Small Business Wakeup Call

In this episode, our hosts, Lonnie Sciambi and Stan Simkins, also known, respectively, as “The Entrepreneur’s Yoda” and “The Family Biz Doc” review an ailment that affects many small businesses – “the running in place syndrome!”  And like all previous episodes they’ll use war stories, situations they’ve faced that will bring their points to life.  

All small businesses experience periods where they just seem to put things on "automatic pilot." Essentially, doing the same thing this week they did last week, last month, even last year.  Worse, they may not even realize it. until one day the owner takes a look around and realizes that the business is simply repeating history again and again.  And that means the owner and his/her small business have stopped learning and, invariably, stopped growing.

They’ll give some tell-tale signs that this could be your business and show you through their guidance and never-ending string of war stories, how you might effect change and get your business back on a growth track.

And they’ll show you the value of asking hard questions of yourself and your team and learn how to embrace new people and new ideas, right down to maybe you need to “re-invent” the basic premise of your business.

Please enjoy this session with your personal tour guides to business freedom, the dynamic duo of Stan Simkins and Lonnie Sciambi.

Find more resources and learn more about their monthly, 90-minute VIRTUAL roundtables at SBVirtualRoundtables.com

And feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected] with any feedback, questions, recommendations, or ideas for future topics of conversation.

Connect With Lonnie Sciambi

Website:        www.thevalueforce.com 

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/lonniesciambisprofile

Twitter:           www.twitter.com/yodacanhelp

Connect with Stan Simkins

Website:     www.CapitalFamilyBusiness.com

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/stanley-simkins-79399629

While in Episode 5 our hosts, Lonnie Sciambi and Stan Simkins, also known respectively as “The Entrepreneur’s Yoda” and “The Family Biz Doc” drove home the emphasis on cash, in Episode 9, they show you how to dig deeper and really understand your costs.  And like all previous episodes they’ll use war stories, situations they’ve faced that will bring their points to life.  

They will show you how too few owners really know their costs and explain how knowing your costs not only can and should drive pricing, but can make you more competitive in the marketplace..

They’ll talk about overhead rate, what it should include and how it impacts pricing and your bottom line.

They’ll give you some ideas about making your suppliers joint venture partners and to negotiate pricing where you might actually pay more, but at the same time reduce inventory and costs.

Please enjoy this session with your personal tour guides to business freedom, the dynamic duo of Stan Simkins and Lonnie Sciambi.

Find more resources and learn more about their monthly, 90-minute VIRTUAL roundtables at SBVirtualRoundtables.com

And feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected] with any feedback, questions, recommendations, or ideas for future topics of conversation.

Connect With Lonnie Sciambi

Website:        www.thevalueforce.com 

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/lonniesciambisprofile

Twitter:           www.twitter.com/yodacanhelp

Connect with Stan Simkins

Website:     www.CapitalFamilyBusiness.com

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/stanley-simkins-79399629

In episode 8, our hosts, Lonnie Sciambi and Stan Simkins, also known respectively as “The Entrepreneur’s Yoda” and “The Family Biz Doc” will drop a little deeper into sales than they did in episode 4 and show you how you might, sometimes, unknowingly, be creating your problems that are limiting your sales success.

The “Seven Deadly Sins of Selling” are basic, but often, not as obvious negative behaviors, that can inhibit or even prevent your business growth. Whether you’ve been in business for ten years or are just starting out, you should be aware of them. They are each, harmful in their own way, but taken as a group, could be fatal to a small business.  .

They’ll review each and give you both the tell-tale symptoms and potential antidotes to help you with some bad habits you may  have developed in your selling process. Things like “not doing your homework” on your market, as it changes. Or not understanding your prospects problems/needs, or paying enough attention to the competition in your market.

They’ll give you some ways to better develop and present your value proposition and make it more about the customer, less about you and your product or unique technology.

The “Seven Deadly Sins of Selling” can block sales success. Lonnie and Stan will describe what to avoid, and how to overcome them when you don’t. Your sales success depends on it!

Please enjoy this session with your personal tour guides to business freedom, the dynamic duo of Stan Simkins and Lonnie Sciambi.

Find more resources and learn more about their monthly, 90-minute VIRTUAL roundtables at SBVirtualRoundtables.com

And feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected] with any feedback, questions, recommendations, or ideas for future topics of conversation.

