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How to REALLY Set Accurate Business Goals

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Every year, on December 31 (today) I sit down for 30 minutes and outline my goals for the coming year. I always set three types of goals: personal, “stuff,” and business. At the same time I set three, and five-year goals that are bigger and badder extensions of my one year. I used to set 10 and 20-year goals, but found that these changed dramatically. Today I set 10 and 20 year “destinations.”

Personal goals are just that: lose weight, take a meditation class, get eight hours of sleep every night, etc. “Stuff” goals are entirely about material possessions. No it’s not bad to own nice things, whoever started that rumor probably never drove a 1500 horsepower, $2.7m Bugatti Chiron (I have–it’s awesome!). The point is, in life, nice possessions make the journey more enjoyable. Of course you should want and try to acquire those that make you happy, because believe me, if you own that Bugatti, you’ve earned it!

The third goal, business, is where I want to focus this article. Whether you are a one person company, the CEO of a large organization, or someone who is somewhere in between – business goals are vital if you want to thrive and live a life of abundance.

How to Set Accurate Business Goals in 2017

Let’s start out with an existential fact of life. The more regularly you set goals, along with cataloging how you achieved them, or (much more importantly) why you did not, the better you will get at achieving your goals.

Why is this? In simple terms, cataloging successes and setbacks (there are no failures, if you learn from them) will allow you to determine the driving forces that push you forward or hold you back. Seek more of the former, aggressively push away the latter.

Beneteau’s 34 Racing Sailboat

Assume you suddenly found yourself on board a Beneteau 34 foot sailboat in the middle of Lake Michigan. You have no idea how you got there, and absolutely no idea how to sail. Inside there was enough food and water to last for a year, so you were in no danger of starving, but you knew nothing about sailing. If you’re like most human beings, overtime you’d start to experiment to try to get things moving, otherwise you’d find yourself adrift for a long, long, time.

Eventually you’d figure out that when the sail is raised and properly positioned, the sail “lifts,” or moves, the boat. At some point you’d determine that you could both sail into the wind (at about a 45 degree angle) and with the wind. This might take months, but you’d eventually crack the code. As time marched on you’d discover that by making the sail more taunt you’d travel faster and by making it less taunt you’d travel slower. Once you discovered all of this, you would then know how to control both the speed and direction of the vessel with relative ease, subject only to the vagaries of mother-nature.

You’d need to be careful though, as you piloted your craft faster, the wind would create more lift and actually might cause the boat to rise out of the water and capsize as the centerboard (the long fin underneath) emerged from the side, so the proper balance of speed and lift would be in order. Of course the better you got, the closer you could take your vessel to the edge where speed and calamity meet, without tipping over.

Setting business goals is a lot like teaching yourself to sail. The more you set and measure successes and setbacks the more you can control the speed and direction of your business. Grow too slow and you’ll leave valuable opportunities on the table, grow too fast and you run the risk of something going horribly wrong because your “centerboard” has left the water. Get it just right and your business becomes an unstoppable powerhouse set up for success for years to come!

Getting a Business Coach

I’ve been fortunate to have some very good coaches along the way in my career. I can tell you with 100% certainty that a great coach can make the difference between a terrific, high growth, highly successful operation, and business calamity.

Coaching comes in all forms: a great book (I’ll bet the person on board that Beneteau 34 wished there was a book called Sailing for Dummies in the glove compartment); a business coach (my absolute favorite is Rajeev Dewan – I’ve spent the last two years with Rajeev (several days x once each quarter) in Sydney, Australia and he gets results!); a mentor, or some combination of the three. One thing is certain, coach or not, all great business leaders measure and catalog successes and setbacks.

The best coach however is experience, and that is why successful business leaders are generally successful again when they set out to build a similar business to the one they just left; however, to supercharge your experience (and turn 10 years into two), set goals, measure if they are working, adjust accordingly and most importantly, seek answers as to why (or why not) you were successful.

 

Good luck this upcoming year.

 

 

 

What Genius Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Muhammad Ali

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I’ll admit it, I’m glad 2016 is over. Not for me, I had a terrific year: my oldest daughter got into one of the top universities in the country, my youngest daughter is now focused on doing well in school (because of sissy getting into a big Uni. no doubt!) and I’m putting the finishing touches on a book coming out in 2017.

No, I am glad that 2016 is over because of the loss of some of our favorite entertainers, departing at an unfathomable rate: David Bowie, Prince, Glenn Frey, Alan Rickman, Gene Wilder, George Michael and today Carrie Fisher.

Not to mention some of the world’s most elite athletes: Arnold Palmer, Jose Fernandez, John Saunders and of course “The Greatest,” Muhammad Ali, to name just a few.

Muhammad Ali’s Trainer – Angelo Dundee

Mohammed Ali’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, has worked with some of the world’s best boxers including: Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman, George Scott, Luis Manuel Rodríguez and Willie Pastrano.

