Business Coaching Blog

Why Does Your Business Exist or Even Matter?

Resources@TheGrowthCoach.com — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

My neighbor Mark is a highly successful entrepreneur who owns and runs a multi-million dollar cleaning business in a unique and profitable niche. He started the business in college and has consistently grown, systematized and improved his business. He has truly adopted a strategic mindset over the years and is always thinking about his business, customers and employees. He and I get along very well and enjoy discussing business and entrepreneurship quite often, sometimes over a few beers. I help him reflect on effective mindsets and habits and he allows me to pick his brain on blog topics.

Recently, Mark revealed a ritual he does I never knew about. Believe me, this guy has lots of rituals, most of them would exhaust ordinary humans like me. However, this one made real sense. About once a month, he gets out a blank piece of paper and writes down "The Top 5 Five Reasons Why His Business Exists or Matters." Keep in mind, his business is 17 years old. Maybe this monthly ritual has been a crucial element to keep him and his business vibrant, fresh and constantly evolving. How would you answer such a question? Why does your business exist or matter? Or, another way of asking it is, what would be lost in the world if your business DID NOT exist?

While all businesses exist to provide value to customers and make a profit, it makes sense to dig even deeper. Such an on-going exercise will help you think deeply about your business, practice the attitude of gratitude, focus you on the big picture, continually align yourself and your company with its purpose and meaning, and focus you on the needs and wants of your customers, employees and vendors/suppliers, not just yourself as the owner. Why wouldn't you take the time each month to reignite the fire and passion for your business? Don't worry, if you don't like your answers, this ritual provides you with the motivation to reinvent the business, innovate, and create more value for others. If you find you continue to struggle with your answers, you may need some business coaching, give up the leadership reins, or sell the business.

Mark's passion for this monthly ritual motivated me to go through the exercise. I sat down the other morning with a cup of coffee and jotted down "The Top 5 Reasons Why The Growth Coach Exists and Matters", in no particular order. Here are my quick and honest answers:

Growth Coach is helping to improve North America one community at a time by improving the business owners in those communities. The immense and positive ripple effect of helping an owner is to indirectly help his/her managers, employees, customers, vendors and more.
The Growth Coach is helping thousands of entrepreneurs each year discover better ways to run their businesses and lives. We help them to achieve greater success and balance in their lives; to work less, earn more and enjoy richer lives. There is no reason small business owners need to be overworked, overwhelmed and feel like prisoners to their business. Our work changes lives and is unbelievably rewarding and fulfilling.
We are providing the marketing and coaching systems and on-going support to our Growth Coach franchise owners in over 150 markets as they strive to create a financially rewarding business coaching company and achieve the flexibility and fulfilling lifestyle they desire. Helping to launch and support franchise entrepreneurs is an awesome responsibility and improves both the lives of our franchisees and the business owners they serve.
All those associated with The Growth Coach, especially me, are blessed to have a very fulfilling and meaningful professional life in service to others. We are also provided with a rare and deeply satisfying work environment where we can continually contribute, create, innovate and express ourselves.
We have 15 employees and dozens of vendors, suppliers and advisers who contribute value to our company and in turn derive income from our company. Over the years, as our payroll continued to swell and more vendors supported our growth, more and more folks derive an emotional and financial benefit from their association with The Growth Coach.

While that was not easy, it felt great and helped me to re-focus on what is most important. Now it's your turn. What are the top 5 reasons your business exists or matters?

Daniel M. Murphy
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System

Would You Buy Your Own Business Today?

Resources@TheGrowthCoach.com — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The reason you start a business is to some day sell the business for a fortune. That's how substantial wealth is created. So let's pretend. What if you put your business, as is, up for sale today? What's it worth? What would be your asking price? Now let's face reality. Knowing what you know about the business, do you think a third-party buyer or some of your key managers would be willing to buy the business and if so, pay your asking price? Let's forget about other buyers for a minute. An even more revealing question is would you, the current owner, be willing to buy your company as it is right now for your asking price? Would you buy what you're selling?

