Article: Is It Fun Being You In Your Business?

Why did you start your business? If you are like most entrepreneurs, your intention was to create a situation where you have greater control of your own destiny. You may have also wanted more freedom, financial abundance and the ability to travel frequently. Perhaps you wanted to build something meaningful that could be sold for a profit or passed down to your children. Undoubtedly, you desired to make a difference in your life and in the lives of others.

Many people who start a business do so based on what they know - what they are good at and are comfortable doing - not necessarily on what they are passionate about. Try this simple experiment to determine if you are doing what you love. Consider the entire time you have been in business. Over this period of time, how often have you been so excited about it that you couldn’t wait to engage your day? How often has it been the opposite situation? Do you dread even the thought of working on or in your business? Be honest here.

When you love what you do there is no sense of burden or drudgery. There is only enthusiasm, passion and joy. In fact, you will often feel better when you are “working” than when you are not. You will constantly seek to improve yourself and your business, ideas flow readily and it is fun being you in your business.

Sometimes people start a business based on a product or service that they believe will make them rich, but that they don’t really believe in. This will eventually create a huge disconnect within a person that even riches cannot compensate for. If you sell useless, low quality or defective goods and services, and you know it, your lack of integrity will catch up to you at some point, potentially destroying your business and the professional satisfaction you once felt.

Believing in the products and services you provide is a necessary ingredient in the enjoyment of owning your own business. Not only does integrity feel good, it also draws and retains talented team members, and will increase the number of loyal customers you serve. Integrity increases the fun, pleasure and success you experience in the running of your business.

Another key ingredient in the amount of satisfaction you receive through the running of your business is your style of and ability to lead. If you don’t like to be a leader, don’t understand what one is or how to perform this responsibility in an effective way, the amount of fun you have while engaged in your business will suffer tremendously. Ineffective leadership is, undeniably, one of the major pitfalls to happiness and success in business.

The better the leader you are, the stronger your team will be. Effective leaders provide a consistently empowering example, utilize the best tools for hiring true talent, and invest in the development of their team members. This results in greater job satisfaction, increased productivity and retention, exceptional customer service and improved sales. Becoming an exceptional leader takes time and effort, but as you do so your business runs smoother, becomes more successful and the amount of fun you experience increases exponentially.

In addition, the quality of the team you amass to perform the day-to-day operations of your business is essential to your happiness and success. All business owners understand the unending stress and challenge that poor quality team members bring to the corporate culture. This is a situation that is well worth avoiding at all cost.

The more qualified, better trained, happy and committed your team members are, the better it is for everyone involved. People who actually like and enjoy their work will perform at much higher levels than those who are not. Hiring talented individuals is truly a science, and I have proven strategies that will dramatically improve your success rate.

As an internationally recognized coach and consultant, I have met many business owners who are financially successful, yet are not thriving. Financial success is only one aspect of your business. When you are passionate about your business - when you truly love and believe in what you do - and are an effective leader who has built a capable, happy and loyal team, greater financial rewards will follow. And, most importantly, it will be fun being you in your business.

Ask yourself: Is it fun being you in your business? If not, call me. Let’s make it so today!

Coaching Tip #778

When you improve yourself, your life follows suit. Pick one thing that you know will enhance who you are, and how you live. Give consistent time and attention to the development of yourself in this area. Focus, stay committed, work on this aspect of yourself every day, and little by little - sometimes in big leaps - you will enhance yourself and the life you are living.

Coaching Tip #777

Effective communication is a vital component to any rewarding and successful relationship. If the quality of communication fades, so does the quality of the relationship itself. Care deeply about the people you are in relationship with, learn to be an absolute listener, and keep the lines of communication open and flowing freely - be present and active in your relationships. A powerful rule of thumb is to communicate with others the way you would want them to communicate with you.

Coaching Tip #776

Imagine the positive impact on our world if each of us consciously extended kindness and generosity on a daily basis. Giving for the sheer joy of giving - without any desire for a reciprocating action - is a delicious experience. Share your smile with the world, contribute to a charity, hug someone who needs it - give of yourself in ways that are meaningful to you, and that will touch others in a positive and uplifting way. What acts of kindness can you perform today?

Coaching Tip #775

Always make choices that empower you, no matter who or what the moments of your life may contain. The challenges you face are truly opportunities to discover your power as a human being. You are resilient, you can persevere and you will rise to new heights whenever you face your challenges head on, and use them to empower yourself. Grow stronger through the living of your life.

Coaching Tip #774

It is quite common for people to believe that they are at the mercy of others, and the circumstance in life for what they want. This feeling of powerlessness is unpleasant to say the least. The truth is - you do have power over your thoughts. While you may not be able to change a given circumstance, you can CHOOSE thoughts that empower you in the face of it. And, when you do so, the actions you take and the words you speak come from a place of strength, and you feel good.

