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November 23, 2014 By Susan Barr Leave a Comment

Soul Investment

public-domain-images-archive-high-quality-resolution-free-download-splitshire-0002-1000x666Entrepreneurs make investment decisions almost daily. You decide whether to spend limited money and time for projects, capital equipment, additional staff, inventory, brand marketing, professional services, employee development and training, and computer systems, etc. But the best investment you can make for the health of your business is in your own personal vitality. Long hours and stressful situations are standard fare but that doesn’t mean you can’t be energized and inspired. YOU are the soul of your business and it takes energy to build a strong business. Investing in your self-care pays dividends in greater reserves of energy required to build your business.

Invest in yourself. You are the soul of your business so it’s essential to “pay yourself first.” If you are lacking physical, emotional, or mental well-being, it will reflect on your bottom line. Taking care of yourself by following a wellness program combining eating right and exercise will improve every area of your life and generate energy needed to build a business. Commit to ongoing learning. Online classes and webinars are available on any topic and price point so there’s no excuse for not investing in your professional development.

Invest in relationships. Entrepreneurs profit from developing relationships with other business owners, coaches, and communities. You may be independent by nature but the ability to call on an advisor, coach, and colleague or mastermind team member in the midst of an issue is a priceless investment.

Invest in your legacy now. Don’t just make giving a line item in your will or your balance sheet – get out there and find a way to get active. Volunteer as a mentor or support local community fundraisers – there are countless ways to get involved. Giving is good for the soul and the positive feelings it generates in you reflect back to your employees, your customers, and your community.

Small Steps to Better Than Ever Business…
Investing in your personal well-being, nurturing power partnerships, and creating a legacy now will generate inspiration and vitality that powers your life and business with immediate momentum.

Choose one area you think will give your psyche the biggest lift. Start an exercise program. Sign up for an online class. Call a local college and volunteer to mentor students. Start a mastermind team. Volunteer for your community 5K. Can you find a way to combine all of the above? Repeat tomorrow and everyday thereafter and soon you’ll feel the dividends in your personal life and your bottom line.

Filed Under: Innovate!, Lead with Vitality!

November 23, 2014 By Susan Barr Leave a Comment

It’s Personal, It’s MY business

Two Sales Assistant At Vegetable Counter Of Farm ShopDo you remember the first time you heard someone say “It’s not personal, it’s just business?” Recalling the first time someone said it to me makes me cringe even today. I remember all the wagging heads of agreement as a senior manager made the comment while discussing impending layoffs– just one of the repertoire of mindless catchphrases in corporate America. In fact, the only times I’ve heard the phrase were when someone wanted to justify unpleasant actions that most definitely affected someone else very personally. It’s not like you hear the phrase when someone’s getting a raise or promotion – can you imagine “Don’t thank me and don’t take your promotion seriously – it’s not personal, just business.”

There’s no such thing as “just business” without the “personal” for an entrepreneur. “It’s always personal, it’s my business” is a much more meaningful mantra. In fact, if it’s NOT personal, a small business won’t be successful.

How can a small business be anything but personal?
I guarantee you remember the exact moment when you decided to start your own business. You are not alone – I don’t know many entrepreneurs who can’t recall the exact moment they were struck with a new idea. Perhaps you felt frustration in a job and decided you want to do things your own way, or possibly you felt a strong desire for independence, personal expression and freedom as an entrepreneur. It was deeply personal. Ross Perot, founder of EDS and Perot Systems wrote about the moment he decided to start EDS. He was reading a copy of Reader’s Digest when, after his big idea for selling software services was denied by his IBM bosses, he read a quote by Thoreau: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” and decided at that moment to start his own business doing exactly what IBM declined to do. “Quiet desperation” sounds personal to me.

It turns out the phrase has an interesting genesis – from a movie! As the fictional figurehead of the mob in The Godfather, Michael Corleone offered the infamous phrase “It’s not personal…it’s business” as explanation for ordering a mob hit. As much as I find The Godfather entertaining, Michael Corleone is not exactly the mentor I’d suggest for a successful business.