Given everything you know, would buying your business be a wise investment decision? You, better than anyone on the planet, know your company's strengths and weaknesses and its potential opportunities and threats. You know what works and doesn't work in your business. You've lived the headaches and hassles. You know the good, the bad and the ugly. You know its beauty marks and warts. Again, are you buying what you're selling? What if you knew the current owner (you) would not be coming along with this business purchase? Would you still buy this business and pay anything near the asking price?

Just like home owners unrealistically think their "castle" is worth more because of all the memories, love, attention, and improvements they made over the years, an objective real estate buyer will evaluate your castle very differently. Yes, they will make an emotional decision but they will back up their investment decision with the logic of comparable home sales in the neighborhood. Your loving memories, bias and heart will be missing from their buying equation and pricing logic. Same thing for your business. A business buyer will have a healthy level of detachment from your business and use industry guidelines to price your business. Still think your business is worth your asking price?

Your answers from above will say a great deal about the readiness of your business to be sold. It will also reveal if you have created a business over the years or just a job for yourself and any future buyer. If you would not be willing to buy your business as it is for the asking price, why would others? Don't delude yourself, other buyers will perform significant due diligence and uncover the good, bad and ugly as well. These tigers and their advisers will devour your financial statements and rip into the very fiber of your business and the details of every report in such a way that will make your CPA look like a kitten. More importantly, they will have an objective and professional level of detachment. Without question, they will look at your asking price and compare that against industry-standard multiples (revenue or earnings) or even a third-party valuation. Those facts may shave tens or even hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, off any offer. Beyond the numbers, they will look at how well your company runs, especially without the owner being there. Ouch!! Another fact that may cut off huge percentages from the offer. After all, they want to buy a customer-serving, self-sustaining, cash-flowing, smoothly running asset, not YOUR JOB!

A company is never worth its full value to a buyer if you have to come along with it to make it run. Buyers want to see all your "success recipes" written down, not in your head. For starters, they will want to see an intelligent organization chart, job descriptions with roles, responsibilities and goals, a robust operations manual, and proven and written processes for every critical function of your business - sales, marketing, client service/operations, hiring, training, financial reporting, collections, etc. Again, any investor wants to buy a business, not you or your job.

As mentioned before in a prior blog, to eventually sell your company for a fortune, your ultimate goal is to become the least important person in your company. As owner, you can not afford to be at the center of every problem, every decision, every mess, and every transaction. If so, you will hold back the growth and development of the business and your employees. Your business, long term, cannot depend upon your presence, personality, problem solving or perspiration for its daily survival. If so, your business does not work for you - you work for your business. You have a job, you do not own a business! Stop being a prisoner to your business. Instead of having the business be dependent on you, have the business be dependent on the operations manual and simple systems you put in place.

If you would not buy your business today for your asking price, then go to work ON your business, not IN your business. Put on an architect's hat and start designing the business to function without you. Go about creating a business that is easy to run while you own it and worth a fortune when you go to sell it. Design a business you would love to buy. After all, you should be willing to buy want you're selling!

Daniel Murphy
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System

In Tough Times... Think Optimize

Resources@TheGrowthCoach.com — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

As a business owner, in good times and bad, it pays to think like a Chief Executive Officer (CEO). As a CEO, you should elevate your mindset and obsess about getting more from your current resources and efforts, especially during tougher economic times. You must learn to ask yourself and others more empowering questions. For example, “How can our business get greater results from every action we take, every expenditure we make, every effort we expend, and every relationship we have”? Sounds like a lot, but you have a lot to gain.

Optimization (also known as leverage) is a mindset of maximizing your results while simultaneously minimizing the amount of time, effort, risk, money, and energy you expend. It’s all about getting greater productivity, performance, profitability and payback from your ideas, assets, knowledge, systems, processes, practices, people and opportunities. Overlook nothing; leverage opportunities are everywhere.

Optimization is all about using your mind and limited business resources in new and better ways. It’s about using your creative intelligence as an incredible force to increase your sales, customer satisfaction, profits, and quality. Optimization is about freeing yourself and your organization from limiting beliefs, the “we’ve always done it this way” attitudes, and established and confining industry practices. Optimization is searching for past, present and future opportunities within and without your company where the application of focus or force will yield substantially multiplied results. For example, if you start following up every customer transaction with a simple thank-you call and an "anything else we can help you with?" approach, your customer satisfaction and additional sales could soar.

