“Culling is the process of removing animals from a group based on specific criteria. This is done either to reinforce certain desirable characteristics or to remove certain undesirable characteristics from the group.”

While it seems severe, every business must cull their bad clients to ensure they can focus on the needs of their good clients. Sometimes the difference between good and bad can be confusing because you may actually like your ‘bad’ clients and common sense is not as easy to practice. The problem with not culling your clients is that the bad ones put you in a mood or state that doesn’t serve your good ones. The bad ones don’t pay on time, they don’t respect your time, they are constantly rescheduling, they don’t respect the relationship, or they make your life harder than it needs to be. The good ones pay on time, respect your time, keep their dates with you, are appreciative to be in the business relationship, and working with them seems easy.

The way I know when the time is coming to cull is how I feel when I roll out of bed, turn on my iPad, and look at my schedule for the day. If I smile when I think of who I’m going to see/talk to, then I know these are the right people to have on my roster; if I roll my eyes, feel my shoulders get heavy, and feel myself getting into a bad mood, then I know it’s time to pay attention and make some decisions.

You see, when I started Think Tank Communications back in 1999, my client list was filled with ‘bad clients’. Most were Economic Developers of cities, government bureaucrats, or politicians, and they were a pain in the ass because they cared more about how the work ‘made them look’ then the work themselves. The money was good, but the work was shit. It took a year to realize that by serving bad clients, you don’t open up your prospects of working with good clients and that gets you into a funk.

Spend some time this week looking at your client list and decide who has become high maintenance and unenjoyable to work with and then look at those that you can’t wait to talk to, who you happily go the extra mile for, and who puts a smile on your face. Serving bad clients isn’t really doing anyone any favors. Not them, not you, and not your good clients.

Lucky for me, I have three of my favorite clients today so the day started with a smile on my face for me. As for tonight, it’s time to look at my client list and decide who will be continuing on in 2012 and who will be better served by someone else. Mediocrity doesn’t live here.

I’ve been tardy in getting comments into this online platform due to launching the licensing components of a few new exciting business models i’ve been lucky enough to be involved in. All of them are either focused on women, or moms, and just today I had a woman ask me, “Do you think being a parent is an advantage or disadvantage in business?” Without really thinking about it, I blurted out, “It’s a major advantage because having kids means you don’t get to quit.”

Granted, there are markets available only to parents and moms are very supportive of other moms. But for me, watching first from the outside in and now from the inside out, having kids removes your ability to say, “I can’t do this.” In business, talent only plays a small role in success. The bigger role is the mindset that you will not quit until you figure it out. While I’ve had more than my share of failures, now that I have kids, I can’t go home, hat in hand, and tell them that I failed because I gave up. I think this must only get stronger when you have teenagers. We, as parents, know that we can inject into our kids the belief systems that will either make them leaders, or make them sheep. Will you tell your kids all the things they CAN do, or all the things they CAN’T do? The great thing about kids, is they understand  ’lip service’. If you do one thing, and say another.

A woman I know through social circles, has been struggling the past few months. She is selling a product that has an extremely long sales cycle, and has made some fundamental missteps this year. She told me ‘that she didn’t believe she could do it anymore.” I looked at her and she waited to find out what I thought. Finally, I said, “I believe you.” She looked both shocked and relieved. She said, “That wasn’t what I thought you were going to say. I though you were going to say that I should keep my chin up, focus on the end goal, and do the work.” I replied, “I know that’s what it takes, but I don’t think you have it in you to commit to that course. Rather, I think you should go home, sit down your 12 year old and 17 year old, and tell them that when things get tough, you should give up.” She said with a flicker of anger, “I would never say that to them.” I said, “Doesn’t matter if you say it, they’ll see it.” She got upset and asked why I was such a hard ass. I told her that when you are a single person, you can do whatever you want. Go to Europe, live on beaches, explore life. But when you become a parent, you have to hold yourself to higher standards. Model the behavior of a winner, not of a quitter. If you don’t want to build business for your self and your own self respect, do it for your kids. Show them that once you start something, you see it through. My dad taught me, “excuses are for losers” and anytime I’m about to make and excuse, I am reminded of the lesson, and continue on.

Can you quit on your entrepreneurial endeavours? Yes. You simply may not be a true entrepreneur. But if you think you are a true business owner, and you are just finding it hard, think of what you would say to your kids when they come to you and say, “I want to quit school because it is hard. There are other things I could do, but I don’t think this high school thing is for me.” What would you say? “Okay, quit. Try something else and if you don’t like that, then quit. And so on…” I don’t think any parent aspires to raising a quitter and in hand, you should ensure your actions don’t speak louder than words.

