My Business On Purpose

Choose your hard

One of the conclusions I've come to over the last year of being a business coach... is that everything in the business world is hard. Nothing comes easy. Especially this year in the midst of a pandemic! It's all really, REALLY hard... managing employees, staying on top of your numbers, scheduling, estimating, selling, HR, getting sleep, getting time with your family, all of it!

So what do we do with that? How do we figure out what to make of that? Well, let's talk about it today, happy Friday Thomas Joyner here with Business on Purpose here.

I was zoning out after putting my kids to bed this week and just scrolling along on Facebook seeing what was up in the world and I saw a quote that forced me to read it a handful of times.

This is what it said.

"Relationships are hard.Divorce is hard.Choose your hard.

Being Overweight is hard.Being fit is hard.Choose your hard.

Being in debt is hard.Being financially disciplined is hard.Choose your hard.

Communication is hard.Not communicating is hard.Choose your hard.

Life will never be easy. It will always be hard.But we can choose our hard.

Pick wisely."

Man! Let's unpack so much of the truth in those words. I think so often, we feel like we're missing the boat because work is hard. Or life is hard. We think for some reason we missed a turn or made the wrong decision because it's hard.

Hear me say this... the hard doesn't make anything you've chosen wrong! In fact, oftentimes it may mean that you've made a wise choice!

Life is going to be tough, but it's the tough that you choose that defines your direction in life.

And it's no different in business. Business is tough. It will always be tough, but we have the choice to decide which hard we want. We can be fully intentional to choose a hard that is worthwhile.

Think about this.

Running a business with no direction is hard.Running a business based on vision, mission and values is hard.Choose your hard.

Trying to do it all yourself is hard.Delegating and training your team to own their role is hard.Choose your hard.

Going through your week haphazardly is hard.Facilitating meaningful team meetings is hard.Choose your hard.

Building a business absent of systems and processes is hard.Building and recording systems and processes is hard.Choose your hard.

Running a healthy business without knowing your numbers is hard.Staying on top of and tracking your numbers is hard.Choose your hard.

Work is hard.Building your business into a work worth doing is hard.Choose your hard.

You see, we don't get to decide whether or not business is hard. Don't believe me? Well, can you tell me the last time you heard someone say… "It's just kind of been a breeze recently, I don't know what everyone else complains about. This entrepreneurship stuff is cake!" No! It doesn't work that way.

But we can choose what matters. We can lean into the hard that we want to choose. And we can build a business that has real impact in everything it accomplishes, knowing full well the hard that will happen along the way.

That's life-changing stuff y'all! Spend some time today, choosing the right hard things! Don't get nervous when things get hard. You didn't mess up? Or maybe you did and you need to course correct. THAT'S OK! But don't make the mistake of stumbling along with no direction.

Choose your hard.

Hey, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and podcast if you haven't already. It's been described recently as "going to business church!"

Ha! I love it. Hope you enjoy.

Can You Answer This…" What do you want to be remembered for?"

Thoreau's quote while living near Walden Pond for two years, two months, and two days has been rightfully recalled and repeated amidst the noise of the past five to ten years, "most men lead lives of quiet desperation."

A really famous lady died last year.

A really rich guy died the year before that.

A really successful lady died the year before that.

Did any of them matter?

The more modern poet John Mayer thinks through his checklist in his song Something's Missing:

"Friends, (Check), Money, (Check), Well slept, (Check), Opposite sex (Check), Guitar (Check), Microphone (Check), Messages waiting on me when I come home (Check)...How come everything I think I need, always comes with batteries?"

We have all of the stuff and yet we still seem so unsatisfied and obsessed with more.

It is said that when the acclaimed "father of modern management" Peter Drucker was in school, he had a teacher who gave his entire class a profound question, "What do you want to be remembered for?"

The teacher at the time told the young class of teenagers that it was ok if they were not able to answer the question immediately, but that if they could not answer the question by their forties, then their life would have been wasted.

Could you answer that question? What do you want to be remembered for?

Let me ask another way, what do YOU want to be remembered for?

Not what the loudest voice in your life wants from you...but what do YOU know that you have been built to do even if those things are not the most commercially lucrative offering?