Connect With Lonnie Sciambi

Website:        www.thevalueforce.com 

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/lonniesciambisprofile

Twitter:           www.twitter.com/yodacanhelp

Connect with Stan Simkins

Website:     www.CapitalFamilyBusiness.com

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/stanley-simkins-79399629

In episode 7, our hosts, Lonnie Sciambi and Stan Simkins, also known respectively as “The Entrepreneur’s Yoda” and “The Family Biz Doc” will venture outside the 5 Ms, to a topic that is often confused with management - Leadership, where the 6th M, Mindset, really plays a significant role.

In this Leadership session, they’ll discuss the role that effective and consistent leadership plays in making a small business operate better and more efficiently...or not.

They’ll show you where Mindset, in the form of top-of-mind awareness (TOMA) is so important in how leadership style evolves and will challenge you to compare what you ‘know’ about that against what you ‘do’.

While having vision is important, it’s almost useless without adequately communicating it, getting team buy-in, creating and executing on a plan for that vision.

They review important leadership qualities such as communicating with, motivating and coaching your management team, creating mutual trust and respect up and down the organization and having the courage to make the tough decisions.

Learn about the Dakota tribesman wisdom of ‘The dead horse theory’ https://richsimmondsza.com/2019/03/04/the-tribal-wisdom-of-the-dakota-indians/ to avoid needless frustration, disappointment… and self-entrapment!

Leaders are different than bosses. Learn why that is and how it can change your life.

Please enjoy this session with your personal tour guides to business freedom, the dynamic duo of Stan Simkins and Lonnie Sciambi.

Find more resources and learn more about their monthly, 90-minute VIRTUAL roundtables at SBVirtualRoundtables.com

And feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected] with any feedback, questions, recommendations, or ideas for future topics of conversation.

Connect With Lonnie Sciambi

Website:        www.thevalueforce.com 

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/lonniesciambisprofile

Twitter:           www.twitter.com/yodacanhelp

Connect with Stan Simkins

Website:     www.CapitalFamilyBusiness.com

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/stanley-simkins-79399629

In episode 6, our hosts, Lonnie Sciambi and Stan Simkins, also known respectively as “The Entrepreneur’s Yoda” and “The Family Biz Doc” will continue with the 5Ms, Manpower, Management Team, Marketing/Sales, Money, Machines and Systems and the overriding 6th M – Mindset, which drives the other 5. 

In this session, they’ll talk about the last M - Machines and Systems and the role technology and process play in making a small business operate better and more efficiently...or not.

Machines and Systems covers a multitude of sins, but too many small business owners think about it in terms of technology.  They’ll show you it’s not the technology but what you can best leverage to help your business. It’s taking the pain points like overly complex (or simplistic) procedures and operations and turning them into efficient systems that provide data that drives the business.  

Additionally, they’ll show you how things like poor operator training and inefficient utilization of equipment often lead to a lack of quality that quickly becomes customer problems. Focusing on this last M with a “less is more” focus often provides you an environment that enables you to better utilize the data that the machines and systems provide, but also helps you to provide a higher quality product or service.

Please enjoy this session with your personal tour guides to business freedom, the dynamic duo of Stan Simkins and Lonnie Sciambi.

Find more resources and learn more about their monthly, 90-minute VIRTUAL roundtables at SBVirtualRoundtables.com

And feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected] with any feedback, questions, recommendations, or ideas for future topics of conversation.

Connect With Lonnie Sciambi

Website:        www.thevalueforce.com 

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/lonniesciambisprofile

Twitter:           www.twitter.com/yodacanhelp

Connect with Stan Simkins

Website:     www.CapitalFamilyBusiness.com

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/stanley-simkins-79399629

In episode 5, our hosts, Lonnie Sciambi and Stan Simkins, also known respectively as “The Entrepreneur’s Yoda” and “The Family Biz Doc” will continue with the 5Ms, Manpower, Management Team, Marketing/Sales, Money, Machines and Systems and the overriding 6th M – Mindset, which drives the other 5. 

In this session, they’ll talk about the next M - Money and how it affects cash flow, profitability and your quality of life.  You will hear ways to get more from your internal and external accountants by getting them to not only present the numbers, but interpret them. They’ll show you how to get your accountants to become analysts, performing tasks like margin analysis instead of just presenting historical financial statements.

