about his business.

Michael Gerber, author of the famous E-Myth, later called this vital discovery “Working ON the business, not IN it.”

———— A Fundamental Difference ————

Now, this isn’t the same as having lots of time on your hands when you’re young and starting out and don’t have any customers yet. Not the same at all.

There’s a fundamental difference between the time that the ABCD’s buys you and the time you have on your hands when there’s not much business on.

1) Ongoing Cashflow gives you room to breath

Say no more. Free time alone just won’t get you fed.

2) Experience gives you lots of information to work with

If you’re to this point, you have tried lots of things and failed with most of them. This experience is invaluable in helping you hone in on what’s really most important. You’ve also probably learned a thing or two about managing people – there’s nothing like being pushed around by an employee or two to galvanize the skill of leading from the front!

3) The Pain of being trapped motivates you to use your time wisely

… It’s only when you learn how valuable and scarce that S P A C E is that you really begin to use it wisely when it appears. Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands to fill the available time.” Well not when you have the motivation of great PAIN focusing you on making the most of this very valuable resource!

The 2nd Major Hidden Benefit:

* Making S P A C E for Key Results Producing Activities.

So, how could this idea help you?

One client of mine is facing this right now! She is SO overwhelmed by the everyday, that she cannot “see” or focus, prioritize, or even  enjoy life.  She is BRILLIANT! Simply amazing, yet this is overshadowed and hidden by the murkiness. Has she changed? No, but when you are overwhelmed, you cannot create or orchestrate your best work! Plain and simple.

So, my recommendation? Find space.

For this client, a getaway is in order, a getaway from emails, phones, and any work or responsibility. This will enable her to clearly see what she needs to do, how to overcome obstacles and have fun.

You may have experienced this when trying to come up with a name or fix a problem. When I was trying to title my book, I struggled for months. Then, when daydreaming while driving a car, it came to me.

Or sometimes the more you try to determine a solution, the more convoluted your opinion becomes.

So, what do YOU need to do to create S P A C E for what will allow you to reach the next level?

C

Why employees don’t care what they need! Instead give them what they demand…

Seth Godin wrote a post today about how to sell and market what people demand and tells you NOT to try to sell what people need. I think it is applicable to managing employees:

Needs don’t always lead to demand

One of the accepted holy grails of building an organization is that you should fill a need. Fill people’s needs, they say, and the rest will take care of itself.

But… someone might know that they need to lose some weight, but what they demand is potato chips.

Someone might know that they need to be more concerned about the world, but what they demand is another fake reality show.

As my friend Tricia taught me, this is brought into sharp relief when doing social enterprise in the developing world. There are things that people vitally need… and yet providing it is no guarantee you’ll find demand.

Please don’t tell get confused by what the market needs. That’s something you decided, not them.

If you want to help people lose weight, you need to sell them something they demand, like belonging or convenience, not lecture them about what they need.

So, how can you apply this to managing employees?

You may as the employer feel you know what is good for the employees, you may find yourself saying as I heard someone say yesterday “This is not just a lecture, but you really need to hear this…”.

Now, if you think that this is helping your productivity or morale or end results, you are wrong. It is not.

Instead, imagine for a moment that Seth is right, that people don’t care what they need, they only care about what they demand.

So, what are you employees demanding? They may not be saying it out loud or to you, so this may take some effort on your part, so go find out.

If you do not give employees what they demand, they will either work for you forever in a half-butt style or quit.

Employees generally demand to be treated with respect and honesty. Now, now, you are probably thinking “I treat everyone with respect and honesty!” Which you probably do, however what about the managers and co-workers?

MOST COMPANIES have someone in them that is a bully or rampaging personality who is not respectful or honest. However, they are excellent manipulators of the bosses, and they are the last to find out what is going on!

But, employees demand much more, especially these days! With companies vying for “the best place to work”, and companies follow the Zappos way, the gems of employees will be firmly planted there, with more joining their ranks everyday. Those that are left will be those that were not ethically or morally firm enough to be hired by these cultural companies.

How will you compete?

C

So, does managing HAVE to be this much work? Is it the employees that are the problem?

You want the best employees? The real question is do “A” players want to work for YOU? Recruiting in the New Economy

Employees have changed? New generations coming into the workforce are simply… different. Why?

Generations feel differing values are important, hence they will be moved to make decision, choose where to live, what to buy and where to work… differently.

Management has to change to meet this demand or they will lose the “A” players in their teams.