Even if you will be seen as an "outsider".

C.S. Lewis was speaking to a group at London College in the 1940s and likened the constant striving of a person towards the expectations of others to an onion peeling contest saying, "You are trying to peel an onion: if you succeed there will be nothing left."

To the outsiders, Lewis goes on to lend them courage saying, "Until you conquer the fear of being an outsider, an outsider you will remain."

The irony? Being an outsider is only true to those who are not following their God-designed calling and are trying with all their misdirected might to do what is popular... and constantly following short.

These battles are solved if we are willing to put in the hard work of answering the simple question lobbed to a group of teenage students, "what do you want to be remembered for?"

This is such an important question to have a written answer for that we will begin to have every business owner we work with answer this.

Three reasons you should answer this question in writing.

First, the answer to this question will color and guide every decision you make in the all important "back half" of your life. You do not have time to waste.

At the time of this writing, Ashley and I are 48 days away from cheering on our second child as he departs for life beyond our home. The speed of time is punishing.

Second, the answer to this question will influence the people who matter most to you.

Can you imagine if you held a piece of worn paper in your hands with the handwriting of your great-grandmother or great-grandfather describing what they hoped to be remembered for?

It would be a relic to be cherished and possibly guiding wisdom to provide clarity as you pursue what you want to be remembered for. At minimum, you would be grateful for the effort they gave.

We all wish to have some impact on the people in our lives who matter most. Being intentional about knowing what you wish to be remembered for will allow you to align decisions with that desire.

Finally, the answer to this question will lead you to a life less inhibited by widespread fear and more in line with a life of purpose.

We want to matter. We want our work to matter, our family to matter, our children to matter, and our own lives to matter.

What does it mean to matter? We know what it is not. Mattering is not general success in societal metrics (your net worth, your work title, your number of social media followers).

To matter is to live out what you were built and designed to do. That is what you need to find because that is what you will wish to be remembered for.

Lee Iacocca, the famed automotive executive who brought Chrysler back from the brink reflected, "Here I am in the twilight years of my life, still wondering what it is all about...I can tell you this, fame and fortune is for the birds."

May you not be a business owner or key leader who arrives to your twilight years still wondering what it is all about. May you instead be a thoughtful soul who had forethought and intentionality in knowing what you wish to be remembered for and then align your remaining days with that aim.

How To Hire The Right Person... Even When You Can't Find People To Hire

Never have I seen so many "Now Hiring" signs on the side of massive manufacturing plants, in the front windows of bistro shops, and permanently wrapped on the side of service trucks.

Ashley and I were on a date weekend and three places that we went to eat were all noticeably short-staffed. In one local public house, with around 30 tables and a full bar available, they had one, non-kitchen staff working... one.

We all tipped her well, helped serve ourselves, and cheered her on but the realization hit. Regardless of cause it is hard to find good people right now.

Meeting us at the front door of another restaurant we visited was a smiling hostess who, after some conversation, was laughing that the only reason she was there is because her friends work there and called her last minute to see if she could come help "seat people". She technically was not on the payroll.

The vision of our business is calling for growth and growth is calling more people but how do you hire the right people when you can't find any people to hire?

Someone told me last week, "INDEED (the online job posting site) must be making a killing right now!"

Probably so, and yet finding and hiring the right people seems to be killing us.

What do we do? Where do we find the right people? How can we get good people to buy in to our great mission and provide an exceptional service?

I've got hard news, and even harder news...and yet there is hope.

The hope is this, people are still people and people migrate towards experiences they find fulfillment in.

The good news is that the bar is low right now for business owners creating a fulfilling work experience for people to migrate towards.

The other bit of good news is that people are still people and people are social...they want to share things with others they know. But the things they share must be remarkable...worth remarking about.

How can you create a remarkable culture that a very small group of people will be attracted to and then go and invite their friends?

This is the hard news...it ain't easy, but it is doable.

Let's take this in two parts. Part one, creating a remarkable culture. Part two, finding the right people to come join your remarkable culture.

Starting with part one, how do we create a remarkable culture?

