I’m sorry to be the one to have to say this, but hey, really now — growing a business is, always has been, and always will be, work.

There are no magic beans

You’ve got to put in the hours, the brain power, and the elbow grease.

I guess there will always be people who really believe there are instant ways to build a strong business. That there’s a magic answer out there to make awesome things happen, a maneuver that will lead perfect clients to them — and all they really need to do is find that “magic trick.”

So they spend their time looking for the trick, instead of actually working on their business. And then months and years go by, and they haven’t found the trick that will make them successful, and they look around and see their business is still at the same old place it has always been.

Nowhere.

And then, when they realize they haven’t gotten anywhere, they find something to blame it on, saying marketing or websites or blogging or just plain old running a business doesn’t work. Because, after all, they tried “everything.”

I say, baloney.

The two types of business owners

I’ve been doing an experiment lately to learn more about my audience. At first I thought I’d do a survey of my list, and I still might, but then I had another idea: what if I just opened up a couple of hours every week and asked people to phone me? We’d talk for ten minutes: they could ask me a question, I’d give them my best advice, and we’d both learn something.

Here’s what I’m learning: there are two kinds of business owners out there — the ones who understand that growing their businesses takes their own hard work and involvement, and those who are looking for the magic trick.

1. The ones who understand that business is work

These are people with thoughtful questions who really just want to run something by me. They’re struggling with some element of their business, and think that talking with someone who ran a successful small business for 25 years and who’s now coaching other small businesses, might be beneficial. They’ve read my blog or ezine or listened to my webinars or teleclasses and they like the way I think, and they know I know how to build a strong business.

They also know, going in, that I can’t solve the problems of the world at ten minutes per person, and we’re having great conversations. I’m giving them insights that are really helping them, by understanding their market a little better, by getting an idea for a new offer, or by looking at something in a different way.

2. The ones who are looking for the magic trick

These are people who want me to fix their business, right now, in ten minutes. They say things like, “I have a website, and people aren’t buying from me.” They don’t hear me when I tell them it takes more than a website to get people to buy from you — and anyway, even if a website was all that mattered, there are many aspects of a website that determine how people respond to it. When questioned about the communication value of their website, or the audience they’re trying to reach, their answers are things like, “It’s good, I did it right. But why aren’t people buying from me?” The wall they put up around themselves that blocks the ability to see anything but the magic pill is so high and so thick that nothing I say can penetrate, until I can actually see them shaking their heads at the end of our time, as they mutter, “You’re just like the rest, you don’t know either. You don’t have my magic pill. I’ve wasted my time.”

It almost makes me want to add an entire product section to my site: a little brown bottle, with a plain prescription label, “The Magic Pill.” A can with a plain grocery store label, “The Magic Beans.” And a cool looking box, with abra-cadabra graphics, “The Magic Trick.” Maybe that way I’d at least have a place to refer these people who are looking for the magic store. They’d be happy they finally found what they’d been looking for, and I’d make a buck or two.

Understanding and loving your business is more magic than anything

And for those of you who want to put your heart and soul into your business, I’m so happy to have found you. Because when you’re doing what you love, the “work” of business is so much more awesome than looking for any magic anything. And, you understand that’s where the real magic is.

Here’s an interesting fact from the US Government:

During the average workday, most people spend more time goofing off than doing “real” work.

On average, 53% more time, in fact.

It gets worse.

When they are doing their “real” work, more often than not they are actually either:

a.  Only pretending to work

b.  Doing “busy work” with no value

… or …

c.  Caught up in repetitive task “work trances” that produce no real results

As entrepreneurs, our figures are probably better than that. (Those of you with employees, though, might want to take heed) – but still, you get the point. These activities are only purposeless on the surface – there’s almost always a deep intention to trick the world into thinking that we’re living up to our true potential, our fullest capacity.

Do something for me — think really honestly about this and then raise your hand if you genuinely think you’re living up to 100% of your true potential.

I’m looking, but I don’t see too many hands raised out there. Could it be that you also have an intention to trick the world into thinking you’re living up to your potential, even if you don’t believe it yourself?

