What's Your 20 Mile March?

 

     This past week I watched a DVD of a leadership summit with Jim Collins as a featured speaker. You know, the guy who wrote Good to Great and Great by choice. There were many parallels in his talk about why some people and companies are successful and others are not. It made me think of Ashley Craig, the $100,000.00 winner of Nail’d it.  She shared many of the disciplines Collins shares in his book.  What are they? 

     First off you must have what he calls level 5 leadership behaviors, whether you are leading yourself, or a team. The x factor of great leaders is humility combined with will. Given you already have great leadership qualities what are these other factors that separate the good from the great?

   Fanatic Discipline- Collins calls this the 20 mile march.  This 20 mile march came from a story he shared about two teams on an expedition to reach the South Pole.  One team was successful, the other, perished. Dutch explorer Amundsen successfully led his team 20 miles every day, day in and day out. Not 25 on a good day and 5 on a bad day. 20 miles, day in and day out. Consistent forward progress, every day. It’s also just as important to know to not overdo, and leave yourself vulnerable to unforeseen situations. Managing yourself and your team in good times so you’re strong for bad times. When Ashley spoke of creating a home for herself and her daughter she knew she would have to build a career so she enrolled in Nail school. From her interviews it’s clear she was persistent , attending day in and day out, inching toward her goal.  What is your 20 mile march? What do you need to do today to set the conditions to hit your mark, consistently, whatever that mark may be? 

    Empirical Creativity – Discipline is not enough, we must create new things, take risks on new creative ideas to improve our work. How are you innovating differently than those around you? The key to this is in empirical. Creativity must be based on testing and experience. Placing the big bets, the big risks better be based on something you know is going to work. Collins recommends the bullets to cannonball theory. Fire small bullets at the target until you have a line of site before you load the big cannon.  Have a direction, some success before you go all in. You must blend creativity and discipline, when we do this it amplifies our creativity rather than destroys it. Ashley already had a string of wins before she entered this competition, a line of site, a proven winning formula she amplified with discipline.

 

     Productive Paranoia The only mistakes you can learn from are the ones you survive. Yes you have to be optimistic, but also be aware things can get hairy. You may look at the glass as full but are keenly aware it may shatter at any moment. Successful people have reserves from the time they are small, it is not a luxury just for the bigger companies. Most success is due to this conservative start that they fiercely maintain as they grow. Take that paranoia and translate it into buffers, built in reserves in case disaster strikes. It is what you do before difficult times come, the discipline you have in good times that make the biggest difference in your success, so you can be strong when people need you.   Collins uses the analogy SMaC. Specific, Methodical and Consistent. The greatest danger is not failure; it is being successful without understanding why you are successful in the first place. Ashley was consistently aware that there were talented competitors on her tail. Yet she dug deep into her talent reserves and delivered great work. This is such a great big topic and there was so much more I could share, so I hope I have stirred your interest to learn more about it. Read more about Jim Collins research. Find your 20 mile march and follow it!            

  

     

Marketing Confidence

       One of the most important elements of marketing is confidence. Confidence in your brand. I know we all struggle at times with confidence, I am no exception.  Unfortunately we look around too much, compare ourselves to others and their success. Ignoring we all have our own unique voice, our own unique talents, and our own unique journey. We see some people that appear to have the greatest confidence that never waivers. But that confidence came at a price. And I’m quite sure if you asked them, they would tell you even they have their doubts. The difference is they don’t let doubt win. They forge battle with it every day.  So if you struggle with confidence know that you can win too. If you struggle with confidence know that there is an answer. It is education, knowledge and the persistent work towards mastery. 

      Are you struggling with service techniques? There is so much education available some at no cost to you but time and a connection to the internet. So many companies have YouTube videos that give step by step tutorials from the simplest to the most detailed techniques. Nail Art, sculpting acrylic or gels, pedicure techniques, massage steps.  Start with the companies whose products you work with and master these techniques. Dedicate at least one hour of the day to watch and learn. Then dedicate a few hours a week to actual hands on practice, whether you use a practice hand or a willing live model. 

 

     Are you struggling with communication? Communication is one of the biggest factors in building the clientele you want. Read books on communication. Study people and their temperaments.  I am in the process of reading a book about the difference between introverts and extroverts. Did you know they each use a completely different part of their brain in the thought process? It is much easier to communicate with likeminded people, but the challenge is, our clients are all different. Learning great communication techniques can build trust with a client and trust builds loyalty. Clients stick with service providers that they feel a connection with, so build better connections.

     Are you struggling with your finances? Hundreds of books have been written about business finances. Meet with a financial expert and ask for some recommendations to get started understanding the basics. You should know what your cost of doing business is and where your profitability stands. I’m not saying you have to become an accountant, but you do need to get a grasp on the numbers. Working with a budget and understanding your cash flow will give you more confidence in your business and life. 