Just as a tire jack can lift the tremendous weight of a car for a tire change, so too can the strategy of optimization help you significantly lift your company’s revenues, improve operations, and lighten your daily load. A lever, fulcrum and slight force can lift significant weight if you know how to use these tools. To master the art of optimization and leave the status quo behind, all you need is an opportunity mindset and a hand-full of questions, like these:

As leader, what is the highest and best use of my time, talent, and treasures?
What company resources are we overlooking or under-utilizing?
How can we work smarter, not harder?
What processes or departments within our business are under-performing?
What past or current relationships could we more fully leverage (i.e. customers, employees, vendors, suppliers, advisers, etc.)?
What other industries could provide us with some innovative best practices?
Where are the hidden profit and customer service opportunities within our business?
Who do we routinely cut checks to (landlord, banker, CPA, suppliers, vendors) that we should be asking to help promote and advance our business?
What suggestions from our customers should we pursue first?

Expand your mind and your leadership potential and your business and opportunities expand exponentially. The more you grow as a leader, the more your business grows as a market leader. Think optimization, not status quo.

Daniel Murphy
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System

The Secrets to Losing Weight & Business Success

Resources@TheGrowthCoach.com — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Whether people are trying to lose weight and keep it off or improve their businesses and personal lives, it takes a system and time. There are no quick fixes or short-cuts. No matter the desired change, people perform best when they set their own goals and are provided with a proven process, structure, discipline and on-going support and accountability to reach those goals. We all reach higher levels of performance with a coach and system, athletes and entrepreneurs alike.

What appears to be the most effective and sustainable weight loss program? The undisputed winner for the last several years seems to be Weight Watchers. Whether it is Consumer Reports or the Journal of American Medical Association or other scientific studies, they all seem to agree that Weight Watchers is the best overall weight loss system -- based on nutritional value, lower drop-out rates, and long-term weight loss effectiveness and maintenance. The real question and valuable lesson to business owners is why? What are the secrets?

The two basic and powerful reasons for Weight Watchers' success are on-going support and accountability. Any lasting change (weight loss or business success) comes down to a proven process, a customized plan of action, face-to-face accountability, on-going support, and flexible implementation. Not surprisingly, these are the very same cornerstones of The Growth Coach system and why our clients also get such superior and sustainable results. In fact, many clients over the years have affectionately referred to us as Weight Watchers for business owners because of the similarities of our programs and successful results.

Like Weight Watchers, The Growth Coach has regular group coaching meetings that provide face-reality insights (similar to weigh-ins) and strong group encouragement and support from like-minded, goal-oriented folks on a common mission. In our case, it's entrepreneurs wanting to achieve greater business success and personal balance. While our clients participate in the same coaching process, they each get to determine their own goals and leave every coaching session with a customized action plan to implement as they wish -- real-life flexibility. When they return, accountability awaits them.

Comparable to Weight Watchers and their regular weigh-ins, our clients have an opportunity to assess and face reality about their business and life, accept the truth, and create a customized action plan to improve upon their situation. After all, without truth, there is no real progress in life or business. With the Growth Coach process, there is no room for denial, blaming or excuses -- just the facts about what is working and what is not working in your business and personal life. Again, it's not problems that are your real problems. It's the fact that most business owners deny, dismiss or don't stop to confront their problems and seize upon their opportunities. With our proven coaching process, we ensure that happens every session. While most Weight Watcher clients go weekly, the vast majority of The Growth Coach clients attend sessions quarterly or monthly.

Please understand, while I sure could stand to lose 10 pounds, I have not used Weight Watchers and have no vested interest in them. But I know why they are so effective -- now so do you. After nearly two decades of coaching small business owners, I know with certainty that in order to change someone's mindset, daily thinking, actions and habits, it takes time, a proven process and on-going support and accountability. So whether you are trying to lose weight or improve your business and life, without on-going support and accountability, you are kidding yourself -- you will stay in your same old rut and comfort zone and very little will change.