You may not think that this pertains to you. But I challenge you to dig deep here – and unless absolutely everything in your life and your business is going exactly as you want it to, unless you have no failures along the way — it could be you.

I think it could be all of us.

That’s scary. So, why would we not live up to our own potential? Especially when we, as entrepreneurs, have so much control over what we do and how we do it?

Maybe we don’t live up to our true potential because we’re rewarded when we don’t. We get to avoid pain in the form of struggle, criticism, discomfort, possible humiliation, discouragement, gossip, not being understood, being different. If we do less than we’re capable of, we don’t run the risk. Rather than face the possibility of pain, we often don’t act at all. We don’t move towards success.

It’s kind of a trance we can get caught up in, a lie we tell ourselves. It isn’t true, and it isn’t necessary.

I’m participating in Connie Ragan Green’s 30-Day Blogging Challenge, which started yesterday. Already I’m a day off, but the rules don’t require me to post every day, just 30 times in 30 days. Since the whole idea is to get into the habit of posting regularly, I don’t want to start slipping so early — and I don’t want to be posting 10 times a day in the last 3 days, either.

This will be painful for me. I’m such a procrastinator.

Here are Connie’s other rules:

• Your name must be on your blog so we can see who you are
• Your blog must not be X rated - this does not suit my readership
• Each post must contain at least 150 written words
• You must post at least 30 times during the 30 day period – from April 10 through May 9 – to ONE blog
• You may post as many times as you like during a 24 hour period, but you must have at least 30 posts published between April 10 and May 9 to qualify for the challenge
• Leave a comment here with your name and the URL of the blog you will be writing on

I’m hoping this will light a fire under me and and help make writing in this blog part of my routine. Think this sounds like a good thing for you to do, too? It’s not too late to get in on the challenge at Connie’s blog.

Wish me luck!

John, Me, Ed, Marcia M (Rick not pictured)

It seems like I’ve been getting a lot of questions about Masterminding recently — from private coaching clients, friends, and comments on this blog. So I dug out and dusted off this article that ran last year in my marketing newsletter — it was good for me to read it again, too.

Hey, I’m telling you — once I got into a Mastermind group, I was smitten. For me, Masterminding is the best way to keep myself stretching, motivated, and accountable. I’ve tried to be involved in some type of “group mind” since I started my marketing and branding firm 25 years ago. (After I got over the shock of realizing I was running a “real” business and had better learn to do it right.)

My first Mastermind was in the form of an advisory board I put together to hold myself accountable for how I ran my business, and although that wasn’t a true Mastermind because I was the only one benefiting, it wet my whistle for this kind of support. Nine years ago, I started meeting quarterly with other marketing communications firm owners — this gang is still going strong — and we truly do inspire and support each other. And as a bonus, I also count them as some of my closest friends. Entrepreneurism is a pretty dang lonely row to hoe, and finding these people, for me, was like finding my first humans after living my whole life on the moon.

Four years ago I joined a paid Mastermind group that was online- and information marketing-based and full of high-powered, successful entrepreneurs who gave me a real run for my money. The formal paid part ended after a year, but we’d come to rely on each other so much that we continued to meet on our own, and I’m still in very close touch with many of them, as well. And then I joined yet another paid Mastermind group. And another informal group, although not all at the same time. I told you I was smitten.

I love the challenge of learning new things and being encouraged by others who are passionate about what they do. And there’s something about having skin in the game to hike it up a notch. There really is a magic to it!

If you’re not yet doing any Masterminding, I encourage you to find or form a group and dig in!

The Power of Masterminding

Masterminding is not brainstorming. It’s not just a few people getting together and generating ideas and coming out with an action plan, although that certainly has its place. Masterminding isn’t networking, either, although many great relationships are built through Masterminding. Masterminding is much, much greater than either of these.

In his book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill describes the Masterminding principle as having two distinct characteristics:

1. The economic advantages of being surrounded by the advice, counsel, and personal cooperation of a group of people who are willing to lend you wholehearted aid in a spirit of perfect harmony, and

2. The psychic advantage that no two minds ever come together without, thereby, creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind.