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For those who drained their home equity or retirement accounts, maxed their credit cards, and asked family for seed money to start a company – it was personal. When the business owner works long hours, miss family events to support a customer, it’s personal. When they struggle in a bad economy and have to choose between taking home a salary and paying their loyal first employee, it’s personal. For those who sit beside their neighbors/customers at the Friday night high school football game, it’s personal. When they provide service to their neighbors or their kid’s teacher, it’s personal.

The most successful small businesses know it’s personal. Their mission and vision are personal and intertwined with their personal mission and vision, they lead their business using the same core values that they run their lives. If their lives are driven by faith-based values, their business generally reflects the same. Their brand promise is fulfilled the same way they fulfill a promise to family and friends. Many businesses are named for their founders – it doesn’t get more personal than that!

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If any fictional character embodies the personal spirit of entrepreneurship, my choice would be George Bailey from the holiday classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life. George is a young man with huge dreams and a bigger heart. One of my favorite scenes is set in the family run Building and Loan business during the bank panic of 1930. Instead of taking off around the world on a honeymoon with his new bride, George dispenses his life savings to his neighbors/friends/customers to keep them going while the bank is closed, securing their life savings with his own. After successfully making it through the day with $2 left, George and his family celebrate that they are still in business.

This is the personal character I see in small businesses every day reflected in how they operate and in how they treat customers because for them, “It IS personal…it’s MY business!”

Filed Under: Get Clarity!

November 23, 2014 By Susan Barr Leave a Comment

Change your Mindset

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If your business is keeping you up at night instead of energizing you to jump out of bed in the morning, you may need a mindset adjustment. Here are a few suggestions:

Change Focus: At times when all you can think about are your issues and fears, spend a day in quiet retreat. Turn off the phones and the screens and reflect on the following:
Reacquaint with your Strategic Framework: The elements of a strategic framework are your business mission, vision, core values, and strategic thrusts. These are the “big picture” foundation of your business and there are times when we all need to reacquaint ourselves with the reasons we started our business, the reason our business exists, the vision we have for how our business serves our personal lives and the lives of our customers. For me, it’s like a shot of adrenaline when I gift myself time to reflect on my purpose and values, make resolutions and plans that re-align my thinking and activities with this framework.

Reflect on your achievements over the past year and over the past 3-5 years. You will gain strength and inspiration from the realization of goals accomplished, lives impacted in a positive way through you and your business. Often reflection reminds us of big issues we’ve overcome in the past, the fears that never materialized (sleepless nights wasted) and the creativity we’ve applied in the past to turn issues into opportunities.

Are you just overwhelmed and stressed from doing too much by yourself? Often we aren’t’ thinking with a positive mindset if we’re stressed out. What activities can you delegate or outsource so you have the time and energy to focus on the big picture?

Eliminate negative influences from your life. If watching news creates stress and worry, turn it off. Try to minimize time spent with people who spread anxiety if you don’t feel strong enough to diffuse their negativity with a positive thought. Negative social media getting to you? Eliminate it from your online timelines and newsfeeds.

Change Perspective: Looking at a problem from a different angle raises different options which can alter your approach to the issue.

Ask yourself if this “issue” can be viewed as an opportunity. Isn’t that where we entrepreneurs shine, seeing the “issues” of this world and providing solutions? Sit down and brainstorm a list of the positive opportunities that can be derived from this problem.

Ask advice from your support community. If you don’t have a support community, use this as an opportunity to develop one. Every entrepreneur can benefit from power partners in whatever form works best for you – a coach, a mentor, an online forum, a mastermind team, an advisory board, etc.

Look at the issue in a detached way. If a colleague shared this problem with you over coffee, what would you advise? I find we often intuitively know the answer but don’t act on our own advice.

Take a holistic view of your business by using a SWOT analysis. Quickly brainstorm your current situation by developing a full list of strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats facing your business at this time. Concerned about a potential new competitor? A quick SWOT may remind you of your strengths compared to them or the opportunities you have due to exclusive supplier relationships…the possibilities are endless.