To see if you could benefit from our unique coaching process, click here to take our 2-minute, on-line assessment.

Daniel Murphy
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System

Oh When the Shark Bites ...

Resources@TheGrowthCoach.com — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

"I just kept telling myself to be a shark. Stay hungry and aggressive and my team mates will feed off of that." While that would make a good opening of a novel, that came out of the mouth of a softball pitcher. Here is how I happened to hear that powerful, mental metaphor that resided in the head of a true champion.

Nearly a week ago, I happened to be surfing the TV with my powerful remote control and trying to feed my voracious attention-deficit disorder by watching 8 channels simultaneously. I happened to flick on ESPN and saw the Women's Softball College World Series taking place in sunny Oklahoma City. I paused for a few minutes to watch an inning or so of the championship game that was nearly half over. But I could not pull away, though my finger was itching to press the remote control. I marveled at the pitching prowess and mental toughness of Katie Burkhart of the Arizona State Sun Devils.

I knew I was watching something special. I watched till the end of the game and the post-game celebration and interviews. Katie led the most decisive win in the history of the championship round with an 11-0 shutout of the Texas A&M Aggies (two-time Champions). Katie pitched the full game, had 13 strikeouts, and did not give up a single run and only 4 hits. She was unanimously voted the Most Outstanding Player of the World Series.

That was the first NCAA championship ever for Arizona State, though they did come up short the prior two years. And, Katie would admit that she was not as mentally strong as she needed to be those prior years as ASU's pitcher. What changed? Her mental focus changed. She changed her mindset. She became mentally tough and was intensely focused.

The post-game interview revealed much to me. I always love hearing the post-game interviews regardless of the sport so I can get a glimpse into the mindset of champions and even the non-champions. Over the years, I loved and learned a great deal hearing about the mindset of a Tiger Woods or Tom Brady or the many winning coaches I admire. Now add Katie Burkhart to that list. She gave the opening shark quote above to a post-game TV reporter. She talked about the need to be a shark in her head, staying aggressive and hungry. That gave her the right mindset to get different results this year, this time, this game. No smiles. No let downs. Just staying focused and continuing to pitch in an aggressive and attacking manner.

That got me to thinking. All the business coaches at The Growth Coach utilize a powerful coaching process to help our small business clients adopt more effective, empowering and strategic mindsets. To get them to elevate their minds, perspectives, options, and possibilities. Unfortunately, many owners sadly view themselves as glorified employees. Or they see themselves as technicians -- I am a plumber, contractor, consultant, retailer, etc. Just imagine the difference in revenue potential between a "caregiver" and someone who is the "CEO of a care-giving business." Those two very different mindsets would yield very different businesses and results -- one a small, limited practice and another one a thriving and growing enterprise. Consider the difference between a pitcher who thought of themselves as a "shark" and one that had no metaphor or a weak metaphor like "I am a good pitcher." The "shark" probably kills them every time.

Very few owners have a truly empowering metaphor. What metaphor do you have in your head as a business owner? Don't think too hard or too long -- be honest. What did you say? Your answer, or even a lack of an answer, could be very revealing. Does your metaphor help you to think and act like a leader? Like a strategic business owner? Does it help you see the big picture? Does it excite and inspire you or bore you?

If your metaphor was not empowering or you don't have one, here are some suggestions. As a metaphor, think of yourself as a: CEO, head coach, orchestra conductor, army general, business architect, or business builder.

You don't think metaphors matter much. Oh yeah, just talk to the "shark", Katie Burkhart, pitcher and 2008 NCAA World Series Softball Champion and Most Outstanding Player. Metaphors matter! Get one or get eaten alive!

Daniel Murphy
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System

Cut Out The Dead Wood

Resources@TheGrowthCoach.com — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

I am always trying to learn from my day-to-day experiences. In fact, I try and transform any experience, especially my mistakes, into valuable lessons for myself and others, including my business coaching franchise owners and blog readers. I simply review any business or everyday experience and reflect on what went right, what went wrong, what should I do differently next time, and what's the lesson for me. This "life is an educational journey" approach has served me well and also helps me to view any setback or unintended result as merely valuable feedback, never failure. I highly recommend it.

