Take Flight – Business Growth Strategies with Business Coach Dan Holstein

The difference between a Zapper and Sapper is the energy the person brings to those around them. A Zapper brings energy and a Sapper drains energy from those around them.

Think of the folks you enjoy spending time with - I would wager that they are Zappers - you leave an interaction with them feeling better - energized, upbeat and positive. And the folks you would prefer not to spend too much time with - likely they are Sappers - you leave an interaction with them feeling a bit drained, worn and negative.
 
How does being a Zapper or Sapper impact your team, your customers, and your business? Listen this week's video to find out!

Connect with me on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on our YouTube Channel
Watch THIS episode on our YouTube Channel
Schedule a Discovery Call with me
www.kaizenperformance.com

If you are considering exiting your business in the next few years, NOW is the time to get to work on increasing the value of your business.

This week's video is episode 1 of 10 in my Driving Business Value series, and is all about Key Person Reliance. Key Person Reliance or Dependency is where any one person is too important to the business, which can cause your business value to diminish.

Check out this week's video to learn about the  4 main areas of Key Person Dependency, and if any one of them may be impacting the value of your business - and what to do about it!

Connect with me on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on our YouTube Channel
Watch THIS episode on our YouTube Channel
Schedule a Discovery Call with me
www.kaizenperformance.com

You know effective execution is what keeps your business moving forward quickly and profitably, but sometimes getting the entire organization to execute well is a challenge. 

In today’s video I share the three key things to have in mind for effective execution:

 1. Clear priorities for everyone 

2. Measurement of progress on priorities 

3. Effective meeting rhythms. Not just meetings that everyone hates and could have been done by email, but “effective meetings”. Regularly, to make sure we’re all staying focused and uncovering challenge areas before they turn into problems. 

And most importantly, a culture of execution is fostered by you as leadership, staying focused and doing what you say you’re going to do.

Connect with me on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on our YouTube Channel
Watch THIS episode on our YouTube Channel
Schedule a Discovery Call with me
www.kaizenperformance.com

Did you know that most business owners think their business is worth more than it is? The reality is your business is only worth what someone will pay for it - not necessarily what you think they should pay.

If you are making decisions about business succession or transition based on guessing - you could be setting yourself up for disappointment.

In this week's video, I share two common reasons why owners overvalue their businesses, and an action step for you to take to eliminate the guesswork about your business's value.

You’ve poured a lot of blood, sweat and tears into building your business - let's make sure that when it's time to move on from your business, it really pays off for you!

Connect with me on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on our YouTube Channel
Watch THIS episode on our YouTube Channel
Schedule a Discovery Call with me
www.kaizenperformance.com

When you’re asked, "How’s business?" Do you answer “Busy!”

Is busy something that happens to us or are we busy by choice?
Often I see business owners over-commit out of a sense of service, and responsibility and obligation. As well, we are often the only ones who are able to execute on many areas of the business and we haven’t been successful at delegating and handing off many of those responsibilities to our team.
 
In today’s video, I share with you a strategy I’ve helped my clients with, to help you move away from “busy” and get some time off. Full disclosure – it’s not an overnight strategy, but with commitment on your part, you can have a plan to get some time off and at the same time, get leverage for yourself.

Connect with me on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on our YouTube Channel
Watch THIS episode on our YouTube Channel
Schedule a Discovery Call with me
www.kaizenperformance.com

Video can be used to communicate with your customers, your staff, and even improve your sales processes. 

This week I sat down with Raymond Tuquero - filmmaker, videographer and the owner of Creative Crunch Productions to discuss how to effectively use video to grow your business.

We had a wide ranging conversation that included Raymond sharing insights on:

• Why an effective strategy is critical to successfully using video
• Common mistakes people make when using video in their business
• How to pick the best video production company for your unique business need

We had a lot of fun, and I learned a lot from Raymond. I hope you will get as much out this conversation as I did!

We’re always looking to bring you great content - please leave us a comment if this has been a valuable interview for you.


