The How of Business - How to start, run & grow a small business.

Henry’s Top 10 Personal & Business Productivity Tools.

Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/544-top-10-productivity-tools/

In this episode of The How of Business, host Henry Lopez shares his current top 10 productivity tools that help him stay organized and efficient as a small business owner and business coach.

These essential tools form the foundation of his daily operations, from using Outlook to manage all scheduling, to creating visuals with Canva, and simplifying client bookings with Calendly.

Henry explains why he relies on ChatGPT for content creation, how Zapier automates repetitive tasks, and how Mailchimp and HubSpot enhance his client communication and relationship management.

Listen to this episode to hear Henry's tips for choosing affordable, easy-to-use technology that can transform productivity and streamline operations for small business owners at any stage.

This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

1-3-1 Problem Solving Method, a simple yet effective approach to empower your team to independently tackle and solve problems in your small business.

Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/542-employee-on-boarding/

**Episode Summary: The 1-3-1 Problem Solving Method for Small Business Owners**

Co-hosts Henry Lopez and David Begin introduce the 1-3-1 Problem Solving Method, a simple yet effective approach to empower your team to independently tackle challenges.

This method encourages critical thinking, autonomy, and proactive problem-solving by guiding team members to define a problem, brainstorm three possible solutions, and then recommend one solution to implement.

As a small business owner, you don’t have to be the Chief Problem Solver. By teaching your team to use the 1-3-1 method, you can delegate decision-making, develop your team’s leadership skills, and free yourself to focus on strategic activities.

We’ll walk through how to introduce this method to your team, using real-world examples, and share tips on how to foster a culture of independent problem-solving.

Key benefits of the 1-3-1 Method include:

- Empowering teams to solve problems on their own.

- Reducing dependency on management for day-to-day issues.

- Accelerating decision-making.

- Encouraging proactive, strategic thinking and boosting accountability.

Listen to this podcast episode to learn how to implement this method and develop a more self-sufficient, confident, and capable team.

This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

The 6 Stages of Successful Employee On-Boarding for small businesses. How to create an effective on-boarding process that sets new hires and contractors up for long-term success.

Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/542-employee-on-boarding/

Go to the Show Notes to download the free Employee On-Boarding Guide.

In this episode of The How of Business podcast, Henry Lopez dives deep into the essential strategies for creating a robust employee onboarding process tailored for small business owners.

Employee onboarding is not just about the first day - it’s about setting new hires, including contractors, up for long-term success.

From pre-hire preparation to ongoing support, Henry breaks down the six key stages of effective onboarding, offering practical tips to ensure new team members feel welcomed, engaged, and productive from the start.

Some of the critical benefits discussed include improved employee retention, enhanced productivity, and clarity in role expectations.

Henry highlights the importance of a well-prepared first day, structured training, regular performance check-ins, and continuous feedback. He also shares insights on avoiding common pitfalls, such as overwhelming new hires, and emphasizes how a smooth onboarding process can strengthen the culture of a small business.

Listeners will learn how to develop a structured approach that fosters clear communication, effective training, and consistent feedback.

Whether you’re looking to enhance your existing program or build one from scratch, this episode is packed with actionable advice to help you create a seamless onboarding experience that boosts productivity and retention for your small business.

This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

Navigating growth while minimizing chaos in your small business, with entrepreneur Garrett Delph.

Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/541-garrett-delph-navigating-growth/

In this episode of The How of Business, Henry Lopez chats with serial entrepreneur Garrett Delph about how to navigate growth while minimizing chaos in your small business. Garrett shares his insights on streamlining operations, defining roles, and building a culture that fosters employee retention and sustainable growth.

Learn how to scale your business without letting chaos take over!

Garrett Delph advises that minimizing chaos in a small business requires mindful planning, clear role definitions, and effective delegation. He stresses that chaos often results from disorganization, reactive decision-making, and the lack of proper operational structures. To combat this, business owners should create clear job descriptions, define values that guide decision-making, and establish processes that support growth without overloading employees.

He highlights the importance of hiring the right talent, creating growth paths for employees, and ensuring responsibilities are balanced. Garrett also emphasizes that chaos is not inevitable and can be managed with the right frameworks and proactive leadership.

This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

Is your small business competitive? Whether you are starting a business, or running and growing a small business, you must be able to beat the competition in your selected market for your business to remain viable.

Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/540-is-your-business-competitive/

On this episode Henry shares his thoughts and tips on remaining competitive in your market or expanding and shifting into new markets in order to remain competitive.

While the business idea is the "what" of the business, the business model is the "how." Your business model is how you will run your business to make a profit, have the ability grow, and remain competitive.

Staying competitive is essential for long-term growth and success of your business.

Being competitive starts with understanding your Competitive Landscape. Who are the competitors in your market? What is their position? Are they dominant or is there truly an opportunity to compete or displace them? If it’s a new competitor, are going to be able to leapfrog you unless you change something?

Topics covered on this episode include:

What it means to be a competitive small business. Blue Ocean Strategy. Signs Your Business is NOT competitive. How to help your small business remain competitive.

Staying competitive isn’t just about competing—it’s about innovating, understanding your unique strengths, and focusing on your customers.

Remaining competitive in business requires offering unique value, understanding the competitive landscape, and using strategies like differentiation and the Blue Ocean Strategy. A small business can lose its competitiveness because of stagnant innovation which ultimately results in declining profits. A small business most remaining competitive, including refining a unique value proposition, exploring new markets, and continuous innovation.

