Your Biggest Asset & Biggest Liability In Business
I will never forget the day my entire team walked and took 85% of my clients with them. It was 3 days before Thanksgiving in 2016.
I had built a successful million dollar per year business- and I almost lost everything I had built in a matter of moments.
There was nothing I could do to change it, but I knew it was my fault.
Somewhere in my leadership I had dropped the ball, eroded trust, and had a company full of employees and clients who hated me more than I knew anyone could be hated.
I will never forget the day my entire team walked and took 85% of my clients with them. It was 3 days before Thanksgiving in 2016.
I had built a successful million dollar per year business- and I almost lost everything I had built in a matter of moments.
There was nothing I could do to change it, but I knew it was my fault.
Somewhere in my leadership I had dropped the ball, eroded trust, and had a company full of employees and clients who hated me more than I knew anyone could be hated.
It was brutal, but I lessons I learned that day and the months and years following I will carry with me my entire life.
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Your biggest asset and biggest liability in business is the people who work for you.
A great hire will help propel your company to the heights you have imagined and beyond.
A bad hire can cost you time, energy, attention and respect of other employees.
Your largest company expense will always be your payroll and subsequent payroll taxes- it’s the first place businesses owners cut from when it’s time to make make budget cuts- for better or worse it is what it is.
You as the business owner and leader have the opportunity to turn a good hire into a great hire with your leadership, or a good hire into a bad hire.
That day I realized a few things about being the boss:
You have more power than you will ever know or want to acknowledge.
If you have never had a boss, or it has been a long time since you have worked for someone else- it’s easy to diminish the impact your words and actions have on the people who work for you.
You see the people who come to work for you, are doing so of their own volition- some people only work for a paycheck sure- but most people pick jobs that they believe they are uniquely gifted for.
People want to know that the work they do matters, that they matter, and that they are seen.
You can built people up and help them grow into the people they were always born to be, or you can tear them down into people who hate you, your company and sometimes the damage goes even deeper into the long term psychology and beliefs they have about themselves.
Simply put you are the artist- they are the clay. Mold people accordingly.
You can either speak life or speak death to the people who you spent the most time with- your employees.
Everything is and will always be your fault!
The person who works for you may make a mistake- it’s your fault for not training them or communicating expectations.
They may have done irreparable damage- it’s your fault.
When you become the boss, you have to give up the notion that you must be liked and loved, because as the boss of a growing business- EVERYTHING FALLS ON YOUR SHOULDERS.
You are the bad guy, even when you are the good guy.
After the fog lifted and I got through those first several months of hanging on for dear life for what was left of my business, I forced myself to become a better leader and a better business builder.
I have created an entire system to help entrepreneurs and small business owners to avoid the pitfalls of leadership that many, including myself succumb to, that can cost your your entire business.
Nobody is a natural born leader- but your inability to grow as a leader will keep you stuck in the launch stage forever- you doing most of the doing that needs done in your business.
Your inability to grow your company beyond your wildest dreams is a direct relation to your ability to lead, train and grow your team, people, and profits.
If you want to grow and grow fast you can’t do it alone- business was never meant to be done alone.
If I made a free training of how to grow a better, stronger, and more profitable business by building the people you already working for you- would that be of value to you? Let me know in the comments.
The Most Important Person In Your Business
I remember the first time, someone asked me this question. “Who is the most important person in your business?”
It felt like a trick question,, kind of like “would you like a receipt today?”(I am always confused by this question.)
I remember thinking, I should know the answer to this question. Was it my sales team? What about my administrative staff? Surely it had to be my customer service team? All the moving parts and pieces of the business that make it a business. They are all important, and every position ensured the growth of the business, and a quality client experience.
None of them were the right answer though…
I was still confused, and surprised. Who could possibly be the most important person in my business? Who has that kind of power, influence, and responsibility?
The entrepreneur. The business owner. The Founder. The CEO…
YOU
The decision maker, is the most important person in any business. YOU are the most important person in your business.
I remember being stunned. I’ve never really looked at myself as anyone special, or important- just a woman on a mission to make a difference, serve my customers and community and make a living while doing it. Starting and owning a business isn’t something I ever did to fulfill some kind of need of self importance.