Connect with me on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on our YouTube Channel
Watch THIS episode on our YouTube Channel
Schedule a Discovery Call with me
www.kaizenperformance.com

Would you like to get an accurate idea of your business performance but don’t know what exactly to look at? In this video, I go over important metrics for measuring success in your business and how you can identify the changes that you need to make in order to scale.

👉 Subscribe

First of all, it’s important to keep in mind that there’s only a few indicators you should be measuring. The question is: How do you determine which indicators to look at?

Well, it’s important to figure out what it is that you want to change. If you want to change your profitability, then it’s a good idea to measure profits. If you want to change the quantity of your sales, then you should look at sales. The change you want to see will ultimately determine your metrics for measuring success.

So, which metrics will be most likely to tell you about your business performance? For this, you’re going to have to look at both lagging and leading indicators.

A lagging indicator for sales would be how many sales were actually made. Lagging indicators are helpful because they show us patterns after the fact. A leading indicator in the case of sales would be prospecting activities. Things like, how many proposals did you make? How many people did you talk to over the phone or face-to-face?

Once you can see the data for the lagging and leading indicators, you can take action to change the activities leading to the outcomes you want. The value of these different metrics for measuring success is that they allow you to focus your time and energy. If you want to improve your overall business performance, getting clear about what needs to change is a crucial first step.

Connect with me on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on our YouTube Channel
Watch THIS episode on our YouTube Channel
Schedule a Discovery Call with me
www.kaizenperformance.com

If you have been in business for a while, you've most likely experienced a situation where a long time team member is no longer able to keep up - and their performance is having a negative effect on the business.

It could be their role has become more complex, or requires a different skillset, or a new way of thinking - and the team member is unable to evolve.

This is a challenging situation, and I often see business owners procrastinate on doing anything about it - usually because of the long term relationship they have with the team member. So, what do you do with a long time team member that used to be a high performer? Fire them? Train them? Redeploy them?

Check out this week's video where I share some thoughts on how to handle a situation like this, so that your business can continue to grow.

Connect with me on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on our YouTube Channel
Watch THIS episode on our YouTube Channel
Schedule a Discovery Call with me
www.kaizenperformance.com

We hire team members because we have a role that needs fulfilling and the folks we hire seem to be the best candidates possible. But sometimes these rock stars turn out to just 'ok' or 'so-so' performers.

What to do?

Sometimes as business owners, we start to compensate for a team member's weaknesses by helping them out here and there and picking up their slack - or generally accepting lower performance than is required of the role.

In this week's episode, I share how to stop compensating for your team, and how to bring these people back up to being top performers.

Connect with me on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on our YouTube Channel
Watch THIS episode on our YouTube Channel
Schedule a Discovery Call with me
www.kaizenperformance.com

In this video, I discuss the importance of identifying your business weaknesses so that you can fix them before getting “shot down.” You see, often the areas of improvement that make businesses most vulnerable are, in fact, ones that we wouldn’t necessarily think of. 

The reason I talk about getting “shot down” is because during WWII, when planes would come back from seeing action, they’d be all shot up. Chunks would be missing, and holes would be left in the wings from flak or other debris. There were naturally people who wanted to focus on fixing these damaged parts. 

However, somebody else pointed out that these planes could still fly. Although they weren’t perfect, they still worked. This person reasoned that perhaps it was the untouched parts that should be examined. Clearly, the parts that were shot could withstand quite a bit of damage. But maybe it was the untouched sections that were the true areas of improvement, and the reason why other planes were being destroyed. 

It’s important to think of your own business weaknesses in the same way. An example of this way of thinking is if a local competitor shows up near you. You’ll have to address this problem because it’s very apparent and directly impacts your business. However, what if Amazon begins selling your products online? That’s a problem that might not be as obvious, but could lead to your business being “shot down.” 

When you only focus on the most obvious deficiencies in your business, it’s easy to overlook other areas that may not be prepared to withstand a challenge. These areas of improvement can ultimately make all the difference in terms of your business success. By identifying and shoring up these business weaknesses, your business can become more resilient and ultimately more profitable.

Connect with me on LinkedIn
Watch episodes on our YouTube Channel 
Watch THIS episode on our YouTube Channel 
Schedule a Discovery Call with me 
www.kaizenperformance.com