For many, it means ping pong tables, free sodas and snacks, cadillac-style benefits, and unreasonable perks that do more to promote not-working than aligning great people to do great work and lock in on a collective mission.

Culture has very little to do with ping pong tables and Reese's Pieces.

First, in order to have a great culture, you simply must have written and installed structure.

Noise and shifting foundations are the new landscape for our society. We are being encouraged to each have our own worldview. It is a curious thought that after deliberation leads to the realization that society cannot function without agreed upon collective structure.

Too much structure leads to dictatorial rule, too little and truth becomes relative, and stop lights become suggestions rather than law.

In business, structure equals written vision, mission, values, process roadmaps, job roles, org charts, hiring and onboarding processes, and consistent communication hubs like team meetings and daily huddles.

Bad cultures are built (yes, bad cultures are actually built) by business owners who say they have structure, and then disregard the structure.

Second, in order to build a great culture, you must repeat and maintain your structure over time.

Built by leading your weekly meeting...every week.

Built by working your hiring and onboarding process...every time.

Built by reviewing your mission and values...at every gathering, at every sales call, on every page of your site. Talking about them in real conversation when you rise up, walk around, and lie down. They become engrained.

Built by showing up to your huddle...every time.

Bad culture is built by saying you will do this, and not showing up.

Culture is created through the intentional planting of either the right or the wrong ingredients...it is your choice.

Culture is not reformed in a retreat, or after a two-week strategy period with a culture consultant. Culture responds directly to the effort you apply to the systems and structure you create.

Ashley and I want to be married for a long time so we put a series of structure in place that facilitates connectedness in our relationship like dating weekly and getting away quarterly. You could say, "that's not love if you have to schedule your relationship!"

I'm not sure it's love if you don't intentionally schedule it.

Part two, how do you find the people to come join your culture?

First, KNOW the job role you are asking people to commit to and KNOW the processes you are asking them to do.

A good job role will be a simple outline of all the tasks and processes you are asking that person to commit that is tied directly to the vision of the business and the mission that binds you.

A good role must also be written down and shared.

Second, start with your connections and not with a global blast for people.

This will not always work and yet it must be the first place you start. After you have written your job role...share THAT job role with your friends and relationships. Ask, "who do you know who would be great at the items on this role...AND would buy into our mission?"

In order for them to know the mission to buy into...it means you must first know it and share it.

That's right, share your mission with your friends and networks.

Third, when you have team members who are buying in, ask them who they know who would fit the mission. If they don't invite people then it may be an indication that they aren't sold on the culture themselves.

If they do invite people then it shows you they want others to be a part of what they are a part of.

It will be easy to dismiss all of this under the sentiment, "well you just don't understand what it is like in our market/industry/business INSERT EXCUSE HERE".

If you intentionally build an attractive culture through repetitive structure...people will come.

What kind of baseball are you playing with your business?

Are you swinging for the fences... trying to make a big splash? Or are you hitting singles and doubles every day? Well, let's talk about each of these and the why behind them.

Happy Friday friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. I hope you're doing well today.

A few years ago, a movie came out called Moneyball. It chronicled the rise of the Oakland A's baseball club and their revolutionary approach to changing the game.

Their GM, Billy Beane realized something... they didn't have the capital to play the game the way the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers...etc. played the game.

Their strategy was based off of signing big name free agents that could swing for the fence and produce home runs or have a high batting average as power players. Get a few guys on base, hit a home run. Win the game. Simple, but EXPENSIVE!

What Beane realized was that there was a different way to run an organization. He started looking at often forgotten stats like On base percentage as a way to manufacture runs and began a new age of what is now known as "sabermetrics" in the MLB and is the way every single organization runs its ball club.

So why is this such a big deal? Well, a lot of those high-paid players hit slumps. They struck out a ton, meaning they were ineffective. And with their unbelievably high payroll, it put a tremendous amount of stress on the finances of the organization. But low paid players hired to fill a role and produce, created dividends over and over and over again.

So, if you look in your business...what's your strategy? Is it making the high-priced move... hoping you hit the home run? Or is it base hits...base hits...base hits.

The problem is, base hits aren't sexy. They aren't what books get written about or what we brag about to our friends and colleagues after work. Home runs is where the glory resides. Well, that is until it puts you under.

