My Business On Purpose

What's Your Standard?

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone! Thomas Joyner here with BOP. I want to talk about culture a bit today. How do you protect it, nurture it, and build it on purpose?

I was sitting in on a coaching meeting the other day and a business owner was talking about experiencing an employee fly off the handle in a business meeting. There was someone they worked with in the room and the employee dropped an f-bomb towards the other guy in a heated discussion.

Nothing was said to address the behavior at the moment, but the question was posed to our team... what do we do about that?

We asked a few more clarifying questions, but at the end of the day, we knew this couldn't be tolerated. You can't live that emotionally and expect others to continue to do business with you. That's what is so important about culture.

A great quote came to mind that a friend had shared with me months back and it's this…" What you allow in your presence, IS your standard."

I'll say that again, what you allow in your presence is your standard.

It's that important! In essence, by saying nothing when the employee dropped an f-bomb, you're not explicitly cheering them on, but you are subtly giving your approval of their behavior. You're saying "I watched this happen and that is fine by me" when you stay silent.

Now we went back to the businesses Vision story and looked at their culture section. We asked the question if this is the culture you wrote down...the one you want others to see and experience, can this behavior be tolerated?

The answer was a quick and decisive, NO!

Ok, so let's put a plan in to talk about this with your employee. Now, this was the first time they had ever blown up like this. So, it was a great time for the owner to check in and see if there was something else going on at home or something going on that day. It's a PERFECT time to nurture the culture of your business with a personal touch.

Your employees aren't just soulless, emotionless chess pieces for you to move around, but are real people with real lives!

They've got to be cared for and known.

So, what the business owner did was set up a meeting and lean in. Not take their hands off. Not condemn the person, but condemn the action as a way to care about them AND the culture of the business. Casting vision for how he will see him in the future and pushing him to realize that potential!

Said another way, how you allow your employees to act, treat one another, treat other businesses IS your culture. It's the little memories that other businesses point towards to decide who they want to work with. It's what's said about your business at a casual lunch that either propels someone to call you or sends them to the next person on their contact list.

It has to be fought for!

So, you have to ask yourself. What am I allowing to be said, acted on, or accomplished in my presence or business that is slowly becoming the standard. Culture isn't created or destroyed all at once. It's a series of tiny corrections along the way to arrive at a destination. Use your Vision...use your mission statement...use your core values to put up barriers to keep yourself on track towards your culture goal.

It NEVER just happens…

Hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving...as always if you want to see more of what we do, head on over to mybusinessonpurpose.com and check us out! Follow our podcast, too, for some free coaching.

Take care!

A Season of Expectation

Why do we limit our vision and excitement to just the holidays? Well, let's talk about that...it's Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose I hope you're having a great Thursday!

It is November 19th! Yep...you heard that right. November 19th! If your household is anything like mine, you're fighting over 1 thing and 1 thing only currently...is it time to put up the Christmas Tree???

I'm dead serious. Every year, it never fails, we go back and forth about when we can start decorating for Christmas. Now, I'm a firm believer that no decorations can go up until after Thanksgiving. I know, I know...I'm a Scrooge at heart...jump in the comments and tell me how horrible I am.

But seriously, I put my foot down on decorating before thanksgiving. My wife has already told me her plans for decorating and where we're going to put the tree, how excited she is about the stockings and what she gets to put in the stockings. When we're going to hang the lights and are there any new decorations that we can grab on the cheap to make this Christmas the BEST EVER...well that is until Christmas 2021, at least.

I have to admit, though, her excitement is contagious. All the things she wants to do and the picture she paints is so vivid that it gets me excited, too!

It should be no different for the year 2021. Why do we limit our vision and our excitement and planning to holidays? It's ridiculous! If excitement and energy are contagious around the Christmas season, don't you think it would work the same way around the rest of the year?

Absolutely! And THAT is why we put together the financial barn.

So, what is the financial barn? Well, it's a conversation between you and your spouse, or just you if you're not married. It's setting your sights on what you want to do with your finances in 2021. Now, we at BOP firmly believe we are stewards of the resources we've been blessed with, so this is not meant to be a shopping spree or a 2021 wish list. No, it's a system built to look at all of the things you want to spend money on in the next year and then formulating the plan for how to reach that goal.