Coaching Tip #773

There is one thing, above all others, that makes this day amazing. You woke up, and took a breath. This is the miracle - the gift really - of each day that makes everything else in your life possible. No matter your circumstances, as long as the gift of life is with you, there is at least one reason to be grateful on a daily basis.

Coaching Tip #772

Focus your time, attention and energy on what you can accomplish today. The less you focus on the issues of the past, and the worries of the future, the more resources you will have to apply to the now in your life. Today is where the past and future you desire is built. Be here now, make this one day in your life all it can be, do the same every day, and you will create a fantastic life for yourself.

Coaching Tip #771

Make every effort to enhance yourself in any way you can - learn, implement, grow and become more than you were. You are your greatest asset, therefore, invest yourself wisely in the living of your life, grow wiser through the process and become the greatest version of you that you possibly can. Life waits for no one, time keeps marching on, and your opportunities are now. Position yourself for what you want to experience, and go for it!

Coaching Tip #770

Throughout your lifetime, people will attempt to challenge your worth as a human being. The greater your self-worth, the less this will negatively affect you. Self-worth is an inside job - you define it -otherwise it would be called others-worth. Never define yourself based on the opinions of others. Instead, come to know, accept and embrace who you are, as you also endeavor to be the greatest version of yourself.

Article: Integrity + Personal Accountability = Customer Satisfaction

In my last column, I described how allowing personal issues to negatively affect your customers exacts a heavy cost on your business due to customer dissatisfaction. I also explained that in order to be a top notch company, you must eradicate any undue burden to your customer base. Now, I want to share with you the tremendous power that lies in always being integrity based and personally accountable.

Both my previous column and this one were inspired by two separate negative interactions with the same business owner - my gardener. During his last two visits, my fountain was showered with grass clippings and my newly reseeded areas were mowed, even after having asked him not to do so. After being met with only attitude and excuses, I was planning to fire him until his integrity and personal accountability came shining through in a personal phone call.

Being a person of integrity, holding yourself personally accountable and operating your company from these core values, will limit negative customer interactions and can save customer relationships gone awry. Even the very best businesses do not run perfectly and without missteps. While you obviously need to be your very best - day in and day out - in order to attract and retain customers, operations will not always run at their highest level without fail. When your company drops the ball with a customer, operate with profound integrity to make the most of a bad situation.

There is no doubt that my gardener let his own personal issues affect his interactions with me in ways that damaged our relationship. Doing business with him was actually detracting from the quality of my life because of the added work it took to repair his poor workmanship and his lack of attention to detail. In addition, the negative interactions in my otherwise pleasant day were disheartening. Bottom line, I was not receiving value for my investment.

I was literally discussing letting him go with my wife when my gardener called. He proactively took responsibility for his lack of quality work and the unsatisfactory experiences I’d had with him. This time, his tone was polite. He did not make excuses or try to blame me. He acted professionally, with integrity and took personal accountability for the actions that led to my lack of satisfaction. In addition, he apologized for his actions, promising that there would be no issues going forward and asking that we give him another chance.

His “timely” phone call saved our business relationship, for now. Although I agreed to his request, I know - as a customer - that only time will tell if he delivers on his promise. Choosing to take this path when you or someone on your team has mistreated a customer can salvage a business relationship. If you then follow through on your guarantee to never let it happen again, a loyal relationship - one filled with repeat business and referrals - can be built.

My gardener’s call - with its content, tone and his personal guarantee - immediately allowed me to reconsider my decision to fire him and instead keep him on. My mind was freed to change direction as his actions reopened the door for us to continue, at least for now, doing business together. This is what you will buy yourself, and your business, if you take the same road my gardener did when your company wrongs a customer.

The critical component to creating and maintaining top notch customer service is often overlooked as businesses focus on the financial bottom line. Never forget, however, that without loyal customers, the resulting bottom line is closing your doors. And, if you can’t attract and retain new customers, your bottom line won’t grow at all. Exceptional customer service must be a top priority every time a customer “chooses” to interact with your business.

In closing, rather than viewing “customer service training” as a cost to your business, come to see it as a very wise investment in your team, your customers and their satisfaction, and ultimately, in your bottom line success. When you make the strong decision to hire a qualified professional to guide you and your business to the ranks of the exceptional, your operations will run smoother, you will attract and retain new customers, and your business will flourish.

Coaching Tip #769

When you child says good morning daddy, when your spouse expresses their love for you, when someone thanks you or pays you a compliment hear them, feel their sincerity and absorb the moment. There are such wonderful, true and uplifting messages being shared in the midst of the “problems” and negative messages of the world. Focus in on the good, the powerful, the inspiring, and your life, will be filled with the best life has to offer.

Coaching Tip #768

Each day holds endless amounts of potential for joy and happiness. Enjoy the warmth of the morning sun, time with loved ones, moments of peace and contentment, the tenderness of an embrace, laughter with friends - enjoy your life in all its expressions. As you engage your life with passion, infusing each experience with gratitude, you will fill to overflowing with the delicious nectar of joy and happiness.