See here is what happens. We've seen this half a dozen times already this year with businesses we coach. That one big deal comes across your desk. The one you've been waiting for! It's a homerun in every possible way. So what do you do? You take it and say, "We'll just figure out how to make it happen and the profits will be so much higher that we'll figure out the back end later."

So you sign the deal and then go to work figuring out the numbers. Alright, if we do this we have to hire a new crew. And if we hire a new crew we'll need a new Project Manager to be over that team. Well, that PM will need a truck to get around to job sites. That crew is gonna need a trailer... and tools and embroidered collared shirts, but then the project had a snag so they need some overtime to get it finished. Whoops, now our supply chain is backed up so our guys are on the clock, but can't get the materials we need so we're paying them to work slower or do other jobs around our business.

Or maybe it looks like this…"Oh, we'll just hire a Sub crew. That will save us on payroll taxes and then we can just use them as needed for this massive job!" Well, that works until you have no leverage and the guys walk off your job for a higher-paying job. Now you're stuck with a deadline and a rapidly shrinking margin.

You look up at the end of the year and somehow your topline was 30-40% higher than the year before... I mean you hit a home run with the new deal right, but then you look down at your Profit and it's smaller than the year before.

And on and on it goes!

You can laugh and say that this will never happen, but we're seeing it time and time again. Base hits friends! It's not sexy... it's not flashy, but it's the way to win.

Why? Because as you grow your business with base hits you begin to build processes that work. You build systems that can handle your steadily growing business. The foundation is rock solid...so that when the big deal comes through, you're ready to handle it.

If you watch Shark Tank at all, they use this phrase all the time…"Drowning in opportunity!" The entrepreneur is on there, they grew too fast and got too excited about all the potential revenue coming in that they didn't take the time to build their business the right way. So they're sitting there with Purchase orders that they have not chance to fill without going into massive amounts of debts, their manufacturing is a mess, distribution is a nightmare, oh but they've got purchase orders!

Base hits, guys. Base hits.

So, what kind of baseball are you playing in your business. Are you relying on the home run? Relying on that one whale of a client who, if they left, would absolutely crush your business? It's not sustainable. It's not a responsible way to run your business! It leaves you vulnerable on all sides and at the mercy of making that one deal happen.

Or are you playing Moneyball with your business. Finding creative ways to play the game and creative ways to innovate along the way. All the while building a foundation that is ready to handle whatever is thrown at you.

As we love to say around here…"There's no competition for a well run business." It's so true and we'd love to help you find the right way to run your business.

Hey, if you haven't checked out our podcast or YouTube channel, make sure to do so! So much great content there.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

4 Things Your Employees Need To Hear From You…

What do your employees need to hear from you? Let's talk about that today. Happy Friday friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose.

Everyone's got that first boss you work for. You remember them? Can you picture them? If so, what does that picture look like? Are they yelling at you? Are they coaching you up? Coming alongside you? What are they doing?

Well, my first boss, thankfully, was a huge gift to me personally and professionally. I remember day 2 on the job him sitting our team down and doing 3 things that set the tone for my almost decade on Young Life staff. I'll get to it here in just a second, but I think every employee needs to hear these things from their boss. They need to be told and reminded constantly.

So often we, as business owners, cover this stuff once and think that our bases are covered for the next year or two, but no these conversations need to happen monthly, if not weekly or daily. They need to be a part of the fabric of the business in a way that you can feel and taste!

So, these are the 4 things your employees need to hear from you…

1. Where are you going?

Where do we want to be in a year, 3 years, 5 years? It's a simple thing, but do your employees know what the long-term goals for the business are in tangible, broken down steps that they can begin to tackle on a daily basis? Day 2 on staff with Young Life we talked all about the scale and scope of ministry in the town we were placed. We dreamed about the new schools we wanted to reach and the new leaders we needed to get there. We spoke of the funds we needed to raise to make that happen.

And at the end of that meeting, we knew exactly what was going to have to happen to end up where we wanted to be. We had a clear vision of all of that, now we just had to put in the work!