It starts with simply drawing a barn on a piece of paper and listing the things you spend money on in different rooms in the barn. Things like Living expenses, travel, hobbies, savings, retirement, kids college, charitable giving...subdivide it however you want! Here's the beautiful thing. When you list out how much you will need to comfortably chase after those things, you set your sights on a goal and can put a plan in place for how to reach it.

So what are the things you get excited about? Is it taking a trip as a family? Is it maybe finally doing a home renovation or getting a car upgrade? Is it giving to a ministry above and beyond what you normally do and really making an impact with your finances? Is it setting aside a chunk for your kids college or maybe investing in something along the way? Whatever it is, write it down so you can know what your all in number needs to be.

Once you add up all the things you would need in 2021, you know what you need to earn to reach those goals…

Now I'll break from here for a second to remind you that these goals need to be realistic. If your household income is currently $75k and you look at your all in number and it says you need 125k to reach it, you may need to trim some things...or trim a lot! But if your number is close, then it's finding ways for your business to support you in the ways it needs to.

Here's the best part about this. It puts a bullseye on the board, so if you do wildy better than you had hoped for financially, you can put a plan in place for what to do with it. It frees you to be wildly generous with your funds as you already hit the bullseye. It keeps you from hoarding your cash in a way that only benefits you as you see how incredibly blessed you have been.

That's the reason behind all of this. Set up reasonable goals for each category and then allow that to push you to be generous in every area of your life.

At the end of all this, the message is clear. Life is not about stockpiling assets. It's just not. There will always be another room to fill in our barn or another toy to buy. Life is found in stewarding the things you have and earn to make the lives of those around you that much better.

The FInancial Barn! Do it...do it with your spouse. Feel free to reach back out and tell us how that conversation goes! We'd love to hear about it.

As always, you can check out more about this at mybusinessonpurpose.com

Have a great week!

Chief Executive Officer or Chief Everything Officer? What kind of CEO are you?

I can't get enough of sports. My wife rolls her eyes at me consistently as she wants to watch a new show together, but it's playoffs for baseball, basketball, football...whatever! The scheduling of major sporting events is masterful as it's nearly year round. I can't help it...I LOVE IT!

As I've watched sports over the years, there's one phrase that's consistently spoken about young players. He's just trying to do too much. I was watching a game with Young Quarterback, Daniel Jones of the New York Giants playing. Over and over he would make amazing plays, but then he would set his team back when he, "Tried to do too much."

Announcers use this term so much, because for young athletes this paralyzes their teams. They realize that you can have all the talent in the world, and STILL not be able to do it all.

I don't think it's any different in the business world. In fact, it's no different at all!

I was reading a great article the other day about how small business has changed over the past 25 years. It spoke of this evolution of the business owner and how they have moved from the CEO meaning the Chief Executive Officer...to CEO as Chief Everything Officer. It's a subtle change, but one that dictates the entire existence of your business.

Just like in sports, young business owners are so particular that they have to have their hand in every piece of the business instead of training and trusting their employees to get the job done. Where does it lead? To underperformance every single time!

Why? Because you can't do it all and scale your business. You have to trust people to do the job you hired them to do. And if you can't, why pay them to do a job in the first place? It's robbing you of profitability if you're both trying to do the job.

So, where does this lead us?

If you look up the definition of executive in the dictionary it has two definitions I love…

1. Having the power to put plans, actions or laws into effect.

1. a person with senior managerial responsibility in an organization

You have to do both of these as the executive. You have to become the manager of the organization and put plans and actions into effect. You don't have to do it all yourself, but you have to find a way to effectively train your team to do it the way you would do it, so you can free yourself up to do the things ONLY YOU can do.

It's doable...in fact, we're coaching businesses every day that are doing just this. Building the systems and processes in their business to free their employees up to do the job they were hired to do.

Then, and only then, can you go from the Chief Everything Officer who "tries to do too much," to the CEO that your business needs.

Have a great week everyone!