They’ll talk about the importance of understanding costs and break-even points and what they mean to your pricing models. Simply put:  real potential to increase the trajectory curve in your company’s sales, profits and cash flow. How? Because information is power and too many small businesses are operating by the seat of their pants more than they realize.

Small business owners who view accountants as historians and a ‘necessary evil’ will be encouraged to take the lead in working more collaboratively and actively with their accountants to develop Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to better help them manage their business..

Please enjoy this session with your personal tour guides to business freedom, the dynamic duo of Stan Simkins and Lonnie Sciambi.

Find more resources and learn more about their monthly, 90-minute VIRTUAL roundtables at SBVirtualRoundtables.com

And feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected] with any feedback, questions, recommendations, or ideas for future topics of conversation.

Connect With Lonnie Sciambi

Website:        www.thevalueforce.com 

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/lonniesciambisprofile

Twitter:           www.twitter.com/yodacanhelp

Connect with Stan Simkins

Website:     www.CapitalFamilyBusiness.com

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/stanley-simkins-79399629

In episode 4, our hosts, Lonnie Sciambi and Stan Simkins, also known respectively as “The Entrepreneur’s Yoda” and “The Family Biz Doc” will continue with the 5Ms, Manpower, Management Team, Marketing/Sales, Money, Machines and Systems and the overriding 6th M – Mindset, which drives the other 5. Their objective in this session will be on Marketing and Sales and the most critical element of that – make it about the customer!

And that starts with marketing.  Marketing’s sole focus is to create qualified leads that sales can turn into customers.  In that regard marketing and sales are joined at the hip – kind of like Stan and Lonnie – two brothers from different mothers! And with marketing, you don’t get a second chance at a first impression. No matter the interaction - website, social media, how you answer the phone - it all makes an impression…and sometimes, not the one you want. But, no matter.  Every single interaction with the customer should be about the customer, not about your company or your product.

Of course, the job of sales is to turn that qualified lead into a customer sale. But, to do that you first have to create a relationship with the prospective customer before you can create that sale.

And then, they’ll talk about the importance of protecting and growing the existing customer base. They are your best source of revenue, since you’ve already made the investment and the cost of additional sales is way lower than for a new customer.

In future segments of the podcast we’ll cover the remaining 5 Ms and some business topics that are guaranteed to get you thinking, bring a smile to your face…or make you uncomfortable.  But in every session, you’ll hear something that you hadn’t heard before, even if it’s just Lonnie and Stan screaming at each other.  But we promise that through it all, we will give you practical tips that can help you set yourself free so that you not only improve your profits, cash flow and business value, but also make a better life for yourself, your family… and also for your employees.

Please enjoy another informative, entertaining session with the dynamic duo of Stan Simkins and Lonnie Sciambi.

Find more resources and learn more about their monthly, 90-minute VIRTUAL roundtables at SBVirtualRoundtables.com

And feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected] with any feedback, questions, recommendations, or ideas for future topics of conversation.

Connect With Lonnie Sciambi

Website:        www.thevalueforce.com 

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/lonniesciambisprofile

Twitter:           www.twitter.com/yodacanhelp

Connect with Stan Simkins

Website:     www.CapitalFamilyBusiness.com

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/stanley-simkins-79399629

In episode 3, our hosts, Lonnie Sciambi and Stan Simkins, also known respectively as “The Entrepreneur’s Yoda” and “The Family Biz Doc” will continue with the 5Ms -  Manpower, Management Team, Marketing/Sales, Money, Machines and Systems and the overriding 6th M – Mindset, which drives the other 5. Their focus in this session will be on Management and how not to let your business own you...instead of the other way around.

In this session, they continue their discussion about small business owners, even the most financially successful, who feel trapped in their business – whether it’s because of employee issues, financial burdens or a host of other factors.

But the most interesting part is that they let it happen!

This session will focus on how an owner's lack of self-awareness, including a failure to recognize and deal with their strengths and weaknesses contributes to their entrapment. As well, Stan and Lonnie introduce the importance of understanding one’s own personality traits and how that impacts their management style… not to mention their capacity for changes to that style.

They also discuss the significance of the typical organizational chart in many small businesses and how that serves as a prison cell for many owners.