Birds of a feather; flock together. The same holds true in business. The business life you want to have will happen in direct relation to who you spend your time with. Miserable employees who hate their jobs seem to cluster. So too do successful entrepreneurs. When we spend our time with people who ‘get it done’, not only are we inspired to do the same, but we consciously or subconsciously learn from them and in turn start to ‘get it done’ for ourselves.

When Ghost CEO clients start to get on their flight path with their business model and trend upwards (increase their revenues), the first thing we suggest is for them to be strict with who they spend time with. If they hang out with suffering entrepreneurs who are getting banged up because they aren’t doing the work, then this could (and does) rub off on our clients. If they spend time with people who are getting it done, who don’t make excuses, and assume total responsibility for their businesses, they will be in good company. When women do business in a group, they tend to call these ‘support circles’, but what it really is, becomes apparent after the first get-together. More times than not, it becomes a ‘justification party’ of why things aren’t going well for each member of the group. These have zero value for an entrepreneur and can actually drag you down.  When you leave a meeting with your peers and feel ‘justified’ that you are doing your best and that many things are outside your control, you have just wasted an hour (or hours of your time). If however you leave inspired, energized, and determined to push farther ahead, you have spent time in good company. You should judge each meeting to determine which camp it falls in.

Here’s a tool we want you to consider trying this week:

1. Answer this question: “Am I making as much money as I can and building the right business model for me?”
2. If the answer is “YES”, make a list of 10 people that have supported you in getting there. If the answer is “NO”, look at you scheduler and determine who has spent time with you in the last month. Have you been hanging with people who get it done? Or people who make excuses on why things don’t happen.
3. If you want to be poor, hang around with poor people with poor mindsets. If you want to be rich; hang out with rich people with rich mindsets. We learn from our environment.

Show me someone off profit model and I’ll show you someone who invests time in the wrong people. People who focus on abundance see opportunities everywhere; people who focus on scarcity see threats everywhere. Which team do you want to play on?

Best,

Chris.

From time to time, something happens in business that makes me angry. After two decades of being an entrepreneur, you’d think that I would have gotten past the emotional side of feeling slighted or needing to stick my nose in the business of something that I don’t have right to (i.e. a client getting screwed over by a partner), but I am still always surprised by how crappy people can treat each other and how cheats can try to screw people over in business without concern of repercussions. Last summer I had a long-term business relation who wanted to have their lawyer  speak on their behalf because they didn’t have the courtesy or the courage to have a professional conversation about their inability to lead their team or follow a system. This lack of professionalism made me angry, but I bit my tongue and simply let the process of business take its course. I referred back to our agreement, engaged the court system in ruling on my position and had the lawyer involved on the other side reviewed for their conduct in the matter. Thought I didn’t have any interest in being aggressive or getting into a pissing match, I was committed to seeing the matter through to the end.

In business, we can be angry, but the thing to remember is that people do dumb things in business, even more so when they are angry. This particular person made many judgement errors throughout the time I did business with them and I would carefully go in and advise them on how to fix their mistakes. Anything from an unhappy client firing them through to a business plan that was one of the most poorly written documents I had ever read. After time and time again moving in to ‘fix’ problems, this individual decided to go on the offense with me which displeased me to say the least. When ever I find myself getting into an angry space, the first thing I think of is…”let the process manage the response”. We have agreements in place with people, not because we don’t trust them, but because we can’t rely on objectivity when something happens. It’s human nature to take up guard when you think someone is trying to screw you, but the proper response is to go back to the process you have put in place. In all occasions where I’ve found myself in this spot, I go back to the process. A partner doesn’t want to pay you your share; refer to the shareholder’s agreement. You call into question the ethics of a lawyer representing the other side on a business transaction, you call the governing body for that lawyer and file a complaint. There is no need getting red in the face, yelling, screaming, and stamping your feet. It’s better to follow the process.

If you find yourself getting aggravated in business, think first of the process(es) in place for you manage the situation professionally.  A strategic strike is always a better response than a physical one. When I’m angry, I get paid because I have a system in place.  Hit them where it hurts, and I don’t mean their stomach. For someone who used the middle initial “M” to refer to ‘money’ (they didn’t have a middle name), there is nothing sweeter than having them courier you a registered cheque for the amount they owed you, but weren’t planning to pay you. That’s gotta hurt! They get to fume about paying you money they didn’t want to (but were contractually obligated to) and you get to have trips, martinis, and other good stuff on their tab.