What Are Soft Skills And Why Are They Important

Democratic cultures endure a multi-year barrage of political campaign noise that has left many citizens dazed and depleted and yet appreciative that options are available.

It would be a shame if the only product of the election cycle was a defined winner and loser (although we never want to take that for granted).

There are also valuable principles to learn from the political process that we should be investing into our business.

We can watch how citizens are impacted by political candidates and draw insight and empathy into what members of your business team might be seeing as they look at you and your own leadership.

That is the core of what political elections are about; leadership.

Political positions are less about task-completion and are far more about people-motivation.

What can we take away from the election cycle that will give us special insight into our business?

There are three lenses by which we view a politician; policy, politic, and personal.

Policy is the lense of the specific things they will hope to do. Understanding policy leads to agreement or disagreement with the method.

Politic is how they will communicate the things they will do. Watching politic helps us determine who we like or do not like.

Personal refers to the character base from which each person operates. Knowing the personal helps us determine who we trust and don't trust.

Three lenses, the lens of agreement, the lens of likeability, and the lens of trust. I can assure that candidates are trained in great repetition on the first two lenses of policy and politic. It is not always as evident if they put as much training into the personal.

Those same three lenses are present and necessary in your business.

In business, instead of policy, politic, and personal, we will suggest three renamed lenses with similar function.

First, every business owner must view their business, their team, and themselves through the lens of business awareness.

Being business aware is knowing and investing into the systems, process, and purpose every business relies on as fuel to push towards the ultimate destination.

If you are a trustworthy person, a great presenter, but are clueless about your vision or your process, then the business will break down.

Second, every business owner must invest in social and emotional awareness (politic). Many would call these "soft skills". It is the ability to present things in a way that will be most effectively digested for implementation.

If you are hyper aware of your vision and systems, and have great character but struggle to communicate, then your message will never be heard and your team will lack motivation.

Finally, every business owner must invest in their own (and their team's) personal awareness. Spending time working towards personal discipline and health in your family, faith, finances, fitness, friends, and fun!

You may have a clear head on your vision, systems, and a world-class communicator...but if you lack character, everything else will eventually fall apart.

The hard work of a business owner is two-fold…

1. Make a commitment to personally work continually on refining all three lenses for yourself
2. Make a commitment to equip your team to look through the three lenses for themselves

Balance is not the goal because balance is impossible. On the other hand, a consistent rhythm of investing in the three lenses of business is a worthy pursuit.

I remember my first Big Boy job... I was interning at my uncle's Marketing Agency in Connecticut. I spent all this time studying marketing in college and I figured, "Ok, if this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life, I might as well go test it out to make sure for a summer!"

So off I went on my 14-hour drive to see if I could cut it in the business world. Let me tell you right now... I was woefully unprepared!!!

I remember sitting in staff meetings with no note pad or way of remembering all the things I had to do for the week. Id scribble something on a post-it note here or there and then go back to try to figure out what I was doing. I'd forego recording future meetings and due dates on any type of calendar because it was "too restrictive" and thought I honestly had it.

And here's the thing...I did have it... for a couple of weeks. But as the work started to pile up and the graveyard of dropped spinning plates started to pile up around me I realized my "system" or lack thereof wasn't working. I needed something to keep me on track and as time started to slip away I realized I needed structure around me to help me thrive.

What I've realized in coaching 10-12 businesses is that I'm not the only one living this way. Most business owners simply respond to the threat in front of them all day every day. Their schedule is nothing more than going from one fire to the next until it's time to go home for dinner at night.

But that's NOT how you build a successful business. You might be able to make it work for a few weeks, months, maybe even a year! But what I'm seeing lived out in front of me is that business owners and key leaders who tell their week what it's going to look like, are the ones who actually build something they're proud of . The ones who sit down and plan it all out instead of getting distracted by the problems at hand.

Let me tell you about the BOP solution to this...we call it...drumroll please, the "Master weekly schedule!" Boom...now if that name doesn't get you excited I don't know what will! I'm kidding, but seriously it is what you need. All of you. Why? Because it keeps you on track to accomplish the things you want to accomplish instead of just being blown about by the winds of chaos every single day.

