Business owners are hard wired to achieve results!  Entrepreneurs grow companies.  We don’t sit around and wait for things to happen.  Like many of you, I was the hard charging workaholic that neglected my health to grow a company.  I had a thousand excuses of why I couldn’t devote more time to that area in my life.

1. I have to much work and not enough time.
2. I am a business person and not an athlete.
3. I can’t afford to waste my time at the gym.
4. All food is the same and I’m not a health nut.

These were my excuses and decrees of why I couldn’t be in shape and health.  So, I worked, and worked, and worked…  At the age of 29 years old, I started getting sick.  Perhaps it was the 60-70 hour work weeks, or the 4 hours of sleep per night.  Perhaps it was all the steaks and hamburgers or even the sedentary office life.   I’m not quite sure what it was, but a doctor visit one afternoon told me that I had a 500 mg/dL reading.

You would think that I was some overweight, sloppy guy who just was over eating.  The truth was, I weighed only 185 pounds when I was the sickest.  I wore a size 36 pants, didn’t smoke, and was a very light drinker.  So why was I so sick?  Why was I getting up to pee four times a night? Why was I so sleepy?  Diabetes was ravaging my body and I was the victim of personal negligence.

It was September 29th, 2006 and I remember the day like it was yesterday.  After visiting the doctor, he basically said that he thought I had type 1 diabetes because of my age and weight.  For me, that would mean an insulin pump and finger pricks about ten times a day.  However, the doctor wasn’t right!  I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes by an endocrinologist about a month later and put on a heavy dosage of medication and insulin.  With in about 3 months I was feeling much better, but the fact was I was still stuck with diabetes and trying to make sense of how I got it.

Going back to when I was diagnosed, I realized that there was one major area in my life that I was missing.  It was sleep.  I would often stay up until 3 or 4am to work on projects.  It was my quiet time when I could catch up!  There were no staff to bother me and no phone ringing demanding that I answer it.     It was my time alone to make progress.  The problem with my schedule was that I was killing myself and messing up my whole system with lack of sleep.  I also was eating a ton of carbs.

Sweet Tea, french fries, and all kids of food that would surely send me to the grave early.  Additionally, there was the heavy stress associated with my finance company.  If you added everything up, it was obvious that I was burning both ends of the stick and there was an explosion called diabetes. At first, it felt like a death sentence.  Family didn’t help as they were quick to point out that people die young because of diabetes.   My first daughter Libby was still in the womb and I thought I’d never live to see her graduate high school or get married.  It was pretty devastating and shocking as I thought I was above getting diabetes as it didn’t run in my family.

So what do you do when you get diagnosied with diabetes?

I started by learning as much as I could about the disease.  The second thing I did was realize that success is a journey and NOT a destination.  I realized that I would never live long and be able to experience all that life has to offer if I’m in the grave.  I cut back my hours at work and decided that I needed to also change my diet.

I’ve read about twenty books on diabetes and even a few on general fitness.  NO, I haven’t found the magic potion that will cure it.  At this point I don’t think that I will.  However, I did realize that there were some important things I could do to help me maintain my blood glucose levels.  I’m am by no means a doctor or an expert with diabetes.  What I’m going to share is how I’m overcoming diabetes while running a successful business.

1. Let Go of the Stress -  In 2007, we closed our business.  It was hard to say good bye to our staff and leave everything behind, but it was for the better.  The forefront of my mind when I did this was my health.  It really didn’t matter what we would face financially, because I would be losing so much stress associated with our finance company.  For some of you reading this, it might be time to sell or just close shop.  Losing your health because of 80 hour work weeks isn’t worth it.  You might be saying, “I can’t close up my business, I lose everything!”

Indeed you might, my wife and I lose our house and even faced bankruptcy because of closing our office.  Fast forward five years and I make double what I made owning that company and work about 1/2 the time.  It was hard, but worth it.  You’ve got to let go of the stress.  Do what you have to do!  Hire an assistant!  Down size!  Up Size!  Whatever it takes so you can work less.

2. Find a Diet You can Live With – I’ve tried everything.  All Meat!  All Salads!  I’ve tried diet shakes, nutrition bars, and even avoiding certain types of grains and breads.  What I found is that all of those diets were to hard to stick to for a long period of time.  My family is now what you would call a “part time vegan family.”  Yes, I do eat meat, but not all the time.  For breakfast, oat meal or an all natural grain cereal.  For lunch, most of the time I eat a veggie sandwich on wheat bread.  For dinner, we have a salad and a small side of carbs such as pasta or rice.  It is easy and it keeps me feeling well most of the time.

Question: Do you think Diabetes is a curse or a blessing in my situation?  What about yours?  Can you turn things around?

Starting a business takes courage!  No, not just courage, shear guts and determination!  It isn’t for the weak, wimpy, or the guy that is going to “try”.  If you’re not “all in”, then you’re not in at all!  Since 1999, I’ve started about a dozen different business ventures.  From EBay selling to real estate, it seems I’ve always been on the lookout for a great business to start!  Some have been great successes while others have left me limping home with my tail between my legs.

No matter how much advice I give you or how many books you’ll read, you will face adversity, pain and trials.  You’ll shed blood, sweat, and tears.  You’ll feel betrayed, beat up, and will often wonder why you can’t just be happy with a regular job like most people!