Let your processes channel your anger, not your words or your physical actions.

Cheers,

C/

When I was taking life guard training, the first thing we were taught is that a drowning person is a dangerous person. Not only will they strangle you if you get close (in order to preserve themselves), but they are not of rational mind. The first thing you need to do is get their attention, swim in behind them, and grab them around the chest. We were even taught that if need be, slap them or punch them to give yourself a chance to ‘shock’ them and position yourself to help them without getting hurt yourself. In business, it is common to feel like you are just about to go under water. The invoices that your clients owe you aren’t being paid, you have a huge cash burn each month (expenses), and the water is creeping up slowly, but surely over your head. Rather than flailing around frantically, stop and take a breathe.

If you stop struggling and put your feet down, you’ll find that you can touch. Maybe just on your tippy toes, but you can touch. Then you quiet your mind, close your eyes and feel the floor beneath you. One way and you’ll go deeper; the other and you’ll start to get into shallower and more manageable water. If you got yourself into the deep end, you can get yourself back out, but not by splashing and screaming. You must breath and ‘feel’ for the way out. Your rational mind will kick in, but not if you are in flight or fight mode. I’ve spent the last 11 years working with clients, who in their pursuits of big business and big money, find themselves in the deep end. Some swim in circles, some bob their heads above and below water month to month, but the seasoned ones ‘tread’ water and look around at the horizon. They look to see where the shallow part is and they swim (with strategies) to that part of the proverbial pool.

Everyone that has ever done anything great has felt like they are ‘in over their heads’. That’s part of the process, but how you manage these situations will determine if you become a champion swimmer or if you will run out of steam and sink. When it doubt, turn off your phone, your email, shut your door, take a breath and think…there is always a way out and you are the person to make it happen.

Best,

C/

Today I found myself reflecting on things over the last two decades. I’m moving up towards 40 and although that seems young to those over 40; it feels old to someone who forgets daily that he isn’t 25 anymore. With a recent broken foot situation that isn’t healing as quickly as I remember things to heal, I took pause to consider what is the same, what is different, and what I learned in the process. Here is a comparison of what was important when I was 17 years old; 27 years old; and now.

People I hung out with.

17: Anyone who had a car

27: Business owners 20 years my senior

37: Anyone who isn’t too loud and likes scotch.

Obsession:

17: Graduate and get into college

27: Build a business that would give me a seven-figure income

37: Figure out how to get my work done without having to get on airplanes

Advice I didn’t take:

17: “Don’t waste this time in your life worrying, it’s the most free you will ever feel.”

27: “Travel the world before you have kids.”

37: “Eat more bran.”

Job I had:

17: gas jockey and line cook

27: owner of a two-year old business start-up.

37: Owner of (or interest in) 43 corporations, author, licensing expert, curriculum developer, and professional speaker.

What I thought I wanted:

17: a Corvette

27: a Humvee

37: a G5

Watch I wore at the time:

17: Timex Ironman

27: Tag Heuer

37: Breitling

Greatest mistakes:

17: Worrying too much about the future (it all DOES work out)

27: Working too hard and not smart enough and partnering with the wrong people

37: Thinking that people’s potential = their abilities and wanting it more for them then they want it for themselves.

Places I wanted to travel to:

17: Miami

27: Rome

37: The Middle East

Looking back, it’s hard to believe that a little over 15 years ago, I was working as a bouncer in a club owned by a bike gang, studying political science, history, and philosophy, and worrying that I would end up screwing my life up (as many thought I would). When it comes right down to it, nobody really knows the path. You get up each day, make 10-15 decisions, see what works and what doesn’t and repeat it the next day. What I think I might do different from many, is I assess my investment each day at the end of the day. The family is in bed, the lights are turned off, I sit on the couch and replay my activities that day.

• Were they productive or did I waste my time.
• Did I spent time with the right people or the wrong people.
• Did I move the ball ahead or did I let it slip back?
• Did I push myself or did I settle?

