How often have you gone to a funeral and you hear people say that this is a celebration of a person’s life?  If you are like me, I have heard that quite often.  And, there was a part of me that was always confused.  I have lost someone I cared about and therefore it is hard for me to celebrate. 

My mother, who I was close to, died last week.  Her funeral service was yesterday in Pennsylvania and I was in charge of conducting it.  At times I felt overwhelmed with emotion and a sense of loss.  It was a challenge. 

Afterwards many of the people came up to me and told me how much they enjoyed the service.  They used terms such as “feeling a sense of closure” and “freedom to express gratitude”.  Everyone got to talk about my Mother and what she had meant to them.  It was a remarkable experience that I will never forget. 

But, what the funeral service was truly about was embracing change.  It was about celebrating the past and moving into a future without my Mother, who had been a great, positive influence on me and many people’s lives. 

To have a successful small business you must embrace change.  Too often, when we think about change we procrastinate because we focus on all the difficulties in making it instead of the benefits that will come from making it. 

There are some businesses I have worked with over the years that have a “celebration” when a change in completed.  In one instance, the new accounting system got installed and they had a party.  They celebrated the death of the old system and bringing something new and better into replace it.

To have your small business successful it is good to have funeral’s for those things that should be dead and gone.  Those are the things that hold back a business.  We should celebrate change and focus on the positive that is going to be open to us as a result. 

A successful performance strategy for embracing change is to practice the art of detachment.  You must learn how to detach and do it regularly.  It’s hard to move forward at the pace you like when you are holding onto something from the past.  That past can become like an anchor.  Every time you celebrate the past you are pulling up your anchor and you are moving forward.  You are detaching from your current mooring which allows you to sail in a new or better direction.

When you dwell on the past you are anchored in it and stuck.  In running your own business you must take a look at what needs to die.  When you do you will be embracing change and moving forward because you will be bringing death to what is holding you back. 

Now there’s something to celebrate!

Friday morning at 1:30 March 27 the phone rang.  As most of us know when you receive a phone call at that hour it is almost never good.  On the other end a female voice said very tenderly, “I am sorry to tell you Mr. Scott that your mother passed away at 1:15 this morning. 

Immediately I was caught up in and sucked into a vortex of emotion.  Where things had been moving along well in my business and life they now began to swirl.  I am a small businessman, like many of you reading this post.  Owning your own business presents many challenges.  One of the biggest ones is how you handle what goes on in your personal life.

Before I had a chance to think my sister was on the phone.  We talked briefly.  I told her I had to go because I had to call the funeral home. 

I reached the funeral home and got things underway.  Friday was a day of many calls.  I was in charge of my mother’s affairs.  She had not been well the past few years.  Yet, her death came suddenly and unexpectedly. 

Emotionally, I have been riding a roller coaster.  Most of the time I have either been flat or down.  Today has been better.  I have received many great e-mail tributes that recognize her and her contributions to others.  I have felt more up.  Early tomorrow morning I will fly from Texas to Philadelphia and spend the next four days closing the book on the life of my wonderful mother. 

She taught me many things that have helped me in small business.  One of the things she would always talk about when I was growing up was coping skills.  She felt it was important to be as good as possible at handling adversity.  How well you coped with adversity would determine how quickly you could get back on track.  As we all know, in growing your small business, as in life, there can be a great deal of adversity that can knock you off course. 

Right now I am off course.  Don’t ask me about my marketing business plan or my performance strategy for success.  At the moment, I could care less.  Yet, because I have coping skills, learned from my mother, I do have a personal marketing business plan and a personal performance strategy for success. 

My marketing business plan is to take care of me.  I must let all this wash over me.  One of the things she taught me is to not ignore your feelings.  If you don’t deal with them and acknowledge them now they will show up later and can cause greater harm.  A stifled emotion is like a beach ball that you try to hold under water.  It takes a lot of energy.  And, eventually the beach ball springs to the top with great force.  When our emotions do that it can be destructive. 

My marketing business plan is to take care of me.  And, my performance strategy for success is to take care of myself by not plowing into more work.  In the long run I will accomplish less if I dive into work.  I will accomplish less because of all that energy I will be using to stifle the beach ball, my feelings, and keep them underwater will actually cause me to accomplish less and be less ready for opportunity at work. 