Hold On!  Starting and Owning a Business is Wonderful!

The point I want to share with you is that though it isn’t easy, it is worth it!  Is anything in life easy that is worth something?  Of course not!  I was twenty five when I started my first real brick and mortar business with employees.  I was indeed a dumb kid!  I read book after book, but it didn’t change how green I was.  Today, I want to share with you three key areas that you need to focus on if indeed you will survive and thrive as you start your successful small business.

1. Systems & Clarity for your New Business

You’ll be tempted to say, “Systems?  Who needs systems?  I’m just a one man shop.”

While you might be a small company right now, eventually, if you’re good at what you do, you’ll grow.  It is important that you have your systems in place and clarity on how you’ll run your business.  A system is simply how you’ll run your business when you get started.  Even when I started my consulting company and it was just my here, I had to put together systems before I started.  For example, I had to know how I’d bill my clients, how I’d update them on the work, how I’d receive payments, what phone system I’d use, what software, ETC.

I sat down one day and laid out everything I would use and figured out the cost, learning curve, and made sure that each system would work.  I then began to write processes for how I would do things.

- I will update my clients on Fridays.
- I will send automated reports on Tuesdays.
- I will reply to emails at 11:00 am and 4:00 pm.
Yes, these are pretty simply systems, but when I started it was just me.  Now our organization has grown drastically with live seminars and thousands of people in our database.  We have employees and intricate systems in place.  If I didn’t have systems in place today, things would slip through the crack.  Customers wouldn’t be happy and we’d have a big let down in our business.

Let me give you an example…

Five years from now, you walk into your office about ten minutes to nine in the morning.  You have a meeting in ten minutes, but you’re not stressed as all you have to do is print out a few documents.  Your office girl is running late, so she hasn’t made coffee yet, and the office has a chill in the air.  You quickly go to make coffee and turn on the air, but you realize that there is only decaf coffee left and there are not any clean cups.  You start washing a cup while the decaf brews and you hope your client won’t know the difference.  You turn on the heat and open the rest of the office up!  No big deal you say to yourself and make a mental note to remind your staff to pick up more coffee.

Finally, with two minutes to spare, you sit at your computer and get ready to print off the documents that need to be signed and the green light on your printer turns red!  You’re out of toner.  ”Crap!” you say with your fist clinched.  You go to the office storage room, which is a disaster and can’t find anything.  There is no extra toner!

This is the average small business.  How could this be fixed?  Well, if there was a job description for your employee with a list of things she needs to check on every week.

__- Coffee
__- Toner
__- Paper

Then she could order whatever she needs to!  You come into your office and there is always coffee, toner, & Paper!

The system is the checklist that you give your office staff to review weekly.  It is pretty easy to keep that system accountable.  If there is no coffee, she isn’t doing her job!  Systems are not just checklists, but it is the written process for how you will run your new small business.

In my years in business, I realize that systems in general are the most important thing for starting a new business because it builds consistency for your customers.  It is basically, how you do things, how it is managed, and how it is kept accountable.  No, it isn’t fun!  It is boring, but every month, you have to review your systems.

Michael Gerber wrote a book called “The Emyth Revisited” and it is one of the most life changing books for small business owners.  I’ll go so far as to say that if you don’t understand the systems of the Emyth, then you’re probably going to be doomed to fail!  Stop what you’re doing and go and buy this book!  Read it and read it again!

Big companies don’t get big by chance!  They get big because of clarity of operations!  If you don’t have clarity you have chaos!

2. Marketing your New Small Business

As a marketing consultant, every day I see so many small businesses trying to build a brand!  They say the secret is to “get your name out there.”  WRONG!  You don’t need to get your name out there, you need accountable marketing that generates revenues in your bank account.  If branding works so well, why the heck did General Motors spend a billion dollars in marketing and still need a government bail out?  You’re a small company!  You don’t need to spend money to get your name out there, you need to spend money on what brings in revenues.

I’ll share with you our Four Step Marketing process that we use to help businesses grow.  To be straight forward, this method works.  Companies who use it have grown by 400% in as little as seven months.

1. Develop a Strong Unique Selling Point – Learn to compete not based upon price, but on the other factors that the consumer cares about.  It isn’t always about price, but it is about trust that you are the right person for the job.  If you innovate your company so that you are the best and head and shoulders above your competition, then you will win the market share.  You need to be able to say exactly what the customer wants to hear.  Is it free shipping?  Overnight service?  Lifetime Warranty?  It could be anything, but the only way to know for sure is to do research and figure out what customers hate and what they want.  Once you have your USP (Unique Selling Point) you’ll say that in 100% of your marketing.

2. Build a Database with Platforms & Offers – The goal for every business should have a detailed list of prospects that could buy and might buy down the road.  To explain this briefly, your platforms are every place you come into contact with prospects.  If they call you, a phone would be the platform.  If they visit you online, then the website is the platform.  A platform is simply anywhere a customer comes into contact with you in which a database exchange could happen.   The offer is the other part of this step.  You need to find something that you could give away to generate the potential customer to raise their hands and say, “Yes, I’d like to get that to find out more information.”