Can you relate?
It’s normal to think about yourself last, and and think of everyone and everything else first- I think most people and business owners tend to think of themselves last. We don’t consider our own importance.
Which can actually cost us big time.
When you the business owner and boss don’t consider your own importance, it’s easy to dismiss the power that we have with the decisions that we make. It’s easy to down play ourselves, our actions, and the impact of those actions on the people around us.
Have you ever had the thought, “Who put me in charge?”
Only to be gently reminded that you put yourself in charge. You saw an opportunity, you captured it, and now you are responsible for yourself, your business, your relationships, your employees and your customers.
With great power, comes great responsibility.
This means, you must take the best care of yourself that you possibly can, so that you can be in full control your state, your life, and at your best for the people who are relying to be “on” each and every day. Even the days you messed up, don’t feel like it, or just want to quit.
The pressure is enough to crush the average person, but you are not average so you must fight the urge to crumble or be crushed.
How you take care of yourself truly matters not just for your life and those you love but for the life of your business.
The first several hours of the day should be devoted taking care of #1. You. In case you haven’t grasped it yet, you are #1, So how you take care of yourself matters.
Movement- doesn’t matter how you move, only that you move. A body in motion stays in motion. You will find yourself with a clearer head, brighter mood, and more creativity because you moved your muscles, got some blood pumping, and some good ‘ol oxygen flowing to your brain. The boost from exercise is better than any cup of coffee could ever do.
Not that I am going to tell you stop drinking coffee- that would be silly.
Mindset- the frame of mind you are in can and will affect your daily results, interactions, and actions that you make through out the day. If you don’t protect your mind and serve it good study in the form of reading, journaling or inspirational listening- you are leaving the best of you somewhere between the bedroom and the boardroom. When your mind is straight- life seems to flow the way you want it to, and at the very least you are more capable of handling the hard stuff that will get thrown your way
Nutrition- Nobody likes to hear it, and most will choose to ignore it. How you feed and nourish your body matters. Seriously. When you eat better you feel better. When you consume high energy foods, you have high energy- think about how you feel after you have eaten, fruit, salad, protein and a little fat for lunch. You feel ready to conquer your afternoon meetings. Conversely, when you enjoy a burger, fries and a large drink for lunch you instantly feel like you need a nap.
How you eat also affects your sleep, sex drive, ability to handle stress, and how your clothes do or don’t fit. So take care to nourish your body- especially on work days.
Hydration- you need water, you are made mostly of water. Water will clear out your system, detoxify, hydrate, and help you think more clearly. Again, it’s simple but many neglect drinking water, let alone enough water, because they either forget to hydrate and are bumbling around chronically dehydrated or they opt for tastier options like energy drinks, and soda. I personally aim for 1 gallon day.
If all else fails, your potty breaks will serve as an excellent opportunity to reset your mind and energy.
Motivation- YOU HAVE TO MOTIVATE YOU. You also have to motivate everyone else. You are literally the only person in your business who cannot simply go through the motions. Keep your mind and motivation sharp by reviewing your goals and vision daily.
You may be the CEO but truth be told you are really the CMO- Chief Motivation Officer, but it’s an inside job.
It all seems simple, and it really is. As simple as it is, is also how easy it is to back burner self care and making sure that you are good, everyday. Working is so much more exciting and when you work, it feels like momentum.
Taking care of yourself doesn’t always feel like momentum in the moment, but it creates momentum everyday.
When you take time to take care of yourself, in turn you take time to better take care of business, life and all that it entails.
You aren’t just a goldfish that needs to be kept alive, you are a million dollar race horse. You are a winner.
Winners train themselves for success by ensuring they can be the very best version of themselves day in and day out.
So why, this list?
It’s simple really, because it’s all basic personal care. Just like you want to stick to the basics in business, you want to stick to the basics of caring for a human, a top performing human.
When you choose to not take care of you, you choose to lose.
Keep it simple…
If you are interested in discovering what it takes to take your business to the next level, it could be time to hire a mentor who has done what you want to do. To apply to work with me click here https://themommaboss.as.me/strategy-call