Posts Tagged ‘Truth’

Since last October, several people have persevered in the Numbers Accountability Group. We meet once a month as a group, and I also coach each person individually for 30 minutes.

My idea behind starting this group was two-fold. First, we don’t take the time to review our business numbers thoroughly every month, and we might not review them at all if things aren’t going well. Second, we don’t always know about all the information our business numbers can provide. So I started a group to review our numbers together, and to teach new ways to learn more from them.

We’ve talked about a lot of different concepts: cash flow, breakeven point, the lifetime value of a client, and other business numbers topics.

But last month, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about what to do if we’re  afraid to look at our business numbers.

Nine Suggestions

Here’s what we came up with together. I think you’ll also find these suggestions helpful if you’re afraid to look at your numbers:

1.  Remember my purpose (i.e. why am I doing this business in the first place? Is that purpose still true? Can it sustain you through rough times?).

2.   Talk to other people (do you have people who support you? Fellow business owners, leads group, service club, coach?).

3.  Meditate (and/or pray). A little quiet time can clear the mind and make the next right action clearer.

4.  Take some action (marketing action, perhaps?).

5.Take a break from thinking about my business numbers (sometimes a break creates a breakthrough).

6.    Try to identify what my emotions are. This is a good one. There is the thing happening, and then there’s the story about the thing, i.e. “Sales are down, therefore I am a wretch.” (Only the first half of that sentence is true. Are you telling yourself a nasty story about a neutral fact?)

7. Remember to be kind (to yourself, especially).

8. Remember that business goes up and down in cycles (this is true for every business except possibly tax accountants and morticians, but I think even they are not exempt).

9. Build a prudent reserve (AKA business savings).

Prudence Pays

This last one, “Build a prudent reserve,” is possibly one of the most important. If you don’t have money set aside for emergencies, open a savings account RIGHT NOW and get started. I use www.ingdirect.com, but there are other banks that will automatically take money out of your checking account each month. You can start with as little as $10.00 per month, and create a savings account for both your personal and your business expenses. Even $10.00 builds up. It’s the miracle of two things; regular saving, and compound interest.

Tags: Business Numbers, Business Plans, Fear, Truth

I sent my email newsletter out last week with an article about telling the truth, especially the hard truths, and got more response to it than I’ve gotten to all my other wonderfully helpful articles about marketing and customers and all the other ones about doing business better. Here’s the text of the article:

“I have a friend with a heart problem (the physical kind). She needs to have a procedure done to fix it, but has not been willing to do it. Like all “procedures,” behind this word is pain, a stay in the hospital, anesthesia, and the (small but always present) risk of death. The risk of death is higher if she doesn’t get the procedure done, but it’s hard to remember that part when you’re not dead right now, and you are contemplating the hospital stay with all its accompanying pain, lack of sleep, and other uncomfortable features.

My friend’s cardiologist has told her for the past year that she needs to have this procedure done. This doctor is kind, gentle, knowledgeable and trustworthy.

Yesterday, I witnessed a different cardiologist tell my friend the same thing. This cardiologist was abrupt, harsh, and when my friend started to argue with him, held up his hand and said, “I don’t want to hear it. My job is to tell you the risks. I don’t take it personally if you don’t take my advice. I just want you to know the facts.”

At first I thought “what a jerk.” But then I started to think about my friend and her heart and what’s best for her. The second cardiologist (the first one too, just not as harshly), had my friend’s welfare and the truth of the situation uppermost in his mind. He might have presented it more kindly, but to him, the information trumped the delivery.

It got me thinking. Where am I mincing words? Am I doing that with any of my clients? Would a truthful conversation with someone, without worrying what they thought of me as I delivered the message, help the person, or the business, immeasurably?

Is there a conversation you need to have? Does one of your clients need to take an action (or even buy something from you) that is in her best interest, but she is resisting? The key to this is having the person’s welfare as your top priority, without being attached to the outcome. Deliver the message, let go of whether the person hears, or heeds it.”

So that’s the article. I got at least ten replies from people who took the advice to heart and had their difficult conversations, every one with unexpectedly good results.

People said things like: “Happens to be just what I needed to hear…”
“Your words inspired me to get in a quiet space and think about the conversation I was going to have that brought me some fear.”
“I did it!”

The moral of the story, at least today, is that even though I do want to provide helpful business information, sometimes the best information for us small business owners is the stuff that addresses the human side, the relationship side of business.

I used to think these subjects were taboo, as if I’m supposed to leave my personality (and all its foibles, shortcomings and quirks) at the door. Judging from the response to my newsletter, I was wrong.

Tags: Fear, Relationships, Success, Truth