It could be a free DVD, CD, whitepaper, MP3 audio, brochure, coupon codes or anything that has perceived value.  The goal here is that we want to start generating leads everywhere.  If they call in, we offer them the free report.  If they come to our showroom, we offer them a free Starbucks gift card for filling out a survey of why they didn’t buy.  If they visit us online, we give them an opportunity to download something that will help them with their buying decision.

If a company uses offers on their platforms, they will see their list of potential customers grow very quickly.  A key point to note is that when we give away our free report, we’ll be sharing with them some amazing information (our USP) about why they should buy from us.  We’ll also have that prospect in our database so that we can follow-up with them again and again in step 4.

3. Use the Marketing Arsenal – The marketing arsenal is all the marketing weapons we can use to drive eyes and ears to our platforms (places we come into contact with customers).  The list is huge, but I’ll share a few with you here.

Google Adwords – Drives traffic to our website platform where they can take us up on an offer.
TV Commercial – Drives calls to our phone platform where they can buy or take us up on an offer.
SEO – helps your website rank high so people can land there and take you up on  free offer.
Direct Mail – Invites people to call or visit the showroom to buy or take us up on an offer.

The secret with the marketing arsenal is that it must be used to push people to the platform.  No branding!  We want action!  We want them to see what we offer and we want them to either buy or give up their information showing us that they are a potential buyer.  For my clients, we measure all of this and what is amazing is that we see our clients’ databases growing because of the accountable marketing.  We cut out dead forms of marketing that don’t generate sales by tracking everything.

The result is simply a lower cost of marketing and a higher return on investment.

4. Use Marketing Automation – This is where the magic comes in.  If you first plan a powerful Unique Selling Point then you are a very good company on the inside.  If you then start generating leads by giving away stuff, you’ll build a very large database.  If you use the marketing arsenal to drive people to your offer, your database will grow very quickly.  The last step is marketing automation, which will then follow up with all of your prospects automatically.  Wouldn’t it be cool if you had software that could send emails, make phone calls, send direct mail letters, and touch base with people as they go through the buying process?

Technology today exists for the small business to have these types of resources.  It is affordable and by automating your follow-up, you’ll see dramatic growth in your sales.  Not only have I seen it for my clients, I’ve seen it in my business as well.  We took a brand new start up to a million dollar company in less than a year by simply applying these four steps.

What is really amazing about the marketing automation is that every time you communicate a follow-up message, you will be saying your Unique Selling Point.  When the time is right for people to buy, they will go with your company!

There is a lot more I could say about marketing as after all, I’m a marketing consultant, but if you’d like to learn more about the entire process, you can visit www.LawMarketingSystems.com to learn more about our four step marketing process.

3. Innovation - Last but not least!

The last key to starting and running a successful small business is innovation!  Innovation is one of those words you hear so often from speakers, but does anyone really know what it means?

As a business owner, we’re talking about making things better and better for your customers!  We’re talking about blowing them away with faster customer service!  We’re talking about RAVING FANS of your business.

Ken Blanchard wrote it so well in the book entitled “Raving Fans” and I would highly, highly suggest that you read this book if you’re in business.  You might be thinking, “It’s just me Matt, why do I need to innovate?”

You need to innovate because if you don’t, your competition will!

The world is changing at breakneck speed.  If you don’t adapt, you’ll be run down by your competitors.

Take this for an example…

15 Years Ago – Did it matter if you had a website?  Probably not!  Not many people did!  Today, if you don’t have a website, you’re in the stone age!

10 Years Ago – Did it matter if your sales guys had cell phones?  Probably not!  You gave them those large beepers and your customers would just page them!

5 Years Ago – Did it matter if you used social media?  MySpace is for kids right?  Now, people are flocking to social media and using it daily.  If you’re not using it now, you’re losing the battle!

I could go on about email, voicemail, web 2.0 properties, outsourcing and so much more… The point is, are you changing with the times?

It sounds like you have a lot to do right?  Not really!  You see, when I started in business, I had to focus on so many things I felt overwhelmed.  I just didn’t know where to focus.   There are just 3 major areas that need your attention.

1. Systems and Processes
2. Marketing
3. Innovation

No doubt someone out there is saying, “But Matt, what about my product.  Don’t I need to focus on my product?”

Yes, you do!  But, you could have the best product and still lose in business!  The key is to focus on progress, not perfection.  If you wait to long to launch your business, you’ll get beat out.  A fast nickle is better than a slow dime any day.  The truth is, if your business model stinks, you won’t make it anyway.  It is better to know that before you spend several hundred thousand dollars building infrastructure only to see that the model isn’t profitable.

If you’re making money and it is profitable, then continue to invest into your systems and into innovation.  This will make your company a “rock star” compared to your competitors.  As you market your business using the four steps, you’ll see a huge growth in revenues and can continue to build your business.

Question:  What mistakes have you made when starting a business that can help others?

Quote of the day: Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~ Albert Einstein

If you’re reading this, then you probably already know a little bit about SEO and want to use it in your small business.  Today, I’m not going to get technical, but what I will do is share with you the master plan which consists of 5 unique components.

