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Four Pain Points Entrepreneurs Must Solve for Successful Growth

If you’re a new entrepreneur and you’re struggling to get your business to the next level, you’re probably doing at least one of these four things wrong. It’s not a criticism; it’s just the simple truth. I’ve learned a lot in my 10 years as a CEO and as a founder of dozens of businesses. I know because I’ve been in your shoes, and a lot of the time, I learned these lessons the hard way.

The good news is that there are some simple steps you can take to address these pain points, reinvigorate your business and ultimately succeed. This first pain point is probably the number one issue I deal with when I consult with executives. It is also something I’ve been guilty of in the past. If you don’t solve any other problem, let it be this one.

1. Wearing All The Hats

I talk about this extensively in my book, The CEO’s Mindset. If you want your company to be successful, you cannot do every job. The first step is to figure out what you’re really, really good at. When you’ve identified that, you’re halfway there.

Let’s say you’re great at marketing and sales. Most CEOs are. If marketing and sales is your sweet spot, why are you bogging yourself down trying to read financial reports? It takes time away from what you can best contribute, and it undermines the responsibility of your accountant. To be truly successful, you have got to let people who are better than you at different areas of the business attack their tasks in their own way.

2. Not Knowing Your Numbers

In every business, there are key performance indicators (KPIs) that you, as the owner, must know. You should absolutely be receiving reports on your daily, weekly, monthly and annual progress. But that information needs to be clear, concise, and easy for someone who doesn’t have a finance degree to understand.

Together, with your finance department, establish the most important KPIs for your business. Set a scale for variations in the positive and the negative. Make sure that positive variance is in green and negative in red. Your eye is drawn immediately to potential problems and you can intervene right away, rather than down the line when you’ve lost money. Cutting the fat and making reports simpler is a process that will take time with your team. Ultimately, though, it will save you lost hours and help you make more money.

3. Not Enough Sales

Nine times out of ten, this is a problem of too much planning and not enough action. I tell my clients all the time: just pick ONE thing, and take action to get it to market. You could have a whole line of products in development, but your end customer doesn’t have even one of them in their hands. The biggest factor for generating sales is making sure your product or service is top notch, that you are filling a viable need in the market, and that you ensure your potential customers know about it.

So much of sales and marketing is trial and error. You won’t know what works until you try something. A lot of sales people will tell you they close a different way with each and every client. You can always change up marketing campaigns and sales techniques—that part is easy. What’s hard is getting a product out there and then listening for customer feedback to make it better. Don’t overthink it. Just get the product out.

4. Bad Hiring Practices

This is so important. So many businesses hire people only for their competence, without thinking about how their personality and values will fit in with the company. A person with your ideal background who doesn’t share your company values will be a bad employee. Every time.

It is vital for business owners to ask the right questions in the interview. Competence is the easy part. Their CV should tell you a lot, and the rest you can screen with a short skills test in the applicable job area. The questions you need to focus on are the ones that give you a sense of who the person is. What do they care about? Are they motivated? Do they believe in what your business is trying to achieve? These are the questions that will place the right person in the role.

I could talk on and on about how important these factors are for the success of your business. My number one goal is to help business owners untrap themselves in order to take their organizations to the next level. To learn more about how to solve these pain points and grow your business, read my book, where I cover these areas and more in greater detail, along with useful exercises to help you build a better foundation for your business.

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3 Ways to QUICKLY Identify Your Next Hire

Hiring Practices are a major key to the success of your business, which it why it should be a thought out process that allows you to identify exactly who is capable of fulfilling those positions. Throughout my career I’ve managed over 1,600 employees, and there are 3 ways I approach interviews when I am trying to figure out who the candidates truly are and where they belong in my company.

#1) TEST THEIR CORE VALUES

By asking questions related to your company’s mission and values you can quickly identify whether or not a candidate will be a good fit. A great way to figure out if they match up during an interview is to ask questions that don’t necessarily have a right or wrong answer. For example,

Q:  Here is a list of values, please select 5 that you feel are the MOST important

A: This is where you align your values and ask them questions about why those are important to them; or ask similar open-ended questions that test those values.

Q: Do you prefer to be micro-managed or macro-managed and why?

A: This will tell you the environment they work best in and how they get things accomplished. The best answer will depend on your personal management style.

Once you start working with someone, you being to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Especially when you are working together in groups, then you can easily identify who should take on which tasks. Which brings me to my next point…

#2) ARE THEY A PROJECT OR PROCESS PERSON?

You’re probably asking, what does that even mean? Well it’s simple, actually. Does that person like to come up with innovative ideas and take new initiatives? Then more than likely they are Project People! Also, DO NOT expect them to do repetitive tasks that will put them to sleep. Instead, that is where a Process Person comes into play because they like to do the same tasks over and over, and do them more efficiently each time. This does not mean that Process People are not creative people, it just means that when it comes time to execute their creative ideas, they FREEZE!