Recruiters also will have to change the way they recruit. And that starts with the company and how it presents itself to prospects. There was a great presentation given by Vishan Lakhani where he talks about the entire initiative theri company has ongoing to recruit the BEST employees throughout the WORLD!

How do you compete?

Check out how Netflix does it! Click on the box at the bottom left. It’s a click through presentation.

Think about how recruits view your company and the opportunity your company presents. it can and always should be a priority to improve this area!

Love this, Dan Shapiro! Company Culture, the REAL deal!

So, All companies ACT like they have great work ethics and teamwork, blah, blah, but Dan Shapiro makes chump change of that. Instead he describes what REAL company culture is about! I have copied and pasted it here, for your enjoyment, but if you want to go straight to the source, his site is here.

In this envelope, I have your Company Culture.

We work hard, but value work/life balance.

We’re a team culture and we believe in individual empowerment.

We give back to the community, and have strong ethics.

We hire only the best people, support diversity, and promote growth and leadership in our employee ranks.

And more than anything we value our customers, our stockholders, and our employees.

That’s right – you’re GE! Or Wells Fargo.  Or Zillow…

Company Culture is a very serious matter, put together after much employee feedback and deliberation, and carefully designed to capture the key things that make your company great.  It’s also a load of well-mixed fertilizer.

The Rule of Company Culture: It’s what makes your company different, not what makes it great.

Hire the best, teamwork, ethics… all meaningless platitudes.  Real company cultures are made of four things:

1. Polarizing decisions
2. Excesses
3. Quirks
4. Dysfunctions

Polarizing decisions are what happens when a company decides not to compromise between two equally compelling but opposing imperatives.  Every company strikes a balance between work and play; that’s not company culture.  Company culture is investment banking’s mandatory 95 hour work weeks or Jackson Fish Market’s 12 weeks of vacation.  Every company has a balance of teamwork and individual contributorship – culture is ruthlessly pitting your people and teams against each other, or firing your best people because they’re not effective team members.  Other balances include great benefits versus lean operations, customers versus stockholders versus employees, and cheap products versus innovative quality products.  If you find yourself saying “we can do it all”, that’s great!  And you’re right, sort of.  Your attempts at balance are admirable and may be successful, but do not constitute a corporate culture.  That only comes from taking a stand on one end of the see-saw.

Excesses are aspects of culture that happen when companies take an indubitably good thing to its extreme.  For example, every company tries to hire great people.  But some will leave a position open for nine months, miss deadlines, and work its existing employees in to borderline revolt before hiring someone who’s even the tiniest compromise.  Every company should give back to the community, but there’s a line between a matching gifts program and Ben & Jerry’s that’s not easy to miss.  “Openness” is great – do the employees see the detailed company financials, and get notified when cash reserves are running low?  Corporate culture is what occurs in the margins when someone asks – “Well, I know that’s good, but isn’t it a bit much?”

Quirks are the safe, friendly, harmless, and most companies screw them up too.  A quirk is some point of weird distinction, neither wonderful nor terrible, that is distinct to the company and integral to the employee experience.  Casual Fridays are policy; Dress Like Raymond Day is a quirk. When the company picks up your nighttime MBA, that’s a great benefit – but when Teachstreet (a company that helps people find local and online classes) gets its employees together to learn how to build kites, now that’s a quirk.  It’s not to say that corporate mandates can’t make great quirks, although the best ones often arise spontaneously from the teams themselves.  But great quirks take their power from the team, their distinctiveness, and the culture itself.

There’s one more aspect of corporate culture that’s important if you’re measuring rather than designing: the Dysfunction.  A dysfunction is the mirror image of an excess – not enough of something that’s important.  Every company has problems, and most of the problems are present to some degree everywhere.  Those aren’t dysfunctions.  A dysfunction creeps in to the corporate culture when it’s distinctive and impactful – much like a positive culture trait.  Typical dysfunctions include management and employee antipathy, severe lack of ethics, and disregard for customers.  You know them when you see them. One thing that may not be obvious – sometimes a dysfunction is a direct causal result of the company culture.  Backstabbing and rumor-mongering may be the price you pay for rewarding individual initiative and achievement.  A general lack of spending discipline may be the unwanted side effect of generous benefits and an employee-first culture.

The great corporate cultures are a simple mix: a few polarizing decisions or excesses, with a handful of quirks mixed in.  Preferably quirks that reinforce the rest of the culture.

Ah, refreshing, ain’t it?

C

A different take on Seth Godin’s post today.

Here is what Seth has to say:

The power of buttons and being normal

Taxi drivers in New York were worried about adding credit cards to their cabs. The fee (5% of so) would cost them too much, they said.