SEO for Small Business Tip 1

On-site Optimization - With out getting to techie, this is basically changing the code, content, keyword density, and linking structure of your website so that Google likes it.  It also requires fixing broken links and making sure the meta data is clean across your website.  A good SEO person will also look for duplicate content on your website and suggest that it be removed.  In a nutshell, the first part of a good SEO strategy for small business is to get your website fixed so that Google likes it.   You might be thinking, “DUH Matt, I’ve already done that!”

Good, because that is just the basic step!  The following steps is where you’ll really see some crazy growth!

SEO for Small Business Tip 2

Microsite Marketing – A few years ago I started doing some work for a small business who generated 100% of his sales through the use of SEO.  He was pulling about 30K visitors per month through his main site.  As we began discussing what his goals were, he shared with me how he had another 30 websites for different niches but selling the same products.  I asked him the total number of visits he received from all his sites put together and he answered, about 80K.  WOW!  My jaw hit the floor!  Over the course of about 3 years of working on his projects it hit me!  Why in the world would a company just want one website when they can have many?!  There are some important pointers though if you’re going to do this!  If it is done incorrectly, it simply won’t work and will hurt your main website.

a. Build on a Template – For our clients we use WordPress.  We are focusing on the SEO for that business when the template is being built.  We are then able to take this template, make a few minor changes and use it for all the client’s new websites that will be built out.

b. Use an SEO Friendly Domain Name – We have another small business client now who is a builder to the local community.  He said, “Matt, I really want to get more business from over in Lake Mary and Winter Park”.   Note that these cities are just a few miles away from his office, but he doesn’t show up anywhere in the searches.  We fixed that in just a couple of months, by building out some sites for him with the keywords in the domain.  Now, when people search in those communities, he comes up and generates about 300 extra visitors per month and has generated many sales and leads!  While I can’t share these websites with everyone here online, I’ll give you some examples of SEO friendly domains for your small business below!

Keyword – Winter Park Florida Builder
Keyword – Lake Mary Florida Builder

Domains – www.lakemarkybuilder.com or www.winterparkbuilder.com

Remember, these are not the corporate site!  They are microsites created with SEO in mind to generate traffic through the use of SEO.  They could be on a template that is built once and used for many websites.

c. Use Unique Content - There is no doubt someone reading this and saying, “Google won’t let you have more than one website!”  NOT TRUE!  I personally, have about 8 websites and additionally, many of my students who learn about marketing from me have many sites.  Besides that I have dozens of clients who have used the same method to generate millions of dollars in revenues.  The truth is, Google doesn’t care about how many sites, they care about the quality of the site.  So when you’re building many sites, you have to have unique content on each and every site!

Let’s be honest here…  The problem is that most small businesses just can’t get it done.  They are too busy running their businesses.  Through the years, we’ve had many clients come to us and ask us to build a template and then put together a new site for them every month or every other month.  They’ve gone from 5K visitors per month to 10K visits in a short period of time.  I’m not talking about big time companies here, I’m talking about small businesses who are using SEO to own their competitors.

SEO for Small Business Tip 3

Websites that Convert Leads -  If a small business fixes their on-site SEO and works on building microsites, they they are well on their way.  But putting up a bunch of junkie sites with cheap articles isn’t really the way you’ll generate a lot of business.  The sites have to look good, have great unique content, and compel the visitor to take action.

Once you have a great template, good domain names, and excellent content, you need to measure the results of your new websites.  This is really key in our business to show our client that the sites are working!

a. Google Analytics – with Google analytics, we can quickly see how much traffic is coming to these microsites and what the trends are.   Our clients are blown away when the receive a report and see their traffic is up 30% or 40% from when they started!

b. Unique Phone Numbers – We also use unique phone numbers on the microsites.  Of course, we just forward them on to the company’s main phone number, but we use these numbers so we can track how many calls the websites generate.  This also allows us to show the client that, yes, it is working.

One of the key components to having microsites work is making sure they generate leads.  We strongly encourage all of our clients to use some sort of offer on every page of their new microsites.  In most cases it is a small opt-in form with a free whitepaper or ebook.  We do this because often in microsite marketing, a prospect might not land on the home page of a website and we want to do everything we can to generate a lead for our client.

SEO for Small Business Tip 4

Continue to build content – This can actually be done with a single website, but we’ve found it works great with multiple websites.  For many of our clients, we log in and dump new rich SEO friendly content into their websites every month.  So, while your microsite might start out with only 5 pages, but the end of the year it could easily be up to several hundred pages.

Content is KING when it comes to Google and it must be totally unique!  We’re fortunate enough to have some really great writers on staff and they keep the content coming.  Many of our clients have doubled their traffic by simply doubling their content.  It really doesn’t matter what business or industry that you’re in.  The important thing is that you  continue to add content to your site weekly.

SEO for Small Business Tip 5

Slow Link Building Campaign – I hesitate to put this in this post!  SEO in the past few years has become a nightmare with Google cracking the whip when it comes to building one way links back to your website.  However, what I’ll share with you might really help.  Google measures the value of a website based on what is called a quality score.  If your website code is clean, your content is clean, and you have inbound links pointing to your site, then your pages will rank high in the search engines.

Slow, careful link building over the course of several months and years is really a smart way to gain more traffic as well.  I’ll warn you, be careful when you hire an SEO company to build links.  There are more bad ones than good ones in the SEO game.

