Small businesses with a BIG impact
The problem with patience as a concept is that it’s passive 💤 – it’s a concept of tolerance. Literally. Here’s the definition:
pa·tience
ˈpāSHəns/
noun
1. 1.
the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.
What we need is passion 🌹, drive 🏎 and willpower 💪🏻.
At least if you want to have an impact with your business.
Peace ✌🏼 out.
Being a small business (owner), negative feelings sometimes can be overwhelming.
Self-doubt, anger, envy, greed, selfishness,… both as an individual or as a business pull you back. They keep you small. Make you focus on the problem and not the solution.
So I try to push them back. Use light to fight darkness.
I deeply believe that good deeds, good thoughts and good words can keep this darkness at bay. It takes some discipline and effort but it works.
Be your best you.
Who should you fire from your company? Even if you let them go easy, who should you let go for sure.
In order of urgency (and includes a kind suggestion on how to go about).
Someone who lacks integrity.
Integrity is the foundation of everything. Without integrity things break down. They rot. It is misery. So get rid of it. Yesterday.
To let this person go I suggest you do 2 things.
Internally, burn 🔥 dishonest people on a stake. So the message is clear. Dishonest = game over. Period.
Publicly, complete silence 😶. People will smell dishonesty from a mile away. Rotten apples may ask for a recommendation letter on the way out if. Never ever consider this.
Rotten apples leave stains on the good fruit. So get rid of them and avoid being attached to them in any way possible.
Possibly they will even join or become your competition. Relaaaaaaax. They can fuck things up there instead.
Someone who lacks energy.
High energy is crucial in a start up. It is about getting things done. It is about moving forward no matter what. It is about not giving up.
To let this person go I suggest you do 2 things.
Internally, don´t blame them for not making the cut. Rather praise the team for being high energy. Often it is not the persons fault. It is how they are. Give the person some time to find something new if possible.
Publicly, help this person to find a spot in a big structured organisation (not necessarily a company). Praise their skills when asked by such an organisation.
NOTE: Do NOT FIRE someone who merely lacks results
You should not fire honest high energy people who lack results. Work with them, stand in their shoes, ask yourself and others why. Figure out how to fix it.
Because honest & high energy is hard to find. And often a tweak or a twitch can make things click.
As an entrepreneur you probably want to focus 100% on the 3 core components of your venture: Team – Product – Market*.
But while you need to focus on the ball, you can´t forget about the score… When you pilot a starcruiser, you need a dashboard…even as a Jedi.
This is why when it comes to finance I have made the choice to make beautiful what is boring. And simple what was complex. Simply by standardising on XERO for accounting and financial KPI´s*.
By doing so we (the whole company) have gained insight into “what the numbers tell us“. And we actually like to listen to the stories.
What a difference compared to how it was before when we had to wait until our accountant periodically told us how we were doing, flying on instinct, forcing myself to stare into the abyss of numbers,…
So when in doubt over which tools to help you succeed in business, I strongly recommend to only use simple and beautiful systems. It sound more obvious than it is because often you will face resistance from “rich feature sets” and “user customisation” who are soldiers of Complexity and the Dark Side. Your job is to make Simplicity win.
So repeat after me: Simple over Complex. The Force over the Dark Side. Always. Everywhere.
*more on these in future blogs.
I use the Business Canvas Model app frequently. It cristallyzes my thinking when looking at businesses and opportunities, while at the same time empowers design thinking* as I move forward with some of my ventures.
Highly recommend to take the online training modules (or study rather than read the book): Because as with all lightsabers you have to know how to use them if you want to be effective.
When discussing business strategies and models have a go at using the canvas as a common language to avoid confusion or getting stuck. And try to look for relationships between elements. Pretty sure you will enjoy the clarity it brings and key questions it raises.
*more on design thinking in a later blog post.