If you are facing challenges with small business growth or in running your business take a look at the beach balls you may be trying to keep under water.  I promise you they are holding you back because they drain you of energy and focus. 

Develop a healthy coping strategy by facing them and doing something about them.  You won’t believe how free you will feel and how much energy you will create.  Since my mother is no longer with us you can’t ask her.  But, if she were here that is what she would tell you. 

Develop your coping skills.  Get rid of your beach balls.  Eliminate or minimize your tolerations.  When you do you will more quickly get back on the road to business success.

In the previous two posts I have discussed two important challenges to starting a business, whether it be in a bad economy or a good one.  A successful performance strategy involves two things.  First, you must determine if you truly have a market for your product or service. 

Secondly, you must know how susceptible your market is to fluctuations in economic cycles.  Think about it.  Eight months ago most businesses were riding high.  Things have changed quickly and not for the better.  Is what you are thinking of getting into subject to wild fluctuations? 

This may seem obvious.  Life and business is the study of the obvious.  And, too often people overlook the obvious in their enthusiasm or pursuit of the next thing that is going to bring them new wealth and a new life.  Small business growth and having a successful marketing business plan is about being a master of the obvious.

Remember, history doesn’t repeat itself.  Only those who fail to study history repeat its mistakes.  Be a good student of history. 

The third challenge to starting your business in a bad economy is to ask:  What business should I get into during an economic downturn?  You may be saying at this point—this must be obvious.  I have answered the first two challenges.  I have a market for my service and it is one that has promise during an economic downturn. 

What business should you get into?  You have the market.  You can market to it.  But is the business you want to get into honoring “who you are?”  This is the one element that is most often overlooked and the one that leads to failure and burnout.  Growing small business is not an accident.  Small business growth is a function of good design.

Think about it.  You have a market for your product or service.  And, it is a good market.  Yet, the skills and disciplines you must employ to be successful are not part of, or a developed part of your skill set.  In the pursuit of the dollar, I have watched more people end up in a wreck because they did not get into a business that honors who they are. 

Here’s an example.  A man I know opened a one-man auto repair shop nearby.  His knowledge and ability to repair cars was extraordinary.  His business grew.  Unfortunately, his people skills didn’t.  He had always been a great technician but had not developed great people skills.  In the beginning when his business was small he didn’t feel as pressured. 

As it grew he had to spend more time with people and as a result he was repairing cars late into the night.  You may say, the obvious solutiion is to hire someone.  But, when you are challenged in your people skills and have the attitude that no one can do the job as well as you are you likely to hire someone?  No. 

The result was that after two years he was out of business and back working for another repair shop.  The worst part was that he was broken by his failure.  The good news is that he realizes his attitude about people undid him and now he is attempting to do something about it. 

Whatever business you start be sure that a lot of that business honors who you are.  Yes, there are certain skills you can learn.  But, there are ones that even if you learn them you would be better off delegating those tasks to someone else. 

Look beyond the startup phase and envision what you want your business and life to look like.  If you truly don’t see that picture being accomplished you may be better off looking into another type of business.

In the previous post we looked at four challenges or questions that must be answered to starting your own business during an economic downturn. 

Today we’ll take a look at Challenge #1: 

Do you have a market for the product or service you wish to provide?

You may be saying that answering this sounds pretty simple.  In many cases it is.  One of the major considerations in starting a business should be where is your business going to come from?  To whom are you going to market your product or service?  Are they ready to receive your product or service?

Very often I have watched people who work for a larger company and develop relationships with that company’s clients.  In fact they may have had conversations with the client about going out on their own and that when they do, the client will come with them.

There are a couple of problems with this scenario.  Studies have shown that for every 10 clients that will tell you that they are going to switch that only 2 do.  Secondly, in today’s litigious world, depending on the stipulations of your employment, you may be subject to a lawsuit. 

Even if you are totally in the right, a lawsuit, because of the time and expense it requires, may very likely sink you.  I have watched companies sue former employees in an effort to kill their business by tying up a major amount of time and resources. 

A better performance strategy for success and to grow your small business is to stay away from any legal problems. 