When I look back, it seems to have come easy, but if I were to be honest, it wasn’t easy at all. It was ‘showing up each and every day.’ When things were great, I showed up. When things were shitty, I showed up. When people got in my way, I went around them. When people supported me, I brought them with me.  When I was 27, I made more in a week then I did in thee months as a 17 year old; as a 37 year old, I make more in a day then I used to make in three months as a 27 year old. It gets better as you get better. You get better by showing up. Every hour of my day, I make the same as I used to earn in a month as a 17 year old. Think about it. In one day, I make what I used to make in 8 months as a 17 year old or 1 month as a 27 year old. What will 47 look like? Don’t get me wrong. I had some tough years, got punched around, had markets drop off below my feet, but building back each time happened quicker and I came back even stronger. What I had going for me is the decision I made at 25 to do work that I LOVED and that I would be paid well for. I wouldn’t suffer for my passion; I would sell myself out for money.

My dad used to say to me, “everyone has the ability to do it, most choose not to.” I never understood why someone would ‘settle’ when they could be excellent. For me, I don’t ever want to be laying on my deathbed regretting the things I didn’t do, the efforts I didn’t make, the experiences I didn’t create. At thirty-seven I realize that it is all up to me, and that…feels comforting. If the 37 year old was taking to the 17 year old, here’s what I would say (although the 17 year old probably wouldn’t listen):

1. Life goes by far to fast. Don’t rush it.
2. University is for people looking to get a good job. Spend your time in university studying your passion. You can find a job later.
3. The relationships you have in university will define who you become as an adult.
4. See the world. By doing so, you realize that your decisions are not life or death.
5. You can recover from anything and everything.
6. Mistakes prove to be the greatest lessons you can get.
7. Always bet on yourself.
8. Show up each and every day
9. Never let anyone define you. Disregard both criticism and praise. You know if you did well or not.
10. Speak your mind and you will live free.
11. 90% of success is who you spend your time with.
12. If it can be done…it can be done by you.
13. Can’t is the worst word in the English language.
14. Go to one movie a week. This will keep you mentally clear and remind you of the world that awaits you.

One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies (Meet Joe Black) is:

“I want you to sing with rapture and dance like a dervish. Love is passion, obsession, someone you can’t live without. I say fall head over heels, find someone you can love like crazy and who’ll love you the same way back. How do you find him? Well, you forget your head and you listen to your heart and I’m not hearing any heart. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love – well, you haven’t lived a life at all. But you have to try, because if you haven’t tried, you haven’t lived… Stay open, who knows? Lightning could strike.”

One of the main reasons people move from employment to starting their own business is the frustration of not getting to decide who they work with. Whether it be a bad boss, bad co-workers, or bad vendors, in an employment setting, you are expected to ‘grin and bare it’. Not true in self-employment. If you don’t like a vendor, find a new one. If you don’t like a client, fire them. If you don’t like an employee, give them notice. But what do you do with high-maintenance clients? The ones that call everyday, email everyday, and complain when you don’t respond immediately? The mistake most new business owners make is to cater to these clients and adjust how they do business so the client is happy. BIG MISTAKE! Not only are you catering to the lowest part of your client list, but you’ll end up resenting the good clients and throwing the ‘baby out with the bath water’.

I’m always amused that the most high-maintenance clients, the ones that email/call every day, are the ones that complain about not getting enough time. The excellent clients, the ones that show up on time, agendas done, homework done, are the last to bitch because they are…performing. Those clients always get more attention from me because they are fun and easy to work with. They take responsibility. I’ve had clients who I’ve given extra time to who complain when they don’t get extra time every month. These clients go back to the exact time they pay for, and nothing more. Aside from it being bad manners, it’s bad business.

If you find yourself with a high maintenance client (or clients), track them. Start to look at what makes them high maintenance and determine if you have been clear with rules and boundaries for the relationship. If you haven’t, you need to; if you have, enforce your rules and start your process of replacing high maintenance clients with high performing clients. As with any business owner, I have favorite clients and they always get a bit of extra attention, but as soon as I start to seem them taking it for granted or not appreciating it, they go right back to only the time they pay for and nothing more.

You are in control as a business owner. You decide what you offer the market, who that market is, and how they get to work with you. As soon as high maintenance clients sneak into your client list, you run into trouble. It’s best to put them on notice, prepare yourself to fire them, and focus your attention instead on clients that are a pleasure to work with. One client in Seattle (DG) has been a pleasure to work with since our first session and someone that I always look forward to hearing from, talking to, and having a session with. She sets a high standard for other clients and reminds me that great clients make the day go fast; bad clients make the day drag.