1. Your employees need to know how you're going to get there.

As we sat there with this tall task of things to accomplish we were struck with no clue of how to actually get there! So, one by one my boss asked us what are the hills we're willing to die on when it comes to ministry. And we listed them out. As we stepped back, we were struck that these were filters through which every decision could make. A set of core values and principles that we could stand on that would keep us on track towards our vision.

So do your employees know how to make decisions? Do they have something grounding them and filtering every decision? Do they know that these are the keys to getting them to where you want to be?

If not, they need to know how you're going to get to your vision. It's what helps build momentum and build credibility in your community. A shared value system to accomplish the vision.

1. Why are you going there?

We spent a ton of time last week at our 12-week plan talking about work. That our work needs to be more than just a job! More than just clocking in and clocking out. We saw a plumber setting a toilet at a new park. Is he just setting a toilet? No! He's creating a space to help out a young mom who's overwhelmed and needs a clean place to take her child to the restroom. He's facilitating people being outdoors, knowing that they can go to the park and not have to worry about a restroom emergency.

That's what changes your attitude about work. Are you just driving in nails and framing a house? Or are you building a shelter for generations of families that will live under that roof? Knowing you're providing quality work for one of our core needs.

That "why" is what should get you out of bed in the morning! It's what makes a job what we call, "a work worth doing." Your team needs to know the why behind what you're doing so that it becomes a part of your story!

1. We need YOU, to get there.

So often we get this complaint from clients. "Well, we hired this person and they just aren't working out." Here's what I'd say to that. Most times, employee failures are more on the owner than they are on the employee.

Why? Because we rushed the hiring process. When we rush the hiring process, we miss something and end up rushing the firing process.

It's why we have such a thorough vetting process for hiring and 6 mos of onboarding for every hire. Because we value people enough to not want a constant in and out in our business. That doesn't accomplish the vision and that doesn't value our employees.

However, when you take the hiring process slowly, you can look at your employees and say, "No, you're the right person for this job. I believe in you and I need you to help us get where we're going!"

That's empowering leadership. Taking ownership of your hires and equipping or training them to chase after the vision. Your employees need YOU to believe in them sometimes before they can believe in themselves.

I hope you know that.

So, if these have never been communicated in your business take time to plan it out. They need to know where you're going, how you're getting there, why you're going there, and that you need them to get there.

Have a great weekend Friends!!!

Sell me this…

What is the message you're telling your clients? And what do you really offer? Well, let's talk about it! Hey there friends, Thomas Joyner with BOP here.

I'll never forget sitting in professional selling class at Clemson University and the professor pulls out the age-old selling conversation.

He calls a student upfront and says, "sell me this pen." The first student clearly rattled, asks him if he wants to buy the pen. Uh, no, said the professor. Next!

The next student walks up there and says, "I'm curious, are you interested in any pens? I've got some amazing options that I'd love to show you." Nope! Said the professor and he sent him back to his seat.

Then the third student walks up there. At this point, we've all had a few minutes to calm our nerves and think through what we've learned so far. The student sits down and just says, "so Jesse, tell me a bit about yourself." They go back and forth a few times and the conversation slowly gets to what he does and what his needs are for his business.

From there, the student starts solving his problems one by one... all with the purchase of this pen. He went on and on about it taking 3 years to develop the way it fits in your hand and the slow release of ink so there's never too much or too little. He talked about how when you click it to get the point to come out it's quiet, not like other ballpoint pens that you can hear from down the hall. And finally, he finished by saying how professional it looks and how reliable it is.

"I'm sold!" Said the professor and we all just laughed.

You see selling almost never starts with an object. A thing, a widget, a service. No, it starts with understanding a problem and then finding a solution. The process of understanding that problem and finding that solution is your story!

And people always want to buy a story.

We had our 12-week live event last week and had just an amazing assortment of 20 businesses join us in person and another 20 or so through zoom. Our speaker, Billy Watterson spoke all about the power of story to change your life and change your business.

I was struck when he said this, "People don't buy the thing, they buy what the thing can do for them!"

Man, that is so true! People don't care how great your thing is or your service is until they know what it can do for them.

So, are you telling them what it can do for them? Are you highlighting the benefits and all the ways it improves life for them? If not, why?