So what does it look like? Well, here's a picture of my Weekly Schedule. Blocks of 30 min for the entire week. Split up into specific tasks each week for admin, sales, marketing and coaching. I've got time for sales lunches and recording these videos, I have time built in for professional development and team meetings. It's all here. I don't let chaos pull me from this for a second! But it keeps me locked in on the things I need to be focused on to grow my business.

So what are the things that pull you off track? Is it sitting on a job site for too long? You look up and it's 2 o clock and you haven't finished your estimates or answered emails or called back your voicemails? Well, then you need to use the weekly schedule to tell yourself how long you want to be on the job! As soon as that time is up, you need to be moving again!

E-mail! Gah you'll notice on my weekly schedule I have 2, 30 minute blocks for email. I took it off my phone, so I don't even know if I have an email until I look back at it during my email block in the afternoon. Now here, some of you are thinking I'm crazy...but here's what I've found with email. The more you answer it, the more people want you to answer it. But half the time when it's been 2 hours without me answering, I see that people are smart and they answer their own questions half the time!

Same thing with talking to your team. What if you set up a 30 min check-in time with your admin or your Superintendent or your Project manager. If you looked at them and told them, we will touch base every afternoon at 1 pm. That's your slot to ask me all the questions you need to ask. Because what happens all day? You're locked in working and the phone rings, It takes you 5-10 min to answer the phone call, then another 5-10 min to lock back in on your task...but then bang another call comes in and you never finish what you were doing!

STOP it!!! Set a time for your crew to check in with you...where you can be fully present with them and then let them do their job. If you're thinking that CAN'T happen, then you need to train them better to do their job so you can do yours of actually running the business.

This stuff is not rocket science, but it can give your business the jet fuel it needs to take off and get where you want it to go! I know, because I've built this out with business owners who are sick and tired of living in chaos! Now, it's work to implement it. It doesn't just happen! Chaos doesn't like to leave you alone for long. But when you build the system to deal with it and put it in it's proper place...you can have the freedom to work ON you business!

That's what it takes. The Master Weekly Schedule...jump on it and let me know if I can help.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Do you own MORE than "Just a business?"

We were working on mission statements with several clients recently and the question came up, "why not just come up with a catchy slogan that we use as our mission statement?" That's what most places do, right? Find some group of words or a phrase that is catchy, repeatable, and gets stuck in the head of whoever hears it? That's as far as most mission statements go.

Mission statements need to be so much more than that... why? Because it's what fuels you every single day. It's what keeps you moving on the days you have to pull yourself out of bed. It's the "Why" behind everything you do. It's so much more than a catchy slogan that gives your sales some juice.

At the end of the day, so many people think the same thing about their business. Just like they say, it's just a mission statement, they say…" It's just a business!" It's just a way to bring home a paycheck and finance my lifestyle.

But what if your business could be more than that? What if there was an amazing "Why" behind it that led to something much much greater? Well, then that would touch all areas of your life and your community. It would lead to a sense of purpose that not only impacts you, but every single one of your employees and their families. Which is Exactly WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO DO!

How do I know? Because I get a front-row seat to it with our heroic business owners every day. Once they realize their why, it turns a simple landscaping company into one that teaches their employees about finances enough to tell them they are getting ripped off by cashing their checks at a local grocery store. They worked with them to actually open bank accounts and are saving them hundreds of dollars a year (per employee), by taking the time to teach.

I've gotten to sit front row as I see local nurseries pay to put their employees through financial peace university and help them get driver's licenses to help get them out of debt and gain some ground financially in life! I've watched a client of ours at Pay Proudly take a portion of every sale and give it away to non-profits that desperately need the money.

I've seen mortgage companies take a portion of their profits and invest in local schools and teachers to let them know they are valued and important in the eyes of the local community. I've watched as employees grab hold of the vision and see a destination that they can achieve and then set out to go and do it! To grow and not just settle into a job.

You see it's amazing when business owners see their work not just as a business, but as a way to invest in people and a community. That's the why you have to capture. Something that when someone looks at you and hears your mission would want to ask, "Ok, but how do you do that." And you get to tell them what you do.