Go through your client list tonight and determine: Who is a joy? Who should be put on notice? And who is on their last legs and should be fired. You owe it to yourself to only work with clients you look forward to seeing and that honor what you do.

Best,

C/

I’m noticing this epidemic of business owners who have chosen to ride Social Media as their main (and only) business development process, rather than build traditional business through networks, creating credibility, and talking to people. About once a week, someone in the social media sphere tells me that I should be doing more on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and other social media sites in order to ‘build more business’. The first thing I do when I get this advice is have a look at what they are doing. Some have 4,000 Facebook friends, 20,000 twitter followers, and they get their blog reposted by other blogs like it is going out of style. The one thing they don’t have is….clients. They have these huge networks of people, but are not realizing the benefit from all their efforts online  resulting in gains financially.

I guess maybe this is the Luddite in me, but I’m using Social Media to stay engaged with people i know, not to meet new people. I meet new people in real world situations and then decide if I want them into my social media network. I get many requests for Linked In (up to 10 a day), friend requests on Facebook (maybe 10 a week) and 2-3 twitter followers a day. Nothing to write home about or to brag about. But..I’m on profit model. I run successful and profitable business models by meeting people, looking for fit, engaging them if the fit is there, and doing business. Then we may or may not connect online through social media, although most I do connect with on Linked In.

So am I saying that Social Media is useless? No. What I am saying is it should augment your marketing and business development systems, not replace them. You will make more money with a couple of good face to face meetings, then you will getting 100 new twitter followers. If you are selling a service or a product, you can open up Social Media as a way to have future conversations online, that were started offline. I have yet to meet one non-technology service/product based company that has built their company through Social Media only.  Maybe I haven’t figured it out yet, but truthfully, no one else I know has either. There are some great companies out there doing their thing on Social Media like Magnify and our friend and colleague Norma Maxwell, but they are extensions of business development, not replacements of business development. Their services  lengthen the conversation, not replace the conversation. They shorten the sales cycle,not replace the sales cycle. Social media is an ‘add on’, not a ‘replacement’ at least not yet.

Watching this closely, from a non-technology viewpoint, I don’t believe you can sell online, if you can’t sell offline. You master what you do offline, and then move it online with the right strategy.

Now, off to play with my abacus.

C/

In the last two weeks, I’ve been in five provinces, two states, and flown about 15,000 miles. Aside from some bumpy flights, I was able to get some time to work on overdue projects. While others were watching movies beside me with their feet up, or listening to their iPods, I was billing. Why? Because travel to me isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. I plot out my work day and set aside a certain amount of work I want to accomplish. I’m not always overly enthused to have to do the work, but I know what gets me busy keeps me busy.

In recent weeks, I’ve had conversations with a variety of people that have notices that the economy has picked up. Buyer confidence is coming back, yet they find themselves off their profit model. How can this be? They are good at what they do. They have an obvious market they service. And their market has more money now than it did last year. When the explain this inexplainable situation, I ask to see their daytimer. At first there is a look of shock and then it is quickly replaced with defensiveness. “Why would you want to look at my schedule?” I reply, “I can tell you in 10 seconds why you are off model.

The truth is, we can busy ourselves with things. Getting groceries, surfing the web, paying bills, and other tasks, but none of these make you money. They cost you money. You can have a long lunch with your friend, call your mom, or get your car washed, but if it is happening between 9AM and 5PM, you are pissing away profitable hours of the day. One woman in Seattle showed me her daytimer and after looking at 20 tasks. Here is a sample of what was on the list:

• Pick up dry cleaning
• Make a Costco shopping list
• Pay the house taxes
• Check into better cell phone plans
• Find week-long camps for the kids this summer
• Get the car insurance papers in
• Plan parents anniversary party
• Follow up with Beth (prospect)
• Find out when the Alumni party is for Seattle University
• Get some groceries for the weekend
• Make up the bedrooms for the grandparents visit

As you can see, only one of the tasks was business related (in bold).

>Here is an example of my average week (includes meetings with clients/partners). The spaces you’ll see in the list is the space that I put in place to think about projects (again pro-business development).

Have a look at your calendar and determine where your time is going. Is it spent making money? Of 40 hours, how many were actual billing hours or hours building billing opportunities? What gets in your way? Once you know, you can’t un-know.

Cheers,

C/

It is not the critic who counts; not the woman who points out how the strong woman stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the woman who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends herself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if she fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that her place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Taken from: -Theodore Roosevelt / Anthony Hopkins “World’s Fastest Indian”