The 6th new habit is called de-risking and it’s where the new leader responds to the global competitive economic changes by seizing radical adjacency opportunities; essentially taking the company into areas where they have no core competency. This strategy requires leaders to be learning on a daily basis so they can develop an overall knowledge of how the new options, alternatives and markets can be integrated into the business. Let’s get a better idea of how this could work by examining Forrest Lucas, the founder of Lucas Oil Products and how he got started.

Raised on a farm in Indiana, he left home at 15 and worked on a small cattle ranch. He married at 17. He always had a fascination with trucks and bought his first semi when he was 21. He started working for a moving and storage company making about $14,000 a year. Gasoline was just 25 cents a gallon. He drove day and night while studying the people whose furniture he was moving. They were CEOs, generals and admirals. He noted that all of them who made it to the top were nice people and incorporated that into his philosophy. To this date, all of his employees are nice.

He had planned on driving and saving money to buy a gas station so he could spend more time at home and raise a family, but he ended up divorced after 11 years. He purchased more trucks and ran his own business. In the 1980s after the trucking industry was deregulated and his move to California, he realized that he needed better lubricants for his trucks. He bought different additives and studied how to make them. With an open mind, he tried difference things, got a private blender and soon was selling an additive at truck stops. He found a secret ingredient and suddenly the business took off.

At that same time, the transportation company cut his rates for his best customer to the bone. It was fortuitous as he sold his 8 trucks and went full-time with his oil business in 1989. He was faced with new challenges because few want to be the first to try a new product. Further he had to determine what price to charge and how to sell it. His biggest fear was that the big oil companies would cut him out of the business. They too had additives, but they didn’t have his mechanical knowledge.

In the beginning they used racecars to get people to look at the product. For $500 he started marketing by painting LUCAS OIL on the side of a racecar. By 2003 they built a second plant in Indiana and had to buy a railroad (Lucas Rail) in 2006 to get the product out. It’s just 13 miles of track, but Lucas thought there must be companies with railroad cars that needed to park them somewhere. Soon he was turning a profit renting rail parking space and got his products hauled away in the bargain.

By this point the company is making truck oil for themselves, and racing, boat, motorcycle and hydraulic oils at different weights to accommodate the North American market. In 2006 he purchased the production company that had been making their commercials (Lucas Oil Studios), as he wanted to get into motor sports and lifestyle programming; and he wanted the naming rights to the shows and banners. He purchased some speedways too.

In 2008 he purchased the Indianapolis Colts for the naming rights for Lucas Oil Stadium. Last year he purchased MavTV, an independent cable station so the company will always have a programming space if other networks decide to drop motor sports. Lucas said, “Being the little old do-it-yourselfers we are, no one can take us out that way.”

When asked about the future, the 70 year old said, “We are already looking 10 to 20 years ahead. For example, we’ve been working with many race teams, including Chip Ganassi Racing, on light-oil formulas and friction-free greases. We started making synthetic diesel oil for an oil-drilling company in northern Canada and are now selling it to a mining company in the Congo. We’re made in America and sold to the world.”

Lucas’s philosophy is to empower people to go ahead and do things themselves. He believes that way they can make more good choices in a day than many corporate giants. As a result his company has grown through the recession, particularly since most people are thinking about maintenance as they are keeping their cars and trucks longer. Because of the path that Lucas grew his company, he now enjoys knowing that more than 90% of what is asked for by brand name in the auto parts industry will be something his company has produced.

Each move that Lucas made throughout his years in business has been to de-risk or to reduce the odds of the big competitors derailing his company; yet each of these adjacency opportunities catapulted his business several levels.

Whether you are a leader of a company or an individual building your career, applying this habit will strengthen your value and open up bigger, better opportunities in the future.

Susan Bagyura, a leadership coach and author, works with leaders to inspire success from the top down. The book is available at Family Bookshop in MQ. The audio to this article may be heard at http://www.susanbagyura.com/audio/lucas.html.

Exploring what’s happening in a couple of businesses right now, I’ve seen one group doing a really great job of bringing in the business.  However when matters are looked at more closely, valuable profit margin was left on the table.  Business survival is largely dependent upon understanding and working to the profit margin that you need to stay in business, but even more importantly, to grow and serve your customers.

Sometimes the salespeople in their desire to close the business will automatically drop the price without thinking about or having a discussion on the consequences of that move.  Further the customer may have only asked a question for clarification and the salesperson dropped the price.

This happened in a recent business transaction that I had with a vendor.  After reviewing their invoice, I called to get a better understanding of what they were charging.  Immediately the vendor knocked $1,500 off the price.  I happily took the discount, but I had no intention of asking for it.

Since it’s important to keep the profit margins at a certain level, there would be other opportunities for negotiations such as the delivery time frame, the quantity, the packaging, etc.  Look for how the business can be scaled up whenever a concession is made or discussed.

Recently a consultant I know had submitted a training proposal to a major company in Houston.  She told me that the company asked for a discount on the training and my friend didn’t know what to do.  As we discussed it, she said she had already given them the best price that she possibly could.

I gave her another viewpoint when I said that’s what they want to know.  They don’t want to overpay and they also don’t want to squeeze her so she’s not profitable.  It’s their duty to ask if there could be any movement on the price, but it doesn’t necessarily mean there has to be movement in order to secure the business.  She successfully closed that business without having to make a concession on the price.

What happens when sales does a good job of bringing in the business, but the technical staff, customer support, warehouse, etc. make costly and unnecessary errors?   Do they automatically decide to give products or services away to appease the customers?  When this happens, the profit margin has just been reduced.

A few months back while waiting for my household shipment to arrive in New York, I rented some furniture for the 2-week gap.  When the furniture was delivered, the table was missing.  I called the company and they said “Sorry.  We will deliver it the day after tomorrow.”

This was completely unacceptable to me because I was paying a month’s rent for 2 weeks and I wanted what I ordered as agreed.  He then offered to take it off the bill.  There goes some profit margin.  I called the salesperson and she pulled out