The second point to consider in whether or not you have a market that is good for your product or service is to study the obvious.  Too often, what may appear to be obvious to you may be full of problems. 

Too often it is easy to fake yourself out by thinking that your passion and enthusiasm for a product or service will make you successful.  Passion and enthusiasm are important ingredients in the success process.  But, they are not a guaranty. 

Look beyond your passion and enthusiasm for your market and be as realistic as possible.  Be realistic as to whether or not this market is a good market.  Be objective.  Once you have determined that the market is good, then you can let your enthusiasm and passion loose to create the business and life you desire.

With the current economic downturn there are challenges and there always opportunities.  The biggest challenge when one is displaced or loses his or her job is:  What am I going to do? 

It is a question I hear a great deal.  Very often, the answer to the challenge is to start your own business. 

You can read a mountain of information that will tell you about starting your own business.  And, that is good.  Yet, regardless of how much you read and learn starting your own business and running your own business present their own unique challenges. 

Today’s post is about giving you a framework in which to think about the question of what type of business to start during an economic downturn.  In subsequent posts I will provide some answers to the questions.

Challenge #1—Do you have a market for the product or service you wish to provide? 

Challenge #2—Is the market you wish to pursue vulnerable to economic cycles? 

Challenge #3—What should you get into when in an economic downturn? 

Challenge #4—What should I stay away from?

Obviously, there are many answers to what business should you start during bad economic times.  The most important thing now is to ask the above questions and come up with your answers.  There are no right or wrong answers.   The only wrong thing to do is to not think about these questions. 

To change your life you must change your thinking.  Coming up with answers will help change your thinking.  In the next post I will give you some possible answers to help guide you.

Is this a good time to start a business? 

There are no right or wrong answers.  With the unrelenting focus on the “bad economy” this can definitely influence your decision. 

Let me know your thoughts. 

If you are already running your own business let me know how you see things.  

If you are starting your own business or thinking about starting one it would be great to hear your thoughts.

Having a dialog on this can be fun and helpful.

All of us need water to survive and to thrive.  But, the quality of the water you are drinking will determine your success or failure.  The water, in this case, is what you choose to let your mind drink in.  Are you drinking in thoughts of success?  

Years ago in Africa there was this tribe.  They were healthy and prosperous.    All their water came from a beautiful spring that supposedly had medicinal and healing properties. 

Suddenly, people started to die or get very sick for no apparent reason.  Experts were called in to determine what was causing the problem.  Here’s what they found.

The experts went back up the mountain to the origin of the spring.  It turned out that a mother pig and her piglets had drowned and were stuck in the opening where the spring came out.  The water was contaminated. 

The mother pig and her piglets were removed and the water was once again pure and the health of the people of the tribe was restored. 

The key to having the success you desire in business and personally rests on your ability to keep your water as pure as possible.  Be careful about what you let your mind drink in. We all have bad things that happen to us.  Starting your own business or running your own business is about challenges and overcoming them.

The problem is that too many business owners will hold onto the negative.  They will keep drinking in defeating thoughts.  They will remember the negative customer or they will not forgive and employee.  Over time the anger that they carry simmers.  It becomes the fertilizer in which the root of bitterness takes hold. 

There are many keys to having small business growth and to taking future steps to have your business successful.  But, to truly move forward you cannot let the root of bitterness take hold.  It may sound trite but it is true. 

First, forgive yourself.  Stop using the past as a weapon on yourself.  The past is past.  There isn’t anything you can do about it.  Secondly, you must forgive others.  Without forgiveness you set up an invisible wall that may protect your anger but at the same time it will keep opportunity from coming in. 

Develop a successful performance strategy.  Get clear of your past and uproot any bitterness you may have.  Focus on keeping your mind as free as possible of the negative.  When you do, you are more likely to attract the success you desire.

Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m practical.”  Or, they say, “I’m pragmatic.”  They both sound good.  A practical person does sensible things within a set of moral values.  A pragmatic person does whatever makes sense at the time.  

In today’s world the line gets blurred between the two.  For this post I am going to put them together although there are differences. 

Be very careful when you hear someone say they are pragmatic or practical.  What they may be saying is that they will do whatever they think is right.  And what they think is right can change from one day to the next. 