Magic really does happen when two or more are gathered in the spirit of sharing, supporting, and receiving support. Masterminding was the secret key to success for titans of business like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and others who changed the modern world — hey, if it helped these guys, why wouldn’t everyone want to do it? And many of today’s business leaders regularly gather in Mastermind groups to benefit from the powerful group synergies.

Here are the main business advantages of belonging to a Mastermind group:

• In Masterminding, challenges are shared and participants are supported by the group. Group energy is used to support and propel participants forward toward individual goals more quickly than could be done on their own.
• Participants are held accountable for what they say they want to accomplish, in a way that assists in overcoming obstacles and supports what’s important. This accountability alone ensures accomplishment at high levels.
• Masterminding gives encouragement and builds confidence in a truthful way. Because everyone has the opportunity to both present their own challenges and to listen and assist others, beneficial symbiotic relationships form.
• Participants are listened to in a safe and non-judgmental environment. This is so rare in business today!
• Participants have more fun making progress toward goals while others cheer them on to greater results. Ditto here about what’s rare in business — often, we see just the opposite.

If you can’t find a Mastermind group you’d like to be a part of, why not start one yourself? It may take a bit of time to find the right mix of members for your group, but the search will be worth the effort. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

1. Look close to home. By that I mean, take a look at the people you click with already, those you find it easy to share ideas with. These could be people in your industry, associations, personal acquaintances, or even online contacts. (Online Mastermind groups can work just as well as in-person groups, as many groups meet by phone for their meetings.)
2. Find enthusiastic, like-minded, high-achieving individuals. Make sure you ask people who will have staying power and can commit to regular in-person or phone meetings. Try to find a common thread among participants, such as all are marketing professionals, entrepreneurs, at the same stage of business development, or other common attribute. Ask people you admire and respect!
3. Set some ground rules. There are many resources online for Mastermind group start-ups and guidelines. It’s best to get everyone on the same page as to what’s expected of members, how often and how you’ll meet, and how to best assist each other. Many groups have simple outlines they follow for each session, such as: progress since last meeting, major challenge at this time, and what each member wants help with at the current meeting.

If you’re not yet Masterminding — I can’t stress this enough — give it a try. If you are Masterminding, please leave a comment — I’d love to hear why you do it.

P.S. Looking for a structured Mastermind program? Email me. marcia@hoeck.net

One thing that always comes up with my coaching clients is the subject of how they’re spending their time. And how their people are spending their time. Often, they don’t really know.

That’s okay, I guess, if they don’t care if they’re making any money or not.

So do you really know how time is being spent in your business? If you’re not billing for hours, and fewer of us are doing that these days, I’ll bet you don’t, and I’ll bet you have all sorts of excuses why it’s too hard to track it, too.

“I do so many different things, it would be impossible to write it all down.”
“I don’t want my people spending their day tracking their time, I want to pay them to work.”
“That’s so ‘corporate.’ I didn’t start my own business to be a time Nazi.”

I hear you, I hear you. But I invite you to try a little test, and see if you don’t agree with me that:

productivity = profitability

and when you own a service business, your time is your greatest productivity tool.

Try this test
For 3 days, or a week if you can do it, keep track of everything you do. It doesn’t have to be pretty or organized, you can just carry a little spiral pad around, and every time you change functions, write down the time and what you’re doing. It might look like this:

8:30 am coffee
8:45 am organize day
9:00 am phone calls to clients
10:15 am run to post office
10:45 am write new website copy
12:15 pm lunch
etc.

When you think you’ve gathered enough info (at least 3 to 5 normal work days), go back and look it over. Highlight the time you’re spending on income-producing activities — things you can either bill for or sell.

Then go through it again and highlight the time you’re spending on bringing in income-producing work — marketing your company or prospecting for new clients — this time in another color.

You can pretty much assume the rest of the time is non-income producing time.

How do you stack up?
Take the total amount of time you’ve tracked and figure your scores for:

% of time spent on income-producing activities
% of time spent on generating income-producing activities
% of time spent on non income-producing activities
These 3 should total 100% of your time

Most entrepreneurs are appalled by the amount of time they spend doing non-income producing activities. Really, someone else should be doing that stuff.