That's a "Work worth doing." That's something that will keep you excited for years to come. That's what our world needs more of. Is people with a work worth doing, willing to view their work as more than just a business, but an investment into everyone they come into contact with.

I hope you can grab ahold of that and figure out your why in your day to day...

How To Find A Professional Mentor

On my first trip to Nigeria back in 2006 I met a man who was unpretentious, slow, deliberate, and available.

Abraham Dada, known simply as Pa Dada, would eventually become for me a standard-bearer of life and leadership.

He was a sage. He was a man who lived out the challenging invitation to have "eyes to see, and ears to hear".

Imagine if Yoda were a Nigerian man. That's Pa Dada.

His words were few, each one cutting consciously like a razor-sharp blade, causing little pain while exposing the inside.

Mr. Dada was never the loudest person in the room, but his presence alive, known, and decisions always traveled through his unspoken filter. His life was spent serving... at times with words and actions, at other times with simple presence.

Each time I visited Mr. Dada at his unpretentious home in Egbe, Kogi State, he would be sitting thoughtfully in a blue plastic yard chair on the aft side of a small plastic table. Rarely was he wearing something other than a simple linen set of shirt and trousers. He would usually have his crooked reading glasses on while reading or writing.

Within five minutes of arrival, we would always be welcomed with a warm bitter lemon and a soft "e'kaabo" and "e'dupe".

If I was visiting without Ashley and the kids, Mr. Dada would kindly ask, "How is Mommy?", and of the kids, "How are my little friends?"

One of my favorite images that Ashley captured was Mr. Dada thumbing through my book. The teacher humbly offering a generous moment for the student.

In 2014 and 2015 Mr. Dada and I spoke often by phone when I was not in town due to some strain that was taking place within an initiative for which both he and I were committed to. I remained in a state of foggy confusion and did not hesitate to verbalize bewilderment, and I believe Mr. Dada did as well, although he never spoke a crossword or thought to any person or scenario.

It was a real-life, in the moment lesson in "considering others better than yourself." It was a moment of transparent grace.

On Wednesday night October 28th my phone rang with Mr. Dada's number. Answering, his daughter called and said simply, "Pa Dada passed in the midnight and he wanted me to let you know."

"He wanted to let me know."

Of all the conversations I remember, these may very well be the words that stick.

"He wanted to let me know."

Two significant mentors have passed on from this life in the past decade. The first is the man who invited me to look through the telescope of the nations and see God's creation beyond my own borders. Dr. Mike Barnett summoned me to embrace the nations.

Mr. Dada invited me to enjoy the wisdom and grace God has placed among the nations and to do it slowly and methodically.

With Mr. Dada, I did not sign up for a global mentor program, and I did not ask that he formally "mentor" me. I just went with a blurry, poorly planned vision to "work in Nigeria" and over time a friendship developed that provided me with a 5 foot 2-inch man in his nineties who just "wanted to let me know" with limited words and maximum presence.

What is that place, or those people, or that thing that you have an unreasonable, blurry desire for? What if you just set up lunch or booked a ticket and just went regularly so you too can look up fourteen years later and realize that you too found a true gift whose ambition was to "let me know"?

How do you find a professional mentor?

Many times is by not signing up for the professional mentoring program and instead of being bold, proactive, courageous, and a bit unreasonable to make friends with some unlikely people who are older and more experienced than you.

Who do you need to go see today? I wish I could go see my friend and just sit for a while.

Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose, author of Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters. Scott also hosts The Business On Purpose Podcast and can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.

The Five Questions Every Entrepreneur Must Answer For Their Employees...And Themselves

My son and I were on an 18-foot center console boat on the edge of the Port Royal Sound in the lowcountry of South Carolina when all of a sudden a thunderous squall line formed just to our west and bared down on us.

We had a decision, sit in the middle of the torrential rain and lightning, or make a run for it.

We were about 20 minutes from the boat landing. Within 2 minutes of going full throttle on our Mercury 150, we were surrounded on all sides by the summer squall.