Tell your story! Tell how you came up with your design and your service. People need to know the why behind everything you do from an operations standpoint. And if it's not something worth sharing? Change it! Find a way to make it share-worthy.

There is so much noise from a marketing standpoint right now. So many things being thrown around that authenticity sticks out like a neon t-shirt on the beach. People can spot it from a mile away.

So take some time today... maybe for the first time, to write down your story. Write down the why behind your product or service and begin to document it and share it with the world. I wonder how many great products or services have fallen by the wayside because they never shared their story with the world.

Remember, "The world doesn't want to buy your product, they want to buy what it can do for them!"

Now don't lie to them. Don't make something up. But craft a story to be proud of and highlight all of the benefits for your ideal client.

Find what problems you solve and relate it to your client. That's it! The rest is up to them.

That's all for today friends. Make sure to check out our podcast and YouTube channel when you get a minute. So much great stuff on there!

Have a great week!

Inexpensive Marketing Ideas For Small Business

There is no love loss in my relationship with marketing.

If you ask any of the members of my Mastermind they would chuckle if you asked about my history with marketing. Their response would sound something like this, "he hates marketing."

It's true.

I don't like things that feel ambiguous and cross-your-fingers-ish.

Marketing can feel like trying to find an undersized needle in an earth-sized haystack, in the dark, upside down, with sub-zero temperatures...all while wolves are chasing you and snipers are aiming in on you.

Two years ago we tried to take the shifting and unpredictable tide of marketing and put a system to it. I read the interesting book by Marcus Sheridan entitled They Ask You Answer (the second best marketing book I've read next to This Is Marketing by Seth Godin).

Sheridan makes a powerful (and yet obvious) point that customers prefer honestly providing direct responses to their biggest questions.

The title of this post for instance; Google told me that this is the title that many of you have searched in the past. I can answer this question based on our experience. Our answer may vary from other business owners... but it is how we see it from our angle.

If you go to our website at mybusinessonpurpose.com you will find that we answer the biggest question we receive directly on our homepage so as not to waste the time of business owners who are not a fit, and yet to solidify our offering for those business owners we are a perfect fit for.

In following Sheridan's model we have created a unique and inexpensive content marketing strategy that adds loads of value to our existing clients, our future clients, and our existing team.

First, we ask each of our coaches to write one article per week between 500 and 800 words. The subject of the article is simply a response to a question that we received from clients during our coaching time the previous week.

I can hear some of you now, "I can't write!" That is another battle for another time, but you can certainly talk, right? Of course, you can! Pretend that a client just asked you a question, turn your phone camera on and record your response and then go get it transcribed using a service like Rev.com. Voila! You have your article.

Second, we ask each of our coaches to use the article they wrote as the script for their video. Pretend you are a radio show that happens to do video recording. Download the Teleprompter app on your phone, press record, and read your script with a little life and enthusiasm.

Third, we send our article and video each week to a virtual team member who then edits both the article and video with some callout headlines and images.

These edited assets then become an amazing list of tools that both existing and future clients can draw value from.

From only one weekly article and video we are able to provide a YouTube video and Facebook Live video, a podcast episode, a LinkedIn article, a blog post, and a string of valuable social media posts with images.

It is an inexpensive marketing process for our business in terms of real dollars spent, although it costs each one of our coaches about two hours of time per week. With four coaches this process can provide up to twenty pieces of content per week that we can share with our network.

For us, we believe that our online media is air support to our ground game. The most effective form of marketing in our work with business owners (and most other businesses) is direct referral by word of mouth...that IS the ground game.

After being referred, the first place future clients will go to learn more about us is our online channels. With this inexpensive marketing idea, we make sure that we are adding credibility to the referral, and more importantly, adding value to our existing and future clients.

Don't make excuses as to why this cannot or should not be done. Get started with this methodical, consistent, predictable, and inexpensive marketing idea, and maybe even your relationship with marketing could be redeemed like mine has been.