As the owner, your time should be split between doing income-producing activities and generating income-producing activities, depending on the size and type of your business. When you’re done with your own test, give it to your team members — you need to know what the heck they’re doing, too.

I’m not going to give you percentages to aim for, I don’t know you or your business (but we can do a no-cost Laser Coaching session, if you like). I’m just saying you need to take a look at what you’re spending your time on. And if you want more income, you need to spend more of your time on activities that will produce it, and less of your time on activities that won’t.

I love monkeys, don’t you? My brother and I saw one in a Woolworth’s store (remember them?) many many years ago and I wanted to buy him so much. (I wasn’t allowed to have the monkey, but when I think that I was allowed to have the alligator, 2 ducks, 6 chicks, the mouse, the snake, and the turtles in my room, I guess I was pretty lucky.)

I learned to not take the monkeys in my company
So it isn’t any surprise that when a team member comes to me with a problem or challenge, I like to picture them with a monkey on their back. And since I like monkeys, in the early years of my business, I would often let them give me their monkey. I do love a challenge.

I had to learn to not take all of the monkeys. This was difficult at first.

Team members with monkeys often try very hard to give away their monkeys. It’s easier for them to come to the boss each time they run into a glitch or a challenge, rather than to figure it out on their own — and if the boss is willing to always give them the answer, a cumbersome cycle begins.

Are you taking the monkeys in your company?
You may feel that you have to answer all the questions, or that you’re the only one who can effectively solve the challenges. Others may not “do it right” if you’re not always giving direction, correct?

I beg to differ. No one learns only by watching. We learn best by doing.

Compliment their monkeys, pet them, and give them back
Try this the next time someone comes to you with a monkey on their back: Tell them what an interesting monkey they have. Admire their monkey, and agree that, yes, that is indeed a challenging monkey. And tell them you can’t wait to see what they’re going to come up with to solve it.

I bet you’ll be delighted with the outcome. And over time, you’ll end up with fewer monkeys on your desk.

Be sure to check out my video Don’t Take the Monkeys.

Responsibility and accountability are aspects of ownership. Only those who feel a true sense of ownership in your company will be sincerely responsible to it and accountable for their own actions — isn’t that why you’re so responsible and accountable, because you own the place?

In Jason Jenning’s book, Think Big, Act Small, the author describes managers in billion dollar private companies being rated on how much economic value they’ve created for the company during the previous twelve months. This echoes exactly how business owners are compensated­ — you, as the owner, have always been rewarded solely on the economic value you create for the company. No value in the business = no paycheck, right? This type of thinking can, and should, be transferred to your employees as well.

In the companies the author studied, the employees who think and make decisions like owners are financially rewarded based on the value they add or create. Those who don’t fit the profile, or don’t add value, are moved out of the company quickly — they may be good people, but they may be happier somewhere else. “People are most productive and have a passion for their work when they agree with the values of the company,” says Jennings.

So, how do you get your people to think and act like owners?

3 Simple Steps to Begin Getting Your People to Think and Act Like Owners
1.) Let others push a few boulders
Stop working so hard. Let go, and let others in your company grow into their capabilities. I know you — you think if that boulder needs to get up that hill, you’ll just push it up there by yourself. I know, I’ve pushed many boulders up there myself. But if you’ve got at least one or two good people on your staff, step aside every now and then, and let them push that boulder up the hill. You’ve got to let them do the difficult, important work, too. It’s the only way they can know what it feels like.

2.) Share what you know
You can’t expect your staff to think like you do if they don’t know what you know. You don’t have to tell them everything, but don’t keep them in the dark, either. Good employees will care more and be more responsible if they understand why you make the decisions you make.

3.) Make them keep their own monkeys
Don’t let your employees come to you with every problem in the shop — sure, you can solve the problem, but that’s not the point. You hired them to help you, not make more work for you, so don’t let them put their monkeys on your back. A smile and a firm, “Gee, that’s a good question. I can’t wait to see how you’re going to solve it,” should do the trick.