Change Scenery: Put distance between yourself and your business on a regular basis.
Regular vacations are essential for your own health and the health of your business but it’s obviously not an option every time you’re faced with an issue. Consider other personal habits and practices of self-care to reduce stress.

Take a walk. Run. Ride a bike. Hike. Get up and get away from your office. Studies show the benefits of physical exercise for the entrepreneur.

Distract yourself. Go to a movie. Have dinner with friends. Play with your dog. Go fishing. Indulge your hobbies. Take a weekend out of town and don’t talk about work! It’s amazing what a break can do for your mental state, providing you with the clarity that constant focus cannot reveal.

Take up a silent practice – meditation, EFT (tapping), prayer, yoga – any active practice that frees your mind from thoughts of worry and replaces them with stillness or positive affirmations. Activity that is good for the health and soul of the entrepreneur is good for the soul of your business. Your personal peace brings peace to all around you.

Entrepreneurship is a journey of courage and resilience. No entrepreneur is promised a path of perfection – problems come with the territory. Applying a few tactics to changing your mindset will strengthen you for inevitable challenges and give you greater satisfaction when you reach the ultimate success.

Small Steps to a Better than Ever Business…
Choose one area above which resonates for you – how about the one you read and immediately thought “I know I can better at this…?” If you’ve been neglecting self-care, take a walk or begin a meditation practice. If you’ve lost focus on the long-term vision for your business, spend a few minutes today renewing your soul and enthusiasm by reviewing your vision and core values. Reflect on how far you’ve come from when those words were first written. Repeat again tomorrow and the next day.

Filed Under: Get Clarity!, Lead with Vitality!

June 29, 2011 By Susan Barr 1 Comment

Thumbs Up Day

The Summer of Giving began with nervous anticipation…so many choice,where do I start? Yesterday, I created a very long list of ideas of how I could “give” via my business using the internet – low or no cost. As much as I was excited to begin venturing online again, I was surprised at my trepidation. How hard could it be to spend time giving? I set aside 2 hours today but ended up taking spurts of time throughout the day after completing my 2 hours…I lost track of time because it was so damn fun!

Liked and liked and liked.
I started on Facebook by liking and commenting on posts published by fellow business owners. I followed links to their blogs and commented on their blogs or added their blogs to my list. It felt great! The best part of my giving time was when it led to real conversation. I reconnected with a Facebook friend I hadn’t chatted with in a long time. She posted a note on my wall after I liked her business oriented post. We started a conversation on my Facebook wall that led to exchanging phone numbers in a private message and a promise to touch base over the phone about our respective businesses. I plan on calling her tomorrow.

Silent Affirmation
It felt great to give positive feedback to other business owners – whether they said so or not, I know how important it is to receive affirmation from your peers. Re-establishing contact with valuable friends and colleagues was amazing – too often home based business ownership can be isolating. Hearing about how I had been missed was a great feeling. Although my intention was to spread goodwill to others, I ended up gaining the most.

Filed Under: Lead with Vitality! Tagged With: facebook, summer of giving

June 25, 2010 By Susan Barr 3 Comments

Why Join a Mastermind Team?

Lately, there has been tremendous interest in Mastermind Teams within my business networks. Having spent many hours in phone calls and online discussions on the subject lately, I decided to start a new blog series about mastermind teams. Today, I cover the concept of Mastermind Teams and the benefits as I see them for executives and small business owners.

One of the most important ingredients in a successful small business is to nurture the soul of the business – what I like to call “the entrepreneurial genius.” From my perspective, a partnership with other business owners is key to nurturing the soul of the entrepreneur. Traditional networking has its place for all businesses and “meet and greets” are tremendously beneficial to help overcome the natural isolation of entrepreneurship but I don’t know an entrepreneur who would not benefit from deeper relationships with partners who are enthusiastic about their success.

Mastermind Teams have existed throughout the ages – men and women have gathered in small groups with a common purpose. In recent years, the Mastermind Team concept has become popularized with the success of The Secret movie and the teachers associated with it. Law of Attraction devotees often quote the work of Napoleon Hill, who wrote about the winning characteristics of highly successful people and found Mastermind Teams were one of the keys to the success of industry titans such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, John Burroughs and others who led our nation through the early industrialized age. As described in his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin credited his “Junta” with the formation of the first US Post Office, volunteer fire department, library, police department and other public service institutions that are still a part of the fabric of American communities today.