Hindsight being more sober than the present reality, we continued throttle down at 30 knots with what seemed like a 10-foot visibility. Equipped with a simple Navionics boating app, I kept my head down, focused on the GPS map while my teenage co-captain had his head up and eyes peeled so he could call for a last-second "swerve" maneuver if needed.

The storm was relentless.

It felt like we were riding blind for 30 minutes, but was probably more like 8 or 10...it was confusing, chaotic, exhilarating, and probably not wise looking back.

Amidst the uncertainty of that moment though, here are some truths that we could count on…

We were headed towards a defined destination; the Lemon Island boat launch.

We knew what route we were taking; the Chechessee River.

We knew what vehicle we were committed to; an 18 foot Henry O center console.

We knew what kind of engine we had to work with; a Mercury 150 horsepower two-stroke.

We knew exactly WHY we were headed in that direction; to stay alive and make it back home to tell the story!

Owning a business is peppered with days just like that. The surprise squalls of unexpected tax bills, frustrated customers, misaligned employee expectations, and a lack of perfect efficiency.

To help you navigate through the chaos of business ownership and the life of an entrepreneur, here are five questions every entrepreneur must answer for their employees...and themselves.

First, where are we going?

Fortunately, there has been a surge of good teaching, training, and resources around building a powerful vision story.

Your Vision is a detailed snapshot of the future of your vision. Not a pithy statement, and not a paragraph of haiku. Your vision story should be detailed, multiple pages, and meaty with details.

Second, how are we getting to the vision?

It's silly to imagine that you will hit the road without aiming for a destination. Every road trip is a series of following turn by turn directions on specific streets while passing by many others.

Your unique core values are nothing more than intentional street signs along the route to your destination.

For most, you will avoid turning right on Apathy Lane, or left on Muddy Expectations Blvd. Instead, you will use Intentional Relationships Street or Relentless Learning Circle. Know your unique core values and you'll know the streets to take towards your destination.

The third question every entrepreneur must answer is, what does the automobile look like that we will be driving towards the vision?

When a new team member comes into the business, they need to know where their role fits within the larger whole. The good ol' fashioned Org Chart is a visual representation of what the vehicle of your business looks like so they know what they are riding in.

Fourth, what are the specifications of the engine used to motor you to your destination?

One of the most powerful tools in your business is the Master Process Roadmap. Imagine this, your entire business on one sheet of digital paper.

Broken down into four systems - Admin, Ops, Sales, and Marketing - the Master Process Roadmap spells out all of the processes needed to send your business vehicle motoring down the road to your destination.

The final question every entrepreneur must answer for their employees and themselves is "why?"

Why are we going to that destination?

What is the emotion...the magnet...the draw that is pulling us to that particular destination?

WHY ARE YOU GOING THAT WAY?

Whatever your answer is, that is your mission.

Five questions that every entrepreneur must spend time on…

1. Where are we going?
2. How are we getting there?
3. What vehicle are we taking?
4. What engine is powering the vehicle?
5. Why are we going in the first place?

Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose, author of Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters. Scott also hosts The Business On Purpose Podcast and can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.

5 questions to ask every new hire...EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK!

It never fails to happen after hiring...the honeymoon phase is over, the patience is wearing thin with the new employee, and they seem to maybe have fibbed a bit on their resume. Well, they're your problem now...YOU HIRED THEM!

We see it so often with our clients. A business owner gets so excited to hire someone and thinks they're going to magically fix so many problems just by existing in the business! But, as you and I know, that rarely happens.

New hires come with baggage! They come with bad habits and different ways of doing things. So often, business owners tolerate things that drive them nuts until finally it all boils over and they blow up...ok, let's NOT do that if we can help it.

This is the reason we put together an incredible onboarding process for every new hire. I know this process backwards and forwards, because I've been participating in it weekly for almost the past 6 mos. That's right...every week. For 6 months!

Here's what I can tell you… it works! It has given me radical clarity for how to do the job I'm being asked to do and also has helped shape me into the employee that my boss desires.

So, here's 5 questions to ask your new hire...every single week! Carve out some time and get it on the calendar for onboarding time. Never cancel it and watch the results!