It really doesn’t matter what kind of business you have.  If you apply these 5 strategies to your SEO marketing plan for your small business you’ll see growth.  Guaranteed!  But before you go and register 5 domain names and set up a hosting account, I’d encourage you to give it some thought.  What are key niches or geographic cities which you could target?  Remember, many times you can target more than one city or keyword with the same domain.  Is this something you’re going to do yourself or are you going to have someone do it for you?  Many times having it done the right, the first time, will save you a lot in the long run.

I don’t normally try to solicit business on my personal blog, but these projects are really right up our alley.  Often times our calendar for marketing is booked out at least 2-3 months, but if you’re interested in having us look at your project for you for your business, we’ll be happy to at least give you a free consultation.

If you’d like to schedule a free 30 minute consultation to discuss your SEO plan for your small business, you can do so by clicking here - https://my.timedriver.com/1VYTR.  This link will allow you to schedule on my online calendar.  Keep in mind that we may or may not be able to take on your project based upon our availability.  Either way, we’ll get you pointed in the right direction!

Question: Have you fallen for the lie that Google will only allow you to have one website?  If you did, share with us your story!  What are your plans to change this?

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Her resume was perfect and she told me that she had no problem with the software which she listed on her resume.  I felt like I had hit the jackpot when I hired her and waited with anticipation for the day I could hand over a bunch of tasks to her.  Freedom was coming to my schedule and I was excited!  Truth be told, I had no idea all the tasks that I would give her, I just knew that I would dump as much as I could on her so I could have some time off.  It didn’t take me long to realize what a BIG mistake I’d made.

When she started, I was so busy that I really couldn’t give her proper training.  So, I found some menial tasks for her to do.  Licking stamps, cleaning the office, and making a few calls.  She seemed like she would work out fine when I gave her these easy stuff, but I realized she had a lot of time to just sit there and be bored.  I decided that I would clear my schedule so I could spend some time training her on the items that I wanted her to do…keep in mind that by this time she had been working for us for a month.

As we sat in my office, I began showing her a few things in Microsoft Excel and then in Microsoft Word.  We’re not talking advanced stuff here… basically adding people to file and creating letters, sending emails, ETC.  I sent her on her way and fully expected that I’d see some progress and my stress level would go down because she’d be handling some of those daily tasks.  When I checked back in a week later, I found disaster.  Nothing was completed correctly and worse than that, I would need to go back and fix everything.  I came to quickly realize that PATTY didn’t know much about computers or how to use the Microsoft programs listed on her resume.  I actually found out that her entire resume was a lie and she didn’t know how to do anything on that list.

When I asked about her skill set, I heard the sad story of how she had been training to learn the software, but she didn’t have it figured out just yet.  ”Matt, I really need this job”.  She cried about how her husband had left her and how she needed to provide for her children.  She poured it on about what a great boss I was and how she loved working in our little office.  As a young 26 year old entrepreneur, I craved  the self esteem and encouragement that she had given me and I told her that we’d work with her to help her.  After all, she could be my mother, and how could I just push this lady on the street.  She told me she would study and learn the software and how to use a computer.

The story doesn’t get any better, as over the course of the next three months she actually did worse.  Everything I gave her to do or learn, I had to go and fix myself.  I was now a full time teacher for her and also trying to keep up with my work.  My other staff were complaining too because Ms. Patty couldn’t do anything right for them either.  Here was Patty, who claimed to be an office professional and she didn’t know how to fax, copy, answer phones, or use the computer.  Even customer’s complained about her and how she answered the phone and sent them to the wrong extension.  By now, I had four months invested in her and things were worse than ever.  I felt like the other staffers in my office were looking at me every time she screwed up (daily) and saying to me with their eyes, “Matt, just fire her, she’s dumb as a door nob”.  I lost credibility every day I kept her and if I couldn’t fire her, obviously I’d never fire one of them, because they were Albert Einstein’s next to Ms. Patty.

Indeed, while a pretty lady with a polite demeanor, she had no training on computers, typing, phone answering, software or customer service.  She was in her mid fifties and it was basically like I had hired a five year old to start working for me.  But, how could I do this to her??!  She needed the job and hadn’t “GOD” brought her to me?  I ended up letting her stay three more painful and tormenting months and tried to get her to do other things such making sales calls and trying to drum up new business for us.  That didn’t go so good either!  She ended up making us just look worse and was slow at molasses just making the sales calls.

Eventually, I fired her.  Enough was enough and I manned up and did it.  To my surprise, she was upset and felt it was undeserving.  After all I’ve done for you Ms. Patty?  Undeserving?  Lady, I’ve paid you for seven months and you’ve made my life hell!  You lied on your resume!  You lied to my face!  Get the !@#$ out of my office and never come back. – NO, I didn’t say those words.  I just thought them every day while she was there.

Yes, I was a softy.  I had never fired anyone before let alone a single mother with children still at home.  Many new young entrepreneurs and pastors are in the same boat.  They have people on their team who are incompetent and they simply can’t fire them.  Today I want to give you a few pointers for dealing with incompetent people and hopefully save you the pain I faced back then.