However, they will leave you with a sense of hope that the light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train but rather an opportunity if you take action based upon their insights.      

Please enjoy this session with your personal tour guides to business freedom, the dynamic duo of Stan Simkins and Lonnie Sciambi.

Find more resources and learn more about their monthly, 90-minute VIRTUAL roundtables at SBVirtualRoundtables.com

And feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected] with any feedback, questions, recommendations, or ideas for future topics of conversation.

Connect With Lonnie Sciambi

Website:        www.thevalueforce.com 

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/lonniesciambisprofile

Twitter:           www.twitter.com/yodacanhelp

Connect with Stan Simkins

Website:     www.CapitalFamilyBusiness.com

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/stanley-simkins-79399629

In episode 2, our hosts, Lonnie Sciambi and Stan Simkins, also known respectively as “The Entrepreneur’s Yoda” and “The Family Biz Doc” will introduce you to the 5Ms from Stan’s book “Set Yourself Free” – How to Have A Thriving Small Business… and Enjoy It!” Manpower, Management Team, Marketing/Sales, Money, Machines and Systems and the overriding 6th M – Mindset, which drives the other 5.

Their big focus, in this session, will be on Manpower – and how your company and your relationship with your employees form the foundation for your company’s culture.

They'll go into some depth about culture, which is built on owner values and how those values get translated into your business and then on to your employees.  From there it’s about how employees translate that to customers because employees will treat customers the exact same way they are treated.

Finally, they’ll show you that it all starts with how you hire employees.  Anybody can hire for the position. Hiring for the culture you have or want is way harder and just as important…maybe more so!

In future segments of the podcast series, they’ll cover the remaining 5 Ms and a whole raft of other small business topics that are guaranteed to get you thinking, bring a smile to your face…or even make you uncomfortable.  But in every session, you’ll hear something that you hadn’t heard before, even if it’s just Lonnie and Stan screaming at each other.  But they promise that through it all, they will give you practical tips that can help you set yourself free so that you not only improve your profits, cash flow and business value, but also make a better life for yourself, your family… and also, for your employees.

Please enjoy another informative and entertaining session with the dynamic duo of Stan Simkins and Lonnie Sciambi.

Find more resources and learn more about their monthly, 90-minute VIRTUAL roundtables at SBVirtualRoundtables.com

And feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected] with any feedback, questions, recommendations, or ideas for future topics of conversation.

Connect With Lonnie Sciambi

Website:        www.thevalueforce.com 

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/lonniesciambisprofile

Twitter:           www.twitter.com/yodacanhelp

Connect with Stan Simkins

Website:     www.CapitalFamilyBusiness.com

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/stanley-simkins-79399629

In episode 1, we welcome our hosts, Lonnie Sciambi and Stan Simkins, also known respectively as “The Entrepreneur’s Yoda and “The Fambizdoc.” 

In today’s session, we start with a common condition that small business owners, even the most financially successful, experience during their entrepreneurial journey… namely, the feeling of being trapped by their business. Even Lonnie and Stan will attest to that feeling while building multiple businesses of their own and while guiding 100s of their clients in a wide variety of industries and sizes. 

And it all comes down to mindset.

They will talk about how mindset drives the decisions we make, providing examples of both unhealthy mindsets that can hold you and your business back, and healthy ones that can drive you forward.  And how it starts with awareness, especially self-awareness.

Then Lonnie and Stan begin a series of podcasts intended to give you practical tips that can help you set yourself free so that you not only improve your profits, cash flow and business value, but also make a better life for yourself, your family… and also for your employees.

But the frosting on the cake is that you don’t have to be a psychiatrist, magician, faith healer…or better yet, hire some high-priced consultant to achieve this freedom!

Please enjoy this informative and entertaining session with the dynamic duo of Stan Simkins and Lonnie Sciambi.

Find more resources and learn more about their monthly, 90-minute VIRTUAL roundtables at SBVirtualRoundtables.com

And feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected] with any feedback, questions, recommendations, or ideas for future topics of conversation.

Connect With Lonnie Sciambi

Website:        www.thevalueforce.com 

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/lonniesciambisprofile

Twitter:           www.twitter.com/yodacanhelp

Connect with Stan Simkins

Website:     www.CapitalFamilyBusiness.com

LinkedIn:        www.linkedin.com/in/stanley-simkins-79399629