1. How are you seeing us live out our Mission/Vision/Values?

Give your employees a chance to tell you if they even know the mission/vision/values of your business. You might be shocked to realize you've never communicated that to them. Hopefully, you hear a little bit about how your business is accomplishing these things and it's an encouragement to you as the owner, but if they can't point to anything you need to swallow your pride and figure out a better way to show these in the day to day.

2. What are you seeing?

You'll never get your employees eyes back. Now, what does that mean? Well, they will see things and experience things that you want to capture. Things that seem a little off or things that they're probably asking why do we do things this way? You want to give them an open ended question to be able to ask about them. WHo knows? It may give you perspective you need that you had never considered before, since you've see it done one way forever! It's so valuable to capture their experience and what they're seeing from day one.

3. What questions do you have about your Job Role?

This ones simple, give them a chance to tell you where they're struggling and where they lack clarity in their role. So often new employees just want to act like they have it all together, but this gives them the chance to admit where they're struggling so you can get them up to speed faster! It also helps you record processes that are unclear or ones that you need to have written down!

4. What do you need from us?

Again, this ones simple. Give them an open ended question to ask for help, if needed. This is relational more than anything. Ever week they will hear that you are for them, on their team, wanting them to succeed and willing to do what it takes to help them succeed. That's all you can ask for as an employee.

5. Here's what we see…

Here's your moment to offer encouragement and critique their work. Notice that it needs to be BOTH! But too often, we wait for a year end review to offer critical performance reviews. This gives you a weekly time to make small tweaks along the way. It makes job performance normal instead of it feeling like the end of the world when your boss unloads on you! It also keeps you from sweeping things under the rug and building up resentment towards employees. Let's talk about it, get it out of the way, fix it and move forward!

That's it. Record the answers as you go, so you can come back to them and have documentation from all of these answers. It's life changing for your employee, too. Imagine having a boss that gave you a voice to speak out on what you see, gave you clarity about what you're being asked to do, offered to help whenever needed and then offered constructive feedback each week.

That's what your business needs! That's what your employees need from you, as the owner. Don't wait for them to figure it out, but take control of the onboarding process today...even if your employees have been around for months or years. It's never too late to start.

Have a great day y'all!

What matters most?

Here at BOP we have a mission statement that is the why behind everything we do. It's "Liberating business owners from the chaos of working in their business…" but we also add this on at the end, "and freeing them up to concentrate on what matters most!"

It's something we stand by and something that fuels everything that we do. Yes, business coaching is a passion of ours, but it's the "what", not the "why." It's the freedom to concentrate on what matters most that pushes us.

You see, when you're locked into chaos, you're blind to the needs around you. You're blind to what you're supposed to be doing because you're stuck putting out fires and doing what you HAVE to do.

So what is that? If you were to fill in the blank of what matters most to you, what would that be? That's why the Vision story is so important! It's doing the deep work of figuring out what you truly want once the chaos is gone!

What happens if you find yourself free from the chaos and watching afternoon talk shows, snacking on Cheetos every day. Or binging the next Netflix series that adds nothing to your life because you have nothing else on your to-do list. Is that what this is about? Now, there's a real story there and it's hilarious, but No! It's so much more than that. It's taking that time free from chaos and figuring out what using that time for what matters most is all about.

Is it coaching a kids sport team or driving them to dance classes? Is it taking your wife on a date regularly and investing in your marriage? Is it being engaged with your family, not just physically present as a business owner told me last week. Is it setting up team development meetings to actually pour into your team and invest in their professional and personal development? Is it hiring new team members and providing jobs for your community?

Maybe it's getting engaged in your church or a local non-profit, maybe mentoring a younger business professional and sharing what you know? Is it giving generously because you have more than you need?

I cannot make these decisions for you, but I know that there is freedom to be had from chaos and I know that when that comes...you have to know what you want to do with that freedom. It's worth it!

Your work is more than "What" you do...it's how it frees you up to make an impact on others and what you do with that margin that makes such a difference in your family and your community. And THAT, is what should drive you out of bed in the morning.

Have a great weekend everyone!