1. Never Hire Them – OK, so that isn’t really a tip on firing them… but the key is to fire them before you hire them.  As we learned from our mistakes, eventually we made every applicant take a few simple tests.  It was mostly the basic stuff like typing and basic computer stuff.  It bared the nakedness of our potential hires and we fired a lot of the front runners with pretty resume’s because they couldn’t pass the simple test and follow instructions.

2. Probation Period and Job Description - Another preventative measure is to give them a probation period and a job description.  We gave each new hire, about 90 days where they would have to learn the job.  They signed their job description and we gave them a detailed list of all the tasks that need to be completed on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.  Because of the new clarity on the job description and probation, it allowed me to be unattached emotionally to the staff members.  I knew if we hired smart by testing them and also gave them a detailed instructions about their job duties, if they didn’t measure up, they would know it and it would be easier to fire them.

The problem I made with Patty was that I didn’t test her, I didn’t give her instructions, and I didn’t give her a deadline to prove herself.  There were no policies in place!  While I wanted to let her go, I felt like I was just being mean or expecting to much.  The truth was, she had no idea if she was doing good or messing things up because there was no accountability.  She was incompetent, a liar, and not the sharpest tool in the shed, but as a person she deserved to know how she was measuring up to my expectations.  If I had given her a job description and also a detailed list of things to do, then she would have know it ahead of time.  Patty wasn’t the problem, it was the dumb 26 year old boss who didn’t know how to deal with employees and expectations.

If you’re in the boat where you have people on your team and they have to be fired, the best thing to do is to begin to write job descriptions.  Give it to them and tell them this is what the person doing this job needs to be capable of.  If they are in sales, are their certain numbers they have to hit?  If it is an office person, is there certain software they need to learn?  When people’s jobs are on the line, you’ll be surprised at what they can do!  You simply need to make your expectations clear and known to them.

If they can’t make the cut for that job, is there anything else they can do?  If yes, then move them to that spot.  If nothing else is open, then you’ve got to fire them.  However, if you’ve been clear about your expectations, then chances are good that they know they are on thin ice.  Don’t be a jerk like me!  I fired poor Ms. Patty and she had no clue it was coming that day.  Be a man, and go to them and tell them if they don’t meet the goals on a certain date, then they are going to be terminated!  That is fair!  That is just!  You’ve given them a clear goal and a clear job description of what needs to happen by a certain date.

You’ll find most of the time that they will just quit.  In the years I’ve been an entrepreneur, people like to know what is expected.  They like to know if they are doing good and if they are measuring up.  It is our duty as leaders, pastors, and entrepreneurs to treat people fairly, while building a solid business.

Quote:  “If you don’t invest the time to do it correctly today, you will spend more time and money in repairing mistakes tomorrow.” — Don Paullin

Question:  What tips can you give to other readers who have to fire someone?  Post them below!

Will Dwight Howard stay?  Will he go to LA?  Will he go to NJ?

Here we have this giant of a man in Dwight Howard and millions of Floridians begging him to stay in Orlando.  After all, this is Dwight Howard, not Lebron James right?  Right?  Obviously, Dwight was happy here!  After all, who doesn’t like the weather in Florida?

Then it hit us like a sucker punch in the gut.  Statements have come out that Dwight Howard’s not happy because he isn’t involved in the decision making process.  He’s  upset because he wants a ring and this small dinky town of Orlando simply can’t deliver it.

We’ll get back to that story in a minute, but as a business owner I have to take sides with Otis Smith on this one.   In 2004, my business was primarily run by one of our founding employees, name Sue.  She knew the ins and outs of the business and was fantastic at her job.  Things worked out great for a while.  Sue was happy.  She was dedicated.  As time progressed and we grew, we had to add on more people to be able to win.
I can remember that often times I’d allow her to help with the interviewing process.  She was smiles and giggles and gave her approval.  After the on-boarding process began, I would then give some work to our new employees.  Often time it was some of loyal Sue’s tasks.  I didn’t realize it at first, but Sue began to get disgruntled about wanting more and more say in what she thought should happen.  We continued to grow and make changes and bring in more staff.  When I thought everything was fine, Sue began to get a really negative attitude about how I was running the company.  I noticed that she would sit stone cold at our meetings and lost her warm heart that she once had.  The issue was that I was making changes and trying to find a way for us to win in business.

Nothing I was doing was personal.  I was trying to find a way for us to win.  She was an employee and not the owner of the business.  As things progressed, I finally caught her in some serious back biting and slander and I confronted her.  She would either need to apologize and straighten up or leave.  She never faced me and decided to quit on the spot before I came into work that day.

Over the next few years, we built a “team” of people that cared more about working together and who care more about each other than their position.  I never had realized it, but this woman and her demands were controlling my thoughts and actions for years.  What will Sue think?  Will Sue be happy?  Nobody can replace Sue!  That is where I was wrong.  With in two weeks of Sue leaving the organization, we had a system where a couple of staff members worked as a team and we were even stronger than ever.

Now I realize that Dwight Howard is the defensive player of the year.  I realize that he is the man of steel!  I realize that he won the slam dunk contest and he swears that he loves Orlando.  However, I believe there comes a point in time where someone’s either on your team or they are not.  I’m talking emotionally and mentally.  When they second guess the leadership and complain about decisions it shows that they care more about themselves than the other guys on the team.