As a solo-preneur myself, I have tried a variety of partnership arrangements over the years to keep me focused on my business goals: coaches, open and closed networking groups, advisory boards and mastermind teams. I currently sit as a member on one team and facilitate several others. My peer Mastermind Team has been meeting for 12 years and it is the group that not only holds me accountable to my best self and my goals, but it is also the group that nurtures my soul as an entrepreneur. Initially, I began working with mastermind teams to overcome the isolation often a trademark of independent professionals. After so many years in large corporations, I missed the camaraderie. Now, the benefits to my bottom-line far surpass all the considerable benefits of camaraderie. Personally, I don’t think I would still be in business today without the partnership of my Mastermind Team.

The concept is very easy. Having the support, encouragement of, and accountability to a group dedicated to your success brings incredible results to those who take advantage of its power. If you are considering joining or starting a Mastermind Team, here are the most significant benefits they provide.

1. Avenue for Contribution: If you have been looking for a way to provide a genuine sincere contribution to peers, a mastermind team provides a place where you can give of your time, expertise, encouragement, enthusiasm, wisdom and skills to an eager and open group of peers. It is absolutely amazing to watch your peers succeed and it is tremendously gratifying to know you may have contributed to their achievements.

2. Real Accountability: You are no longer alone, creating lists of priorities and then not having accountability to anyone to get it done. We entrepreneurs place high value on our independence but autonomy can be sustained with positive accountability.

3. Focus: Participation in most Mastermind Teams forces you to get clarity about the most important priorities for your business. Coupled with the structure of regular meetings, it compels you to place the “first things first” and overcome procrastination. When you have committed publicly to accomplish certain projects or actions between meetings, you are less likely to avoid the difficult, more likely to have courage in facing your fears or other obstacles which may prevent you from accomplishing your priorities in the past. Knowing you will receive encouragement from a peer group upon completion of your task provides additional incentive to remain focused.

4. Overcome Isolation: Yes, it is lonely at the top. Whether you are a C-level executive, a small office/home office freelancer, or the owner of a 100+ employee business, you are isolated by the unique challenges of your job. Meeting with others who are tasked with creating vision and strategy, meeting payroll, business expansion, and reporting to stakeholders provides a unique foundation for camaraderie.

5. Creative Innovation: Yes, two heads are definitely better than one – better yet is 6 or more creative heads with unique perspectives and experience. The collective wisdom of the group combined with their best intention for your success generates a synergistic explosion of inspired ideas. When you are struggling with an issue or when you are looking for innovative solutions, brainstorming among a peer group can lead to stellar results.

6. Encouragement: We all need a proverbial cheerleader to help us move forward when feeling discouraged. Perhaps your business is struggling with a failed product line or marketing concept – this group will encourage you to learn from the mistake and adjust strategy to move forward. Even better, having a generous and giving cheering section when you are excited about a new product launch or a want to share a recent victory is an extraordinary benefit.

7. Bold and Measured Risk-Taking: Running a small business is all about risk/reward. Knowing that you have a “go-to” group of supporters to bounce off ideas, provide honest constructive criticism, share successes and failures, confidentially share your fears and issues is a luxury. The peace and comfort that such a group brings to your life is like having a net under your flying trapeze. Even if you fall, you know there’s someone there to catch you.

8. Mutual Success: Yes, you are more likely to surpass your most ambitious goals with the support of a Mastermind Team than if you were to go it alone. Success is often “2 steps forward and one step back” but time and time again, I hear stories about the phenomenal collective success of Mastermind Team members. Their businesses are more likely to take “3 steps forward and one step back” on their trajectory to victory.

There are many factors critical to the success of a Mastermind Team. Over the next few posts, I will discuss the importance of team norms and the wide range of team structures so you can determine the type of Mastermind Team best suited to your needs.

Filed Under: Lead with Vitality! Tagged With: mastermind team, nurture soul of biz, small business success

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