It turns out that tips are up, way up. They’re actually making far more money now.

Why? Because most of the machines offer a shortcut for the tip: $2, $3 or $4.

You can decide to be a cheapskate and hit the $2 button. Except…

Except that if you had paid cash, you probably would have tipped 75 cents for that $4.25 ride. It takes a few more clicks to type in 75 cents, and hey, $2 is the lowest and it’s a more ‘normal’ amount.

It’s a three second decision that happens over and over. People really like cues.

And of course, I agree with this.

However, I began thinking about how this can also be applied to employees and management.

“People really like cues.” including employees…

Employees sometimes, or very often actually, fall into ruts. Ruts like office gossip at the coffee pot or ruts of complaining about overwork or the boss. Often a new client will talk about this problem and often they believe it is the people who are the problem. And sometimes they are!

But, MOST of the time, the problem is the environment. The environment allows and even encourages these ruts to form and continue.

So, thinking about your office, how does this affect the employees productivity? How does this deteriorate the customer service?

Once, I entered a  doctor’s office and rang the little bell at the window. The receptionists were in the back, having lunch and they were complaining LOUDLY about a patient. I said “hellooooo?” to politely let them know I was there, since they had not heard the bell. However, they continued to go on, so engrossed in the story and the animated retelling of the account, they did not hear me. On and on, the voice described the argument the doctor had with the patient. FINALLY, I opened the door and walked into the back a bit to let them know I was there. They went on like nothing had happened and the doctor had no idea the possible damage that was happening, o doubt often in his office.

Imagine if I had been a patient! Imagine if this was happening in your office/store/location!

Is it the people? The employees? Possibly, but more likely the problem is much bigger than that.

When there is an environment that teaches people to act this way, it allows people to act this way, then it will BE this way, always, no matter the people in it.

Instead going back to what Seth wrote above, people like cues. If you give no cue for the tip, you get 75 cents. Give a cue and quickly triple that! What kinds of cues are your employees getting from you.

Once I got told by an employer, “the “stars” among you will do SO well with this”.Well, that’s great, but the cue I got was some of you are losers! And none of us knew which ones where which, so we all felt scolded.Did it inspire us to be even better? NO. It made us feel like, “nobody is noticing our hard work, why try so hard?”.

Instead, if you give the cue that people are special, unique and you care about them, if you believe in the best in people and actually appreciate each and their contribution, you get more of that best.

If a culture is created that feeds and grows a set of values far above and beyond your average business, THEN, people in it are responsible and caring about their impact on the business and the world, the customer service is stellar and the future of that company is bright because the consumers LOVE to experience the difference.

Of course, Zappos is a fantastic example of this. If you have doubts that company culture pays off, look at their track record to over a billion in sales!

So, where should you begin?

How do you get started?

That’s what I am here for my friend. I am creating an entire course to teach this and as I do, I will post ideas and rants here for you to enjoy, learn from and transform your company culture!

But, until then, WHAT CUES ARE YOU GIVING TO YOUR EMPLOYEES?

C

These ruts of

7 Signs You May Be a Bad Manager

Hee hee. More about leadership, blah, blah! This is from Steve Tobak @ Bnet.

One thing most bad managers have in common is they’re not consciously aware that they’re bad managers. And if they are aware of it on some level, they’re probably not willing to admit it to anyone, least of all themselves. That’s because nobody wants to believe they’re the problem.

It’s a common enough phenomenon that isn’t limited to bosses, but applies to people at all levels: executives, managers, employees too. I’m not a shrink, so I’m not sure why that is. But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably got something to do with ego, denial, compartmentalization, self-delusion, lack of perspective, that sort of thing.

It would be all-too-easy to just label these folks dysfunctional and call it a day, but I’m not entirely sure that would be either accurate or helpful. I actually think we all suffer from this sort of myopia to some extent and from time to time.

You see, in How to Deal With a Bad Boss: Don’t! I told readers to take a long hard look in the mirror before pointing fingers at the boss. Of course that cuts both ways. But in reading all the comments and emails, I noticed a distinct lack of objectivity by those actually experiencing a boss-employee relationship issue, as opposed to those who were just talking about it.

When it’s happening to us, we put up our defenses. And not only is that bad for business, it’s bad for your management career, as well.

So, even if you’re convinced that you’re the greatest manager on planet Earth and your ability to be introspective knows no bounds, you’d still be wise to check these 7 Signs You May Be a Bad Manager. As for all you employees who’d rather be water-boarded than take a cold hard look at yourself, most of the signs apply to individuals, too.