      Are you struggling with marketing? Don’t know what’s working and what’s not? Take some time and dig into your client base. Learn how they found you and expand your base with those techniques. Again there are a ton of resources on marketing, I can recommend a few great books, mine for one. Ha-ha. But seriously, next time you are at a show don’t just take the classes for technique; sit in on a marketing or business building class. One idea can change your whole world. Work with a coach if needed, take a webinar. But don’t let your lack of understanding marketing lead to a lack of self-confidence. 

 

     Confidence comes from great skills and great skills come from education. Take a look at this list and pick one or two things you will commit to master. There is no better marketing tip than carrying yourself with confidence, even if you have to fake it till you make it. Confidence is key and building your confidence is smart marketing.

You Are the Company You Keep

     If you’re going to market yourself as an expert you’d better have a good team of people around you.  You will become the sum of the top 5 people you surround yourself with. Choose wisely. I came across an article on Entrepreneur.com called 5 attributes to look for in High-Performing Employees. If you are hiring a staff these elements are critical. I know first-hand how costly hiring the wrong person can be. But these attributes are not just for staffing. Looking for these attributes in friends, mentors, significant others and the like will serve you well in your pursuit of life’s goals. So what should you look for?

     Intelligence.  This key attribute trumps experience every time. Plus you may be hiring the experience of poor performance and a bad attitude. Smart people can learn quicker and often times end up doing the job better and more effectively. Look for people that catch on to new ideas, are innovative and relentless in pursuing new information.

Ownership and pride. Looking to make others proud of you is nowhere near as important of being proud of yourself. No matter where people are in chasing their dreams look for those fully engaged and focused on how they are performing the job they are currently in. David Wagner, owner Day maker at Juut salonspa started as a valet for Horst Rechelbacher, founder of Aveda, at his Minneapolis salon. Horst took a liking to him when he saw his incredible work ethic and passion for excellence. The rest is history.  Have pride in yourself, what you are doing and the people you do it with for the best team experience.

    Work ethic.  It takes more than intelligence and talent. Look for people willing to go the extra mile. People that are solution oriented not problem focused.  Willingness to contribute and a desire to lead will become vital in the success of any project, relationship or goal. People who want to accomplish the goal for that pride that only comes from being engaged as a part of the process.  The ones that text you two hours after the initial conversation with a fresh idea or solution.  People with a great work ethic don’t shut down when the work day does. Their passion is to look for ways to contribute the most.

     

    Integrity.  This one is much harder to flesh out especially in an interview scenario. I often came up with work situations and ask how they would handle them. Especially things like handling a controversial situation with another staff member or conflict with another manager.  Ask about real world ethical dilemmas or difficult decisions they have had to make. Past behavior predicts future behavior. Questions like what would you do if another team member took credit for a project or idea you came up with, or tell me about a conflict you had with a superior and how you resolved it? 

 

     Teamwork. Put quite simply, don’t hire jerks. You can train a lot, but you can’t teach nice, it’s either there or not. Look for people who put the team first, who don’t look for every opportunity to make things about them.  Teamwork and collaboration are what moves things forward, in work and in life.  So whether you are hiring a staff, looking to partner with a life mate or seeking out new colleagues do some due diligence creating your team.  Smart, engaged, hardworking people thrive in the environment of others with these same attributes. As Jim Rohn said if you take an idiot and motivate him all you have is a motivated idiot. So build a great team, because that’s smart marketing.

So You Want Success?

 

       The question often comes up on social media on how to grow an existing business or launch a start up. Everyone has great advice, that helped them and it’s all good. But in order to grow fast, and purposefully you must build with intense focus. I listened to a Success webinar on Friday night, yes those of you that know me well know I am that dork. Well to be fair it was the last day it was available so I really had no choice. Darren Hardy took 6 years of interviews with top entrepreneurs and boiled their success down to just a few principles. I thought I’d share a few of them with you tonight.  You must narrow your focus and think big. Keep your eyes and ears open because everyone around you is a mentor. I have marketing ears; I hear messages all around me that I can use in some way for my business. The size of your success will be the size of the problem you are willing to solve.  Second, Invest in your people, and it you are an independent that means you still need to build a team. Surround yourself with the right people, those that will keep you in check, not just in love with yourself.  Good people tell you what you want to hear; great people tell you what you need to hear. Build a team around your deficits, your company is only as good as the people in it.Third,  Have a game plan and maximize your team’s strengths.  Multiply your capacity through team.  Push yourself, we are all best under a bit of pressure. Be tenacious and be willing to work like hell. Getting the most out of your work day is more about saying no than saying yes, focus is about saying no. What is the most important point of impact for your business? Is it social media, networking, word of mouth? You must know what the best thing is to focus on to move your business forward. Prune your life and delegate the rest to someone better than you.  Fourth are you failing enough? From every failure comes great lessons. Learn from it, come back and start again, or as Richard Branson says “Screw it let’s do it “.  If you are only succeeding you are not taking enough risks and this is where you really learn to fly. When you think it’s time to bail is where the greatest opportunities exists.  Failure is part of the pathway to great success and you’ll be in great company. Get out of your own way, out of your comfort zone. Break barriers and don’t be complacent. Knowing you have room to improve will keep you hungry and hungry people succeed. Learn from others and get better. Be greedy in acquiring knowledge. 