Here is one of those common experiences. Recently, my neighbor Mark, a very successful first-generation entrepreneur, and I had to hire a tree-cutting service. Our properties share a private drive and adjoin each other. It's just our two houses on top of a hill with about five acres of property and countless trees. We are blessed with a gorgeous and peaceful sanctuary but which was in need of some tender loving destruction. That's right, destruction.

We had many trees that had grown too big, too unruly and last year's drought in the Midwest took a toll on many of our trees -- some distressed, some damaged, and some dead. Bottom line, we needed to clean up our property. We knew it would be costly. In fact, the destruction took over 3 days, half a dozen men, and about 20 trees were trimmed and another 20 trees were cut down and stumps were removed. In total, it cost us about $7,000. Ouch! We are trying our best to kick-start the economy.

However, we were amazed that such destruction could have such beautiful and beneficial outcomes. Sort of how a forest re-generates itself after a fire. Our combined properties looked fantastic. The old, ratty-looking trees were gone. The dead evergreens were gone. The over-grown trees have been beautifully manicured and trimmed. Our property looks more open, expansive and with much greater depth -- almost 3-D like. The houses and rolling hills once again stand out. The entire area looks fresh, crisp and clean. Also, the tree specialist said our properties are now much healthier. There was too much tree clutter before. Now the younger, healthier trees have room and sunlight to grow.

Ironically, it took some precise destruction (trimming, cutting, grinding) to create more beauty and better future growth. That got me thinking about my business and your business. What in your business needs to be destroyed in order to achieve healthier growth? What is broken and needs to be fully destroyed in order to re-generate itself better and stronger? Any of your old habits or approaches? Any company processes? What dead wood needs to be cut out -- any vendors, suppliers or advisers? What is over-grown and needs to be trimmed back -- any expenses, employee privileges, company policies, or procedures? Any customers or clients you lose money serving that need to be cut out? Any employees no longer carrying their weight, holding other backs, and need to be let go?

I know this sounds sort of harsh, but at times, to grow your organization you need to trim back or cut off the dead or damaged limbs that no longer work or function. It seems a bit ironic, but in order to have people and revenues grow, you periodically have to do some precise destruction. Cut out the dead wood before you and your company get over-taken.

Daniel Murphy
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System

Keep It Simple ... Owner

Resources@TheGrowthCoach.com — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

To be an effective business owner, you must adopt a CEO mindset and big-picture perspective. As a leader, however, don’t over-complicate business. Keep business simple and straightforward. Simplicity allows for clarity of focus, and focus allows for superior performance. Following is a simple framework by which to see and guide your enterprise.

First, as owner/CEO, you are ultimately responsible for the company’s leadership process (direction, strategy, focus, goals, accountability) and the business development process (building a systems-based business that is self-managing and nearly runs on auto-pilot). After that, there are only a handful of additional major processes you need to ensure are in place, well documented, and working smoothly and optimally.

And luckily, you can lump all these other processes together into one of two buckets -- either front-line interacting with the customers and prospects or back-office providing support to the front-line. My coaching clients from various industries over the years used different metaphors to refer to these two vital worlds within any business: front-stage and back-stage; front-line and back-line; front-counter and back-office; on stage and off stage; externally focused and internally focused; or operations and administration. Pick a metaphor that makes sense for your business. Below are some additional details about these two worlds:

Marketing, Selling, Operations & Customer Service
In brief, the marketing process generates leads, the selling process generates customers by closing leads, and the operations process fulfills the promises made to the customers. Completing the business cycle is the customer service process that follows up with the customer to ensure satisfaction with the current transaction and uncover any other unmet needs. Since the purpose of any business is to find, satisfy and keep customers, marketing, selling, operations, and customer service processes should be your top priorities and areas of focus. Are they?

Back-office Support Functions
While important, back-office support functions (finance/accounting process to manage money; human resources to manage employee issues; and infrastructure to manage technology, facilities, administration, etc.) should be secondary priorities and focused on supporting your company’s main mission -- attracting, serving and satisfying customers.