• Your group is underperforming. Sooner or later, bad management will trickle down and affect the entire organization. Whatever the appropriate metrics are for an organization, poor performance can usually be traced back to a management problem.
• Your manager is turning up the heat. When a good senior manager thinks there may be a problem with a subordinate manager, he’ll inevitably turn up the heat and see what happens. So if you notice your boss putting the screws to you, it’s a sign that something’s up.
• Allies are distancing themselves from you. It’s one thing for your employees to talk behind your back and for your enemies to despise you, but when your work friends and allies start to back away, that’s an indication that you’re damaged goods.
• You’re behaving like more of a jerk than usual. You may be in conscious denial about being a crappy boss, but on some level, you’re probably aware of it. And that takes a toll on you, usually in terms of increased stress and anxiety that you’ll likely take out on others.
• Your decision-making is compromised. One of the most visible signs of poor management is poor decision-making. After all, decisions are actions, actions generate results, and results are highly visible. Pay attention.
• Your personal relationships suck. Dysfunctional managers are also dysfunctional people. Relationships are relationships, period. And while I’m sure that some bad bosses are just wonderful spouses and friends, I seriously doubt it’s very common.
• Your employees are miserable. Come on now. I don’t care how self-absorbed you are, you know if your employees are miserable. Do they stop talking and look guilty when you walk by? Do they invite everyone else but you for drinks after work.

So, my friend, let’s talk about this impacts you.

Not at all? Well, that would be a travesty! We can all improve on our skills! IF you want a better outcome with your team, let’s get real.

GO STRAIGHT TO THE SOURCE: Conduct a survey, have everyone in the office complete it online with a free service, like surveymonkey.com

Truly evaluate the results, be open to the possibility that a good portion of what is said is true. And make a plan for how to improve those results.

Implement that plan and retest with time to improve your process and outcomes.

I KNOW, this sounds painful, who wants to hear the truth when it seems so personal could sound harsh, but to get the payoff (a more productive and brilliant team) you must take action.

My best, as always,

C

How IKEA, Verizon, Skype, Reebok, Asus, Lego, Canon, Reebok, Cisco, Yahoo and Hotmail got their names!

Hotmail Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith had the idea of checking their email via a web interface, and tried to find a name that ended in “mail.” They finally settled on hotmail because it had the letters “html,” referencing the HTML programming language used to help create the product.

Yahoo The word “yahoo” was coined by Jonathan Swift in the the book Gulliver’s Travels. The term represented a repulsive, filthy creatures that resembled humans (think: Neanderthal). Yahoo! founders Jerry Yang and David Filo considered themselves yahoos, and thought the term would be appropriate for their joint venture.

Asus The consumer electronic company is named after Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology. The founders dropped the first three letters for the high position in alphabetical listings. In 1998 Asus created a spinoff company named Pegatron, using the other unused letters of Pegasus.

Cisco Contrary to popular belief and theories, Cisco is simply short for San Francisco. Their logo resembles the suspension cables found on the Golden Gate bridge.

Canon When Canon was founded in 1933 under the name Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory. Two years later they adopted “Canon” after the company’s first camera, the Kwanon. Kwanon is the Japanese name of the Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy.

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola’s name comes from the the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring in the soft drink. Eventually Coca-Cola creator John S. Pemberton changed the ‘K’ of kola to ‘C’ to create a more fluid name.

IKEA IKEA is simply a random collection of letters, based from the first letters of founder Ingvar Kamprad’s name in addition to the first letters of the names of the Swedish property and the village in which he grew up: Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd.

Lego Lego is a combination of the Danish phrase “leg godt,” which translates to “play well.” Initially the company built wooden toys, and later switched to making plastic bricks. Lego also means “I put together” in Latin, but the Lego Group claims this merely coincidence and the origin of the word is strictly Danish.

Reebok Reebok is simply an alternate spelling of “rhebok,” an African antelope. The company founders found the word in a South African edition of a dictionary won by the Joe Foster, son of the Reebok founder J.W. Foster.

Skype The original prototype of the company’s flagship product had the name “Sky-Peer-to-Peer,” which was shrunk down to Skyper, then finally Skype.

Verizon Verizon is a combination of the words veritas, which is Latin for “truth,” and horizon.

Source: How 16 Great Companies Picked Their Unique Names, OPENForum

So, what ideas does this give you for naming your company, website, book or product? Would love to hear about them!