This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

Achieving small business success requires personal sacrifice. What are you willing to sacrifice to launch and grow your small business?

Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/r239-personal-sacrifice/

This is a re-release of Episode 239 of The How of Business podcast with additional new content and edits.

Outline of this episode on the personal sacrifices required to achieve small business success:

Definition and Meaning of Sacrifice: Henry Lopez, host of The How of Business podcast, defines "sacrifice" in the context of small business success: Sacrifice is defined as the destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else. Henry Lopez emphasizes that sacrifice is essential for small business success, particularly when launching a new business.

Willingness to Make Sacrifices: A major obstacle to business success is the lack of willingness to make necessary sacrifices. Aspiring small business owners often struggle with giving up their current lifestyle, free time, or comfort in pursuit of their business dreams.

Examples of Sacrifices: Sacrifices might include giving up hobbies, free time, sleep, and even time with friends and family. Henry explains that launching and growing a business often requires significant dedication and effort, sometimes at the expense of personal life.

Financial Sacrifices: Aspiring business owners must have their personal finances in order to start and sustain a business. Henry highlights the importance of reducing debt, improving credit scores, and being financially prepared to go without a paycheck during the early stages of business start-up.

Actionable Advice: Henry encourages listeners to list 2-5 specific things they are willing to sacrifice and allocate the time saved toward starting or building their business. He stresses the importance of being honest with oneself and remaining focused on these sacrifices to achieve long-term business goals.

Sacrifice - what are you willing to personally sacrifice to become your own boss and start your first business? If you are already in business, what are you willing to sacrifice further to grow it? On this episode of the top-rated podcast for small business, Henry Lopez shares his thoughts on the kind of sacrifices that, based on his entrepreneurship experience, you must be willing to make in order to succeed as a small business owner - particularly when launching your first business.

The questions to ask yourself include:

What are you willing to sacrifice to realize your dreams of becoming your own boss?

Are you willing to sacrifice your quality of life today for something more in the future?

Are you willing to give up hobbies, free time, family time and friend time all to devote to your business?

Are you willing to work harder than you ever have at something?

This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

Is your small business Scalable? How do you know if you are ready to scale, and how do you grow your business to the next level?

Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/539-is-your-business-scalable/

How and when do you plan to scale? Particularly, when will you be able to scale past just yourself?

On a previous episode of The How of Business podcast, episode 532, Henry Lopez addressed the higher-level question: Is Your Business Model Broken? How can you tell, and how do you fix it?

A strong and healthy business model supports a business that is consistently profitable, can scale and remains competitive.

Then on episode 537 Henry Lopez focused on Profitability.

This episode help you determine if Your Small Business is Scalable.

Topics include: What is Scaling? Signs Your Business is Ready to Scale. Why Should You Scale Your Small Business? Common Fears or Concerns. How Do You Scale Your Small Business?

It’s fine if you simply want to be a solopreneur. But if you want to grow a business that is completely or somewhat owner-independent, if you want to be an entrepreneur, and perhaps be able to exit your business, then you need to scale to the next level.

This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

The Five Pillars of Leadership to help you lead a high-performing small business, with Brian Gottlieb.

Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/538-brian-gottlieb-5-leadership-pillars/

Brian shares his entrepreneurial journey and introduces the five foundational pillars of leadership.

Executing on these five leadership pillars allows you to develop a high-performing organization. And help your managers get out of crisis mode so they can effectively lead their teams.

Brian Gottlieb is an inspirational business leader who in 2009, founded Tundraland Home Improvements on a plastic folding table with $3,000.

Twelve years later, when he sold the family of businesses he created, they had diversified products, expanded across multiple states, grown to 600 employees, and neared $1 billion in lifetime sales. The company was recognized by INC 5000 as one of the fastest-growing companies in America.

Brian’s leadership principles are simple: Have a well-defined strategy, empower your teams, provide world-class training, and execute with consistency.

He believes that if you want to build a business, you must commit to building people. This clarity of focus created a meaningful culture, making his company the best place to work in his home state.

Brian’s book “Beyond the Hammer: A Fresh Approach to Leadership, Culture, and Building High Performance Teams” is being published by Forbes and will be available September 10, 2024.

This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

Is your small business profitable, and is the business consistently and sufficiently profitable?

Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/537-profitable-small-business/

And if you’ve not started your business yet, when do you plan to be profitable?

On a previous episode of The How of Business podcast, episode 532, Henry Lopez addresses higher-level question: Is Your Business Model Broken? How can you tell, and how do you fix it?

A strong and healthy business model supports a business that is consistently profitable, can scale and remains competitive.

On this episode Henry Lopez shares additional thoughts on Profitability. Because generating a consistent and sufficient profit is the primary reason we are in a for-profit business!

This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

Creating Exceptional Customer Experiences in your small business with customer service expert Samantha Irwin.

Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/536-samantha-irwin-customer-expereinces/

On this episode we discuss how to create consistently exceptional experiences for our customers.

Samantha Irwin is an entrepreneur, speaker, and the founder of Kaizen Small Business Solutions.

She is inspiring and educating teams to create exceptional Customer Experiences that foster loyalty and advocacy, driving both financial success and heartfelt service for brick-and-mortar businesses.

With over 25 years of experience in leadership, Samantha's dual background in middle school teaching and boutique hotel ownership has uniquely positioned her to empower and educate business leaders and their front-line customer service staff.

This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com