Spend your time and energy focusing on your company’s core processes and competencies – those functions that you do extremely well as an organization and which add real value to the customer. Keeping business simple will help you stay focused on what is most important as an owner and keep you away from the low-value clutter and trivial stuff that can rob you of your time, passion and sanity.

Daniel Murphy
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System

Master a Tough Economy - msnbc.com

Resources@TheGrowthCoach.com — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

For some of you, you may sense storm clouds on the economic horizon. As such, some of you are now taking actions to metaphorically fix your leaky roof or foundation -- better late than never. While a bit unsettling, a slowing economy may be the wake-up and shake-up smart entrepreneurs use to get energized to improve themselves and their businesses for continued success.

After all, for your business to get better, YOU must get better. For your employees to get better, your managers must get better. For your sales to get better, your salespeople must get better. In good times and bad, you should always be trying to improve your effectiveness as an owner and the performance of your team with on-going coaching and accountability -- the only proven process that permanently changes mindsets, habits, daily actions and results over time. To improve yourself as an owner or your managers, please review these services.

I was asked to submit some "slowing economy" survival tips for a very popular msnbc.com blog called Your Biz written by Eve Tahmincioglu. Your Biz covers a wealth of topics and solutions of interest to any small business owner. I have been an active reader for the past 6 months and recommend it to other business owners. Eve is an accomplished author and regular contributor to the New York Times and Business Week's Small Biz Magazine.

Here is a link to her blog entry on "Get Out of Your Recession Stupor" and the MASTER tips I suggested: http://yourbiz.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/03/1076145.aspx

Daniel Murphy
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System

What Business Are You Really In?

Resources@TheGrowthCoach.com — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

What business are you really in? Did you respond by saying the industry or technical nature of your business? Did you respond by the type of work you do? For example, did you respond with food service, construction, plumbing, accounting, janitorial, car dealership, consulting, manufacturing, or retail? If so, you may well be limiting the growth and success of your business. Stop thinking small like a technician, employee or doer. Start thinking big like a strategic business owner and leader.

Above all else, you should be in the business of MARKETING. That's right. Your mindset should be that you own a customer-gaining, money-making, marketing business. No matter your technical product or service, you are first and foremost in the marketing business. You and your company's top priority should be attracting, serving, retaining and multiplying customers. With sufficient customers and profits, you can tackle nearly every challenge. Without sufficient customers and cash flow, you won't have a viable or sustainable business.

Even if you have the best product or service in town but people don't know that, you will not create abundant business and wealth. Wealth is created by leveraging marketing - communicating to and influencing large groups of current customers, prospects and referral sources. Marketing is simply on-going education. You are educating customers, prospects and referral sources why it's in their best interest to do, and continue to do, business with your company. Who is in charge of that critical, on-going education and communication campaign for your company? If no one, be warned! You are thinking and acting like a technician, not a business leader.

As an owner, instead of focusing on the day-to-day, technical aspects of the business, you need to adopt a marketing mindset and mode of operation. For example, if you own a restaurant, don't get caught up merely in the technical trenches and details of your business - ordering supplies and preparing and serving food. While that is all very important, others in the business can do that for you. Delegate the technical aspects of the restaurant but take full responsibility for the marketing function.

If not you, who is going to continually educate people on why they should eat there in the first place, continue to come back, and recommend the restaurant to their friends? Overall, the right marketing mindset and strategies will allow you to "create a unique dining experience" and communicate that to the marketplace. As owner, keep your mind elevated and focused on what truly drives customers and revenue into your business - marketing does! There is no better or higher use of your time and talents than to think about strategies to attract, retain, and grow your customers.

Some would argue that a quality product and/or service is all that is needed to have a successful restaurant or any business for that matter. I would argue that you must create sufficient value and an overall good experience for your customers to even remain in business. Don't delude yourself, a good product/service is an absolute basic and minimum requirement to be in business -- it will NOT differentiate you. To set yourself apart, you must attract customers in the first place and you do that with smart marketing.