C

How Google got it’s name… and how that can help you name your business/product/service

The name started as a joke about the amount of information the search engine could search, or a “Googol” of information. (A googol is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.) When founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin gave a presentation to an angel investor, they received a check made out to “Google.”

Source: How 16 Great Companies Picked Their Unique Names, OPENForum

So, if you are naming your company, a new product or program, look to seldom used words that REALLY personify what you offer. Now, does it matter that the word googol has significance, probably not in the long run as most users have NO idea where the word Google came from. It MAY have been instrumental in the startup phase in emphasizing the massive amount of information.

And so what does this teach us, friends? That quite possibly it doesn’t matter what you name a company. Who’s to say however, Google is the most successful search engine so following the example is a smart gamble.

Product names are quite a bit more important, as you only have so much time to impress upon the consumer the need to purchase, so making it something that communicates the message is ideal. Cute or catchy isn’t as important as being benefit laden. People need to know very quickly the benefit they will experience when they make their purchase.

So, how does your product measure up? When a prospect sees your product name on facebook or a website, does it make an instant impact? Does your book title intrigue them and keep them hooked?

C

Wow, what an offer! This guy will write a book proposal for me for $850. Not bad. The hitch? I have to decide and put a downpayment today.

So, I don’t have the need for another book or proposal right now, nor a ghostwriter to create one, however, I think this offer is great. I also love that he only lets you think about it for 24 hours. A great way to get an influx of cash into your business, if you would utilize an idea like this.
Here is some of the email, how could you do something similar in your business?
The keys to success with this type of offer is to make the offer VERY SIMPLE, CLEAR on how to sign up and require a very QUICK response.

( If you are interested in taking him up on this offer, comment here, I will send you his info. I don’t know this guy well, he is just a writer I considered hiring about 5 years ago from a craigslist ad and he contacts me and his list a few times a year, this is one of those times) The copy writing is VERY GOOD!

Hello, hope all is well.

Want an offer “you can’t refuse?”

How about this:

I’ll help you create your book proposal, find the best list of publishers, review each contract offer you receive, and even help you promote your book once it is published!

You only need to make a $450 payment within 24 hours; balance of $400 won’t be due until you sign the book contract and get the advance check from the publisher. (NOTE: Even if you are not ready with any info right now, you can still “lock in” the discount rate by making the payment within 24 hours.)

You can make the payment via Pay Pal, or send a check via overnight delivery.

To pay with Pay Pal, just visit www.paypal.com and click on “send money,” and make the payment to my e-mail address: (his email address was here)

To send a check via overnight delivery, here is the address:

John XXXXXX
(ADDRESS was here)

Be sure to mark the delivery “no signature required,” and e-mail the tracking number to me.

Below you will see a “letter of agreement” that spells out the terms. Just put in your name, date and the amounts from above, and send it back to me, and we can get started on your book project.

Holler if you have any questions.
Thanks!
John XXXXXX

I may use this idea in the near future, maybe offer a very limited time discount on a program or service. .. what about you?

C

How Apple evolves and develops it’s Brand!

They do as Seth Godin says, they take a cliché and do the opposite. THIS is one way we can INNOVATE, like I have been encouraging you to do. As Tony Robbins has pointed out for the duration of this “recession”, you must innovate during this time or you will suffer, because some of your competitors WILL!

To quote Seth:

The effective way to use a cliché is to point to it and then do precisely the opposite. Juxtapose the cliché with the unexpected truth of what you have to offer. Apple does this all the time. They point out the cliché of a laptop or a desktop or an MP3 player and then they turn it upside down.

Richard Branson takes the expected boredom of a CEO and turns it upside down by doing things you don’t expect.

There is power in opposites like this, very often, in that, you can turn a negative into a positive. If your product competitors are very similar to yours (or at least seems that way to prospects), with time, there is a commoditization, that will squeeze any profit out of the venture.If you don’t change the game, it will change and you will pay the consequences.

Like I talked about yesterday in my post, a negative objection from a prospect can be a positive. You can use it to create more success in the future: If competitors chose someone with more “experience”, saying you are younger than your competitors, then build a plan to show that as an advantage. This won’t help for this prospect in particular, but for future prospects, you can be ready. Brand messages for your youth could be:  “Uses the latest breakthrough technology.” “In it for the long haul” (for 30 years instead of the competitor is already 60 so he will retire soon).

What negatives do you see that could be positives?

What we believe shapes our thoughts, our thoughts shape our actions, our actions shape our experience/lives.

What do you believe that could be shaping your life into what you do not want in your future?

C

www.christiescott.com