If Dwight Howard were a team guy, he would know that Otis Smith, SVG, and the rest of the guys on the team want one thing.  They want to win just as bad as he does.  Winning doesn’t take 1 LARGER THAN LIFE STAR.  It takes a team of dedicated, passionate, all joking aside, professionals.  Just ask the Dallas Mavericks who beat a team with three stars.  If Dwight Howard can’t focus on anything but himself and is hurting the team because they don’t know if he’s coming or going, it will probably be best to let him go sooner than later.

In business sometimes change has to happen.  The best thing to do is tackle it head on and keep everything in the open.  If someone doesn’t want to be on your team, then it might be time to let them go.  Life is to short to let your business or organization be wagged by the tail.  The team can and will survive and will eventually be better with a united team.

Quote:

The grass is greener on the other side, but it still needs mowing.

Question:

Is having “superstar” players on a team more important that the unity of the team?  Can you have both?  Does the Magic have unity with Dwight Howard or a “Big Baby” Howard.

No, this isn’t about politics, but rather about marketing and why Obama’s marketing should be feared in 2012!  Obama’s marketing is like a laser targeted bullet pointing directly to the swing voters or the independents.  You know yourself that if you’re a liberal, you will almost always vote LEFT.  Those of you that are GOP members will vote right.  We who have our convictions about politics are like the rock of Gibraltar and our theme song is “We will not be moved”.  No amount of marketing, email, or watching documentaries about how good the president is or isn’t, would change our minds.  We stand firm and our minds won’t change.  It is principle.  However, Obama’s Marketing really isn’t about guys like me, or even people like you if you love the President.  It is about those who are not sure.  Let’s start off today by asking you a question.  Play along with me for a minute if you will.

Question:  Is president Obama the most fit person in the USA to run the Country?

Answer:  No! Not by a long shot!

No, this isn’t a liberal bash I’m having.  You see, there is this guy named Jim who is also a democrat.  He’s a graduate from Yale with a 4.0 GPA. He owns a successful multi-billion dollar business.  He has an IQ of 140 and is a big time history buff.  He loves finances and politics.  He’s studied culture, language, and lives and breaths the Wall Street Journal.  He’s a master debater and negotiator.  He is a machine when it comes to business and leadership and is the epitome of a driven successful business person.  He is the brightest, sharpest, nicest guy you’ll ever meet, but the problem is, he doesn’t want to be president.

Yes, of the millions of Americans in this country, there is certainly at least “one person” out there who is a better speaker, has a higher IQ, and understands leadership, politics, and financial endeavors better than President Obama.  This is no slight to President Obama.  I believe there were probably smarter and brighter people that could do a better job running a country than just about every president who’s been elected.  Was there someone smarter and better than Regan?  Bush? Carter? Abe Lincoln?  We will never know, as they were content to live their own lives and not go into politics.  The point I’m making is that just because they are presidents, it doesn’t make them perfect.  Obviously we’ve seen our fair share of problems in the White House.

You see, elections are not won or lost by capacity, IQ, or skills.  It is never a question about who is better or smarter, because we know that there is someone out there who could probably do a better job anyway.  Elections are won by the influence of media and marketing.  IT IS NEVER WHO IS BETTER, but it is who the voters THINKS is better.  That is why marketing plays such a huge effect on the outcome of an election.  This is not only true in politics but also in business.

In business, this couldn’t be more true.  You could take two restaurants and put them two blocks apart.  One of them could have better food, better service, and cleaner bathrooms.  This same restaurant could fail miserably while the other, poorer restaurant thrives?  Why is that?  It is because of marketing.  If the restaurant owner of the sub-par restaurant is a passionate marketer, he can win in business even though his product might not be as good.  I’m sure you’ve seen this in life.   It really isn’t about who is the best, but who people believe is the best.

In 2008, voters came out and declared that they thought President Obama was the best.  Regardless of who could do a better job,  they believed it and voted accordingly.  You probably already know which side you’ll vote for in 2012.  However, what about all those new voters coming who were 15 in 2008?  What about those who are undecided?  What about those who are fed up with the growing national debt but traditionally vote democratic?   How do you swing those votes in when people just don’t know who they are going to vote for.

President Obama’s Marketing budget in 2008 was huge.  New records were set and most believe we haven’t seen anything yet as 2012 I predict to be a storm of marketing.  You probably remember watching TV back in 2008 and seeing a two and sometimes three Obama TV commercials compared to John McCain’s one.  Obama had raised the capital to influence the masses watching TV.  When you were online you saw Obama banner ads.  When you were on your IPhone, he advertised there.  There has been nothing like it in our history where a president raised enough money to be simply everywhere at once.

TV Commercial Advertising

When people are searching for answers, and you provide them with information over and over again, chances are good they will eventually believe whatever you tell them.  With the kind of money the Obama Campaign spent on TV marketing, the outcome of the election really shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone.  Yes, I voted for McCain, and honestly I am surprised he came as close as he did to Obama.   Here’s a couple of ads that played during the 2008 campaign. Notice the last TV ad which shows John McCain giving hugs to President Bush…

Online Advertising with Lead Generation

Another interesting thing was that President Obama uses a direct response form of marketing.  It was all about lead generation.  You could find out more about Obama without even visiting his web site with this handy dandy banner ad.  If you look at all of Obama’s Marketing, you’ll quickly see that they want action!  Don’t just read, but engage!  If you look at his websites, you’ll see a simply “offer” on every page.  Are you In?  Obama’s marketing campaign doesn’t give a whole lot of options to visitors.  Basically, just your email and zip code!  When you add the Obama FaceBook “Likers” and the Twitter Followers, he has built a list of people which he can influence over and over again through his marketing.