To have successful small business growth you must have a strong moral philosophy.  You must know what is right and what is wrong.   Pragmatism and practicality, more often than not, are about a “me first” philosophy. 

For example, a business owner takes steps to make his business successful and then changes his mind.  When asked about changing his mind he may say, ” I was just being practical.”  Or, he could say he was being pragmatic.  Of course his change of mind disrupted the lives of people.  But hey, he was just being practical or pragmatic.  In his mind, what’s the big deal?

Here’s the big deal.  People are counting on him keeping his word.  Yet, what he promises doesn’t happen.  The reason for not doing what he said he was going to do may be, “I changed my mind.”  If this happens regularly this is a problem. 

“Changing one’s mind” regularly is not good.  Very often you will hear along with “changing my mind” that “I was just being practical”, or “I am being pragmatic.”  And you are supposed to accept that as a legitimate excuse.

If you hear these phrases too often from people it is a warning sign.  It is a warning sign that they have no coherent philosophy to guide them.  Their philosophy and how they are going to act is, more often than not, subject to change.  Changing philosophy is not a foundation when building the steps to business success.

The pragmatist or practical person is always changing their philosophy because they are more concerned about what is right for them at the moment than adhering to any principles.  The only principle they adhere to is what is in their best interests.  Self-centeredness, more often than not, is their philosophy. 

Here’s what’s dangerous.  They cannot be trusted.  Business success and life is all about them.  One day you may feel close to them.  And, the next day you may feel as if they deserted you. 

You will find that most successful people make their decisions very quickly and change them very slowly.  They have a philosophy of right, wrong and good human relations that is bigger than them.

Inflexibility is one of the deadly mistakes that can prevent small business growth or to cause a small business to fail.  A successful performance strategy for growing small business must include flexibility.  After all, if you don’t embrace change you will be run over by it. 

I came across this solution for dealing with inflexibility.  It comes from one of my favorite authors, John Maxwell.  Go to www.JohnMaxwell.com and find a book of his to read.  It will be well worth your time.  The following shows the humorous, and often truthful responses, that come when people are inflexible. 

Inflexibility is the enemy of personal growth, success and achievement. 

The Top Ten Strategies For Dealing With A Dead Horse

1.  Buy a stronger whip.

2.  Change riders

3.  Appoint a committee to study the horse.

4.  Appoint a team to revive the horse.

5.  Send out a memo declaring the horse isn’t really dead.

6.  Hire an expensive consultant to find “the real problem.”

7.  Harness several dead horses together for increased speed and efficiency.

8.  Rewrite the standard definition of a live horse.

9.  Declare the horse to be better, faster, and cheaper when dead.

10.  Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.

Most of you have probably seen these solutions enacted at some point in your business career or life. 

So, how do you deal with the challenge of inflexibility.  When your horse is dead and your inflexibility is causing you to hold onto something that isn’t working, dismount. 

Small business coaching is about helping people to learn how to dismount, let go of thoughts and processes that aren’t working and to bury them.  Only once the things that don’t work are buried or put in a safe place, may you move forward. 

And, the way to move forward is to come up with a new performance strategy. Embrace change.  Embrace flexibility.  When you do, you will be able to mount a live horse and gallop forward to the success you desire.

Growing your small business requires many things including how to cope with overwhelm.  When you are starting up your own business or running your own business you are very likely at times to feel overwhelm.

This is normal.  Somehow the orderly small business growth you dreamed of is just that, a dream.  It is easy to have too many things coming at you at one time.  When you do, that is when overwhelm can set in. 

Why is overwhelm dangerous?  Because it can cause you to lose your focus, enthusiasm and desire for productivity.  None of these ingredients are in the recipe for small business success. 

Most importantly, overwhelm can cause you to lose your energy and your edge leading to a meltdown.  What do you do to combat overwhelm?

1.  Have a plan for each day

2.  Identify what is important

3.  Prioritize your day to do what is important

The more you identify what is important and do it, the less things that you will have that will become critical.  When you have too many critical things and your day is taken up with them it drains you psychologically and emotionally. 

Being drained psychologically and emotionally is what leads to a feeling of overwhelm.  Know your steps to business success.  Your daily performance strategy should be about your priorities.

Know your priorities and take care of them.  When you do you are more likely to avoid overwhelm.