Coaching Tip #767

The amount of happiness or unhappiness you experience is directly related to your dominant mindset and the choices it sponsors. When you choose to look for, and find, every reason to be happy, you will increase the amount of happiness you experience. The same is also true of unhappiness. Remember, the choice is truly yours.

Coaching Tip #766

The more you look at things in your life as problems, the tougher it is to maintain a happy disposition? Seeing anything as a "problem" is a mindset, and your mindset is within your control. Instead of defining things in your life as problems, classify them as opportunities to learn, grow and overcome that which stands before you. With this empowered mindset, you will rise above the quagmire of problems, while not giving your happiness away to the circumstances of your life.

Coaching Tip #765

It is in the everyday aspects of life that your greatest amount of happiness and success can be derived. Your family, friends, health, abilities, sunrises and sunsets, and peaceful moments of contentment have the ability to bring you joy on a daily basis. Being grateful, soaking up all the moments of your life, especially the everyday ones, and celebrating all you’re blessed with will fill you to the brim with happiness.

Coaching Tip #764

Your life is a garden, and you are the gardener. If you are to have a bountiful and happy life, you must plant the seeds of what you want to harvest and enjoy. You also must tend to your life on a daily basis, giving yourself what you need to grow, and removing weeds wherever you find them. A garden reaches its potential only when it is cared for, and your life becomes great when you constantly love and nurture it.

Coaching Tip #763

Believe in your ability to create the life you want. No matter the challenges you face, never let the obstacles that appear in your life become “problems” that stop your forward movement. Instead, turn them into building blocks for the life you desire. You can do it, and believing in yourself is the first step.

Article: Don't Allow Personal Issues to Negatively Affect Customers

Have you ever had the unsavory experience of being treated poorly during the course of a business transaction, due to no action on your part? How did it make you feel? Did you receive the value you were looking for? Did the experience interrupt the pleasant flow of your day? Were you inclined to never do business with that person or company again?

When any company representative transfers their own personal issues onto a customer, it creates dissatisfaction and doubt in the heart and mind of this customer. For any business owner who desires to be successful, this is the exact opposite of what you want to impart to your clientele.

There is a tremendous amount of cross-over between the personal and professional lives of people. Frequently, a great amount of time and energy is spent on the job re-hashing, both mentally and verbally, the unresolved and troubling personal challenges they face. More often than you might realize, this situation leads to a negative business environment, lost productivity and unfavorable interactions with customers. What business can afford to lose customers and revenues to behaviors that have no place in a top notch company?

Awareness of this issue is important. Whether it is the owner, manager or any other team member, people have the tendency to get “wrapped up” in their own personal issues, issues that have nothing to do with fellow team members and customers. When this happens, they become self-consumed and are blind to the reality of doing business, which has everything to do with taking care of others. Whenever personal baggage is brought into the business environment, customer interactions are never good and no one wins.

As a rule, rather than spending your day consumed by anything that may have happened outside of work, choose to use your time at your place of business as a much needed break from what is bothering you. Since you truly can’t do anything about your situation while on the clock, choose to bring your best to work and then deal with personal matters during lunch or at the end of the day.

The secret in creating a win-win situation here is to be able to shift gears. The issues people carry with them are the result of things that happened in the past, while each new customer service experience is a present moment reality. It is imperative that all team members be coached on developing skills that allow them to shift out of “what was then” in order to effectively deal with “what is now”. By choosing to do so, each customer will receive quality service without the negativity of a previous and unrelated event.

Being self-aware and able to consciously direct one’s self in the most constructive direction possible during each individual customer interaction is a learned skill. When the team members of a business are taught to be present, not take things personally, remain composed, care deeply and treat others as they would want to be treated, their ability to provide exceptional customer service increases exponentially.

Investing in high quality, on-going customer service training will position your entire team to be their best in meeting, and even exceeding, the wants and needs of your very important customers. Just as there is a great deal of coaching and training that goes into becoming a top notch athlete, the same is true for becoming a top notch company.

When team members become aware of their mindset, behaviors and the outcomes that they are creating, and when they understand how to do things differently to produce better results, customer service rapidly improves. And, as the service your customers receive rises to new levels in quality, greater customer satisfaction, increased referrals, improved business practices and higher revenues follow. This is a win-win situation!

When you choose to invest in your team’s development - in their ability to provide the exceptional customer service experience - your ROI in all forms will surprise you. Just one negative customer interaction, at the hands of a negative team member bringing their personal issues to bear on a customer, will have a ripple effect that will cost your greatly.

Coaching Tip #762

Do you ever feel like you are taking two steps back, for every one step forward? The truth is, you are always moving forward when you choose to learn from your missteps and, implement your newly acquired knowledge for a better outcome. Life is not a straight line up, but the dips do not have to take you down into the depths either. Enjoy the forward steps you take, and turn those missteps into the next platform from which to rise higher in your life.