This is where I think the marketing is genius.  First of all, once they are in President Obama’s database, he can use follow-up marketing forever.  He can Tweet, Post Messages, Send  Mobile Phone Messages.  He can email and request funds over and over again.  Back in 2007/2008, Obama’s website was much more simple than the rest of the candidates  His goal was simple – OPT in and Donate!  If you opt-in to President Obama’s marketing, you get to move on to the next page. and that is where they hit you up for the funds!

In my business, we call this the “Platform and Offer Stage”.  It means basically, wherever you come into contact with a prospect, that is your platform.  On every platform, you should have something where they can opt in to the marketing.  Platforms and Offers work best when there is really something good that the person opting in receives.  The area that President Obama is missing, is that he isn’t offering anything.

He’s basically saying, “Are you in?”.  Think about what would happen if he asked for an email with the offer to send them a special audio MP3?  Think about what could happen if he asked for their full mailing address and sent them over something tangible like a DVD?

The point I’m making here is that President Obama’s marketing is genius in the fact that he is building  a database.  Every professional level marketer knows that the most valuable thing you own is your list.  If you control the database, you get a chance to continue to influence over and over!  If you don’t have the contact details, you can’t send your “Unique Selling Point” over and over again.

Obama’s Next Generation Marketing 

President Obama doesn’t stop with just the online media, he continues by targeting the under 25 crowd with the use of mobile SMS marketing and even a website that fits the mobile phone perfectly.  You can pretty much guarantee that there will be a free official App for Apple and Google phones in 2012.  The goal of the app will be pretty simply.  Get on our database and give!

When you look at all the spectrum of  marketing that President Obama has used in 2008 and will be prepared to do in 2012, it is no wonder that he raised double the amount of money as John McCain.   I’m pretty convinced that unemployment could be over 10% and gas prices close to $4.00 per gallon in 2012 and President Obama has a very good chance to win the 2012 election.  Remember, I not going to vote for him!  I’m stating the facts about a marketing campaign that is set to create a marketing budget where conservatives like myself will have to simply turn off the TV to stop seeing Barack Obama’s face.  Obama and his team know all to well that if they build the database, then can solicite more funds, volunteers, and people to aid in his re-election campaign.  It all starts with the database.

Leveraging the Market with the Database

What a lot of people don’t realize is that once someone is on the database, you can systematically follow-up with marketing automation.  For example, in one of my businesses, we offer some training to business owners.  When they opt-in for the free information, they are automatically assigned a follow-up sequence.  The follow-up sequence sends them SMS messages, Emails, Direct Mail, DVD’s, and all sorts of information in a sequence that builds predictable results.  After opting into President Obama’s marketing today and stating “I’m in”,  I haven’t received a single follow-up email.  The technology exists where he could be emailing me a personal message and video every day and sharing more about his vision for America.

He could then introduce me to his Tweeter feed, his Facebook page, and even a podcast.  All of this is possible because he controls the database. With the database of potential voters, he can also build an army of followers and volunteers.  As the funds poor in from his constant solicitations, Obama then took over the online airwaves.  You remember all to well the onslaught of TV commercials that took over our TV sets that made watching live TV sickening.  Where’s the fast forward button when you need it?  All of the ads point back to the website where more and more people joined the database and became donors.

This marketing by President Obama is the same exact marketing which has brought myself and my marketing clients great success in the past.  It is really a pretty simply marketing method when you think about it.

1. Generate Leads for future follow-up.
2. Close leads and generate revenues.
3. Use revenues to grow database even larger.
4. Follow-up with everyone with a clear Unique Selling Point of why they should buy from you or in this case vote for you!

I am one of those people that believe that politics doesn’t rule the world.  Politicians and law makers are weak and pale in comparison to the influence of the media.  Marketing when done correctly demands action!  Obama’s marketing demanded people give up their email!  He used that database to build a huge army of supporters, volunteers, and win the swing vote.  Not to mention, he built a huge pile of cash to fund the TV onslaught that hung John McCain.

Is it fair? Is it right?  In the world of influence, business, and politics, nothing is fair for the ignorant.   The truth is that every person can market as they see fit.  What I will tell you is that Obama’s marketing is spot on, and it will take a serious candidate, with a serious marketing strategy to beat him.

Again, I realize that you will vote as I do, based upon principle and values, either for or against President Obama.  Obama and his campaign don’t care about convincing, influencing, or buying your vote, they care about the undecided vote.

In the coming months we’ll see Obama’s marketing come to life. We will also see how well his opponent uses marketing to build influence and gain air time.
Closing Quote:
I think he knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they’ll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they’ll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the senate, it’s the sand of the coliseum. He’ll bring them death – and they will love him for it.  ~ From the Movie Gladiator

Closing Questions:

Should politicians have a limit to the amount of money they can spend on marketing?  Let the discussion begin!