Dundee said of Ali, ”Muhammad had it all: natural talent, unbelievable speed and reflexes for a big man, skills, smarts, courage, you name it, he had it” but more importantly Ali had a work ethic that was rare, even among professional boxers Dundee continued, “I never had to ask him to come to the gym. He was there before I even got there. As soon as he got there, he’d start working”

“There are a lot of people who are geniuses at what they do, but Ali trained his butt off,” added Justin Fortune, former heavyweight contender.

The problem with geniuses

The problem with geniuses is that for many, things come easily in life. They don’t study – yet get a 99% on a test. They know the right thing to say to the right person in the corporate world, so they get promoted. On and on it goes, but there is one common thread to all of it: many never really had to learn how to put in the long hours to make it happen. That type of “gift” can be the kiss of death when starting a business that requires long hours, and dedication to get it up and running.

Give me a person of average intelligence…

People of average intelligence, but with a strong work ethic, have a much higher chance of building a successful business than the genius that never learned to work a hard day in his or her life. The fact is most successful businesses are not successful because of the newest hot idea; but a mediocre idea executed really well.

If I could do it all over again!

If I could do it all over again, and my career was based entirely on making the most “sure-fire” money possible (btw it’s not – I’m one of those rare people who love what I do in the corporate world and for my creative side, the writing world), I would own a driveway paving company in Northern Westchester. “Huh?!” you think. Let me explain. This industry has three things that make it attractive to a would be entrepreneur: fragmented competition, no market leader and BIG profit per job (Northern Westchester, NY has some long driveways!).

Is the driveway paving game sexy? Not even a little – which keeps people like you away from it. Is it expensive to enter? You can rent the equipment needed for $1000 a job; the material costs another $1500, and the labor will cost about $5000. The average high-end driveway in Northern Westchester costs circa $15,000-$18,000. This means profit of $7500-11,500. Once the system is up and running the owner could easily scale it. Multiply about $10,000 profit by 100 jobs a year and the business profits over $1m. I think that could be achieved in less than three years. Imagine what can be done in 10 years?

The point is, with hard work, great delivery, great customer service and a little branding, within a decade the cash machine will crank out deep seven figures. Repeat business is also likely along the way, which makes that business, “exit-able” for tens of millions of dollars.

It is the hard work and dedication to “a system” that makes the business profitable, not a genius idea or a genius leader.

Genius ideas do have their place and if one has a genius idea and a strong work ethic watch out – that’s the stuff that Facebook is made of; however, that’s not most people. If you have a decent idea, don’t wait for a great one. Engage your entrepreneurial calling and get moving – because it takes time to build momentum and momentum is what makes big outcomes in business possible.

How Simple Language to Builds Trust

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A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws them all in hopes he may hit.
~Samuel Johnson

When I wrote The Busy Adult’s Guide to Making College Happen! the copy editor at the publishing company asked me a two part question, “do you want to sound smart, or do you want your book to sell?” “Are they different?” I asked? “Completely,” he responded. “You’re book is written using college graduate level language according to the Flesch–Kincaid grade level test, yet it is written for people without a college degree, do you see a problem here???” I agreed and he changed the language. That book went on to win the Axiom Best Business Book of the Year Award in 2009 a long side Peter Drucker, Seth Godin and others. I never did that again…

The old way of thinking was that people want to sound smarter than their reader in written text (and in life!). They want to use their “verbal advantage[1]” language to wow the customer into thinking how smart they are. This gives them perceived intellectual authority. The problem is that this works well only in certain select circumstances – primarily when the buyer is gullible, but it has the opposite affect on those individuals who are reasonably intelligent.

If you’re the CFO of a company interviewing two bankers, one asks a few strategic questions to really understand the issues and then the client does most of the talking; the other launches right into their finely crafted presentation and asks no questions. Who do you think the CFO will buy from?

Let’s say they both get to the end, and the client asks “is it the right time to raise capital in the bond markets?” Examine at these two responses below:

Banker 1

“Recent market research data would suggest that the noise in Europe and the risk premium that global markets are now charging – gives some companies pause when contemplating the market. Once they have digested the data, a wise treasury staff would determine that, while nothing is ever certain, it is fear rather than investor demand piloting the uncertainty that exists in the markets today. If you’re willing to take a modicum of risk, then coming to market should be a consideration.”

Banker 2

“The market hasn’t been perfect since 2006; however, it’s in reasonably good shape. We recommend that you come to market as soon as possible. You never know what’s going to happen in the future…”

This happens a lot and actually happened right in front of me – I was Banker #2! I wrote down (as fast as I could) what Banker #1 was saying on the client conference call because the other banker was known for his ostentatious display of words, and I needed material for this article!

So, when dealing with clients keep it clear, otherwise they will not trust you. I’ll end this article with my favorite quote on the subject:

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms.
~George Orwell

 

[1] A program that helps people learn and use difficult to understand words correctly in everyday speech.