Case in point, think about McDonald's. While they may not serve the best-tasting burger or shake in the world, they have perfected marketing into a science and serve millions of customers year in and year out. How? They know with certainty they are in the marketing business (bigger vision) and not just in the hamburger business (limiting vision). They market Happy Meals and toys to your kids. They market quick food and guiltless pleasure ("you deserve a break today") to overly-busy, overwhelmed and time-strapped parents. They market a clean, consistent, and convenient eating and restroom experience for road travelers no matter what town they are in. Again, they understand they are in a marketing business first and foremost and that is why they are such a huge success.

Again, what business are you really in?

Daniel Murphy
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System

For Everyone's Sake, Take a Break!

Resources@TheGrowthCoach.com — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

My wife and I just took a 5-day, planned-at-the-last-minute, no-kids, get-away vacation to a wonderful resort in West Virginia. We both needed a break from our respective businesses in order to clear our minds, re-charge our batteries, and reconnect with each other. Our moms gave us a wonderful gift by watching our kids.

We had an absolute blast playing and discovering together. We learned how to fly fish and successfully caught rainbow trout in the rain. We learned how to do extreme off-road driving in the mountains and both of us along with the vehicle survived. We took long walks, road horses, had great dinners, and even got treated to a massage. Talk about rejuvenation!

Unlike most business owners, when I take a vacation, I totally escape the business. Though I care deeply about my business, I do not think about The Growth Coach, do not make any work-related calls, nor do I even check email. Heck, I never even take a computer. For me, I draw clear boundaries between my business and my family life. When I'm with family, I focus solely on them. When I'm at work, I'm all business. So when I get away, I really get away. So should all business owners.

When was the last time you had a work-free vacation --no work calls, no computer, no emails, no Blackberry? If not, why not? You need to avoid getting consumed and burnt out by your business. Every now and then you need a break from your business and your business and employees need a break from you.

Part of our proven, powerful and guaranteed coaching process involves helping business owners to put more fun into their lives. To schedule and enjoy more free time. To spend more time with spouse and kids. To participate in hobbies they are passionate about. To take breaks to get rejuvenated. After all, we want our hard-working clients to avoid business owner burnout. One of the best strategies for the health of you, your business, your family, and your employees is for YOU to take regular breaks. If you aren't taking regular vacations, it's not a badge of dedication -- it's a badge of foolishness. You and your business are paying the price for not taking regular breaks.

First, you benefit from vacation breaks. You get to decompress, de-stress and unwind. You get to clear your head, clear your calendar, re-charge your emotions and body, and come back with fresh ideas and new experiences. Vacations also force you to learn to let go and let your employees step up. Also, vacations with your spouse and kids allows you to reconnect with your loved ones.

Second, your business benefits from your vacations. Since you will be away, it forces your team to step up, take on more responsibility, and make decisions in your absence. They learn to get along without you. It also motivates you to put policies and systems in place so your business can work fine while you are gone. If you can never take vacations from your business, that is a huge red flag and buyers will hesitate to buy such a broken business or one that is so owner-centric. Again, as we discussed before, you want to create a business that is systems-dependent and not owner-dependent -- it will be fun to run while you own it and worth a fortune when you sell it.

If you aren't taking vacations now, take at least one week off in the next 12 months. For all others, your goal should be to double your time off each year. If you take a week now, go for two. If you take two weeks now, go for four. Trying to double your time off each year will force you to develop a robust operations manual and put proper policies and systems in place. To eventually get up to 8-12 weeks off per year or more, you must evolve into a strategic leader (not doer) and your business must evolve into auto-pilot mode, no longer depending upon you.

Before you leave on your next vacation, just do some simple planning. A week before your vacation, start preparing for your departure. Don't start any new initiatives, just focus on tying down any important loose ends. Also, announce to your team when you will be out of the office or store. Give them notice several days before you leave so they can get with you to resolve any critical matters on their plate. Emphasize that they should know their roles and responsibilities and will need to execute in your absence. Finally, announce to all that you will not be calling in or checking email. After they faint, announce you will only take emergency calls.

For everyone's sake (you, your family, your business, and your employees), start taking breaks.

Daniel Murphy
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System