 

     Warren Buffet says: Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. What skill, if you knew it, would make your business skyrocket? Go learn that skill and invest in your growth. Fifth Did you know that distractions are the number one threat to your business? It costs us as country $650 billion dollars in lost productivity. We are constantly fracturing our focus, so much so there is a new term for it. It’s called Digiphrenia,or digital chaos. When we are overwhelmed we are in danger of convenient distraction, oh let me just check my email, again or see what’s happening on Facebook. Learn to control your attention and put a filter on what you let enter your head. Find a few things that matter and learn to grey everything else out, again prune your digital world.  And last but not least you need a proven strategy, daily, weekly,  monthly strategies to stay disciplined and sustain your passion. Jim Rohn said success leaves clues so study business, study successful people. Hire a coach; work with a mentor and focus on your productivity. You can only grow into your goals by investing in yourself. If you haven’t read the 4 hour work week I highly recommend it. While all the principles may not apply directly to our day to day business the practices certainly apply to our entrepreneurial mindset. Focus focus and more focus will create amazing productivity and that’s smart marketing.

Are You an MVP?

 

     I have to share something that stopped me in my tracks this week and as fast as I go that’s not easy. It's how to be an MVP by Kevin Durant. I watched the Youtube video of his acceptance speech and was blown away by his wisdom and heart. Here's a few things he shared.  Know who to thank. NO one gets to this status on their own.  First off he thanks God. Something many superstars shy away from. Understanding his gifts are just that, gifts.  He realizes basketball is just a platform for him to inspire people, and inspire he does. He came from humble beginnings, and felt trapped with no way out.  His original desire was to be a rec coach and help kids. He never dreamed he would make it to college, much less the NBA and certainly not the MVP .  He recognizes he had so much help, those that believed in him when he didn’t believe in himself.  With doubt came motivation and each time he fell he got back up. He’s been through the toughest times, but he’s still standing. He plays basketball because he loves it. It is his passion. He fell in love with the game the first time he walked into a gym.  He fell in love with not just the game, but also the people in the game. He thanks his team, that pushed him to be the best he could be. He singled out just about every player and I couldn’t help but notice his very real respect and admiration for their similarities but mostly their differences. He was always open to learning, even from the rookies. His teammates lift him up, both in his game and his spirit. They taught him there is never a point when you can stop getting better.              They called him MVP all along planting that seed. They respected him as a player and as a man. He went on to praise and thank his team mates sharing individual stories and wished he had a sharpie to put all their names on the trophy. He understands that when you’ve got people behind you, you can do whatever. He thanked them for making him look good, better than on his own and boosting his confidence when it was low.  It takes a strong man to admit he isn’t always right and he did, on national television.  He is also humble enough to admit he has bad days, and isn’t always the best example for the younger players but they are still there to push him to greatness, to elevate his game both on and off the court. By taking the time to get to know his teammates in work and life they inspire him as much as he inspires them.  Knowing they are watching him inspires him to be on point. They compete, but to be better to make each other better. It spoke volumes that every player was there to support him knowing they had a tough game the next day, and he thanked them for that. He thanked the organization, the owners, the coaches, the support staff and the fans for the opportunity and the support.  No act of support went unnoticed or was taken for granted.  But is got real when he thanked his family. He thanked his brothers for believing in him, and giving him the confidence to believe in himself. He thanked his grandma for making him peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and texting him after the games to tell him to stop getting so many techs.  And last but certainly not least he thanked his mom.  She had two boys by the time she was 21, the odds were stacked against us, he said. But she was there, pushing him, screaming at him from the sidelines of his games at 8 years old. She made them believe, kept them off the street, put clothes on their backs and food on the table even when she didn’t eat herself.  He said “You the real MVP.”  And last, thanked God again. If you want to understand what it takes to be an MVP in work and life, do yourself a favor and take the 26 minutes to watch this video. He is an amazing young man, an MVP on the court and off. Happy Mothers Day.

Watch the whole think here MVP