Are you wondering which type you are? I did too! A lot of people identify to one or the other right away but some people feel that they share qualities of Project and Process type people. This person is what we like to call, Hybrids. Hybrids are people who can come up with ideas but doesn’t necessarily want to create the ‘Big Picture’. They fall short of vision but once they identify it then they can run with it.

If you can identify whether the candidate is a process or project person then it will make it much easier to place that person in your company. Hybrids, on the other hand… well, they can be more difficult to place but once you figure that out then they could be a major asset to your company!

Many times employers will ignore certain ‘red flags’ when it comes to a candidate’s personality because they have the ability to perform whatever task that needs to be accomplished. This IS NOT the right way to go because certain personality traits could prevent them from accomplishing those very things you know they are capable of doing. Which brings me to my last point…

#3) DO NOT IGNORE PERSONALITY TYPES

You can hire someone who is great at interviewing and identify where they’d be the most competent, but if their attitude is not well suited in your company it will end in disaster. This is something you should identify right away. I have interviewed hundreds of people and there have been times where I have been fooled. An interview goes great and you get excited about that candidate but when they start the job you are wondering where that person went. Sometimes there is a personal explanation, but the majority of the time, it is their attitude.

There are 3 things you should look for in a candidate; effort, attitude and ability. Many companies overlook attitudes if the candidate has the ability to do the job… this is a HUGE mistake. Of course you want them to capable of the job, which they more than likely are if they got the interview, right? So when it comes down to the actual hire, attitude is the most important.

All of these are interconnected, which is why it is crucial to figure out if the candidate matches your core values from the beginning. If someone has a great attitude but admits that they aren’t great at some things, then do not dismiss them because of their mediocre interview skills. Truly try to get to know your candidates from their values and ask them what your ‘mission statement’ means to them. These are the clear indicators on who is going to be the best fit for your company. Also, identifying which roles are going to match their personality type will add to the value of your business.

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A Healthy CEO Mindset

As CEO’s we tend to want to do it all! We have such a great passion and vision for our business and we want to conquer every last detail. This is a good drive to have as a business owner, but at what point does that become overwhelming? SO overwhelming that we are taking on too many tasks and forgetting the reason for started the company in the first place. This is the moment where we lose our mission and need to take a step back.

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Clear Mission:

Relax and go back to the basics. Have a meeting where you and your employees can get on the same page about what the company stands for and what they are accomplishing. Every person on your team should interpret the mission in the same way. When a team member faces a challenge, then they can refer back to the mission statement in order to make the right decision.

As a leader, it is your job to make sure your mission statement aligns with every area of your company. You are also responsible for making sure each of your team members clearly understands what it means and that they are a good match with those values.

Your Team:

When your company takes off it is a wonderful thing! However, understand that you need the proper team to maintain that success. We already know you want to do it all and control each area of business, which is why hiring is a crucial part in the success of your business. We tend to want to clone ourselves in our company. Meaning, we hire people just like us because we feel that will be the easiest way to make sure things get done.

Your team should be able to handle parts of your business that you cannot handle. Leaders have a certain set of skills that allow the company to scale and grow, but they aren’t always good at the back end of their business. It is important to hire people that are going to do those things better and more efficient so that you have the time to run your business.

If your staff is unable to make progress and doesn’t share your vision, then maybe they shouldn’t be on your staff. This is a great opportunity to see which team members can reduce your workload. This is also a perfect time to identify if you need more people on your staff or better people on your staff.

Execution Attitude:

Make sure you understand that progress is key, not perfection. As a business, you need to be progressing in every area or else you are wasting time perfecting something that will cost you time and money. This idea refers to having an Execution Attitude!

Execution Attitude is a key element of a healthy CEO Mindset because you are actually acting on your ideas rather than just creating a ton of strategies. Do not get stuck in an Execution Paralysis, because nothing will ever get accomplished. If you think of something great for you company, then test it out! You can perfect it along the way, having it LIVE rather than perfecting thestrategy. Companies need to remain innovative and driven by making progress.

Culture:

Often times we hire ability over attitude, because we know that they are capable of doing the job. However, that should not be your only focus when fulfilling positions on your team. I have hired many employees that were more than capable of doing exceptional work, but when they joined the team their attitude was bringing down the momentum of the company.

Some of the greatest interviewers ended up being lazy, unreliable and detached from the company. I understood that I was ignoring their attitude (or red flags) during the interview because they looked good on paper. Employees can always be trained and have the ability to do the job, but it is so important to make sure they match up with the culture of your company. Identify their core values at the beginning by asking them questions that could reveal those personality traits.
A Healthy CEO Mindset relies on your ability to identify those key elements in your business and understand your role within the company, as well as your team. Take the time to identify these 4 elements in your business and see the difference it makes.

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