Business On Purpose LIVE Event- The Power Of Storytelling

by: Billy Watterson Owner, Burnt Church Distillery

BOP Live Event- A Work Worth Doing

"The work you're doing is only a work worth doing if you decide in your mind that your work is A WORK WORTH DOING." #businessonpurpose

by: Scott Beebe Founder | Head Coach My Business On Purpose

Do You Have Wise Counsel?

Who did you consult the last time you had a big life decision? How about the last time you had a small decision? I want to hear about it, and I want to talk about it today.

Happy Friday everyone, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.

We live in a world right now that is moving faster than ever before. Split-second decisions happen all day, every day. And yet the thing that seems to be lacking day after day after day is wisdom in each of those decisions!

So, what is the filter that we run everything through? Do we just freewheel it and deal with the consequences, or is there a system that we run everything through?

I think we're seeing right now that most of us just run...and correct mistakes along the way. Because we really don't have anyone in our life that we would consider wise counsel or a mentor, so we don't bother to fill the void, we just make judgment calls and see what happens!

Think about the way journalism works these days... it's ready, fire, oh shoot we forgot to aim. They release content knowing it could potentially be damaging or not 100% correct, but they will retract the story later on if it's false. It's a horrible way of going about your business.

Or in business, we don't take the time to get the information needed to make a wise decision, so we push forward hoping we made the right call, knowing that it could cost us down the road.

So, why do we do that? If we know it costs us, why do we keep making poor decisions?

Well, I think it's because we don't know there's another way. I also don't think we know the value of wise counsel in life.

I was reading in the book of Proverbs the other day and it said this…" Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety."

Let me say that again, "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety."

That's powerful. Would you say you have a multitude of counselors? Ok, not even a multitude, but do you have any? Do you have a group of people that you run business decisions by, do you have people that you run personal decisions by? Questions about marriage, kids, fitness, hobbies? Anything?

Just last week I had a situation in my family where I was just stuck. Spinning my wheels day after day and I needed some perspective. So, I called a man I really respect and asked him to speak into it. I took him to lunch and just said, "tell me what I'm not seeing."

Here's what I can tell you. The perspective he gave me was worth 10x what I paid for it. Which, conveniently, was an $8 burrito.

It saved me frustration. It saved me mistakes that would have cost me and set me back in other areas of life. But, it took me humbling myself and reaching out for wise counsel.

So, if there is safety (and I would add security, wisdom, steadfastness, freedom) in having counsel, why don't we run to it? It's why we use business coaching as our platform to liberate business owners from chaos. If our mission, which it is, is to liberate business owners from chaos, we choose to be counselors and extra sets of eyes on your business.

Everyone needs a coach or mentor. Whether you use us, BOP, as a coach or not, YOU NEED WISE COUNSEL IN YOUR LIFE! Think about the best athletes of all-time, most of them are marked by a great coach or mentor in their life. Michael Jordan had Phil Jackson, Kobe had Phil Jackson (Ok, maybe we all just need a Phil Jackson in our life!). I'm kidding, but Tom Brady had Bill Bellichek, Tiger Woods had his dad... all giving them perspective and coaching/mentoring every step of the way!

So what wise counsel do you need? Or, better said, what kind of coach do you need?

One that can shine a light on your weaknesses and fortify your strengths. Every day. That's it. Someone who can teach you the pieces of your business that may be blind spots for you. Someone who can provide perspective and rationale to help you make informed decisions.

Oh, but we can't afford that. That's a luxury only high margin businesses can afford. Really, I'd argue that you can't afford not to. As I said, whether it's us, or someone else, you can't afford not to have someone helping you navigate tough decisions in your business and in your life.

Not having a coach is costing you more than you think. I guarantee it.

And that's exactly the value we provide our clients. Always peeking over the shoulder, pointing out what's ahead, giving perspective from our experience with currently coaching over 80 businesses and thousands of hours of these conversations. Helping you avoid costly mistakes and walking alongside you to help you make informed, wise decisions.

So, let's talk! If you feel like we're not right, we will help you find the coach that's right for you because we believe so strongly that everyone needs a coach. Heck, it's why we have coaches that coach us, as well! It's a game-changer. Do it!

Again, if you just want some free content that we send out, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and our podcast. Search my business on purpose.

Alright have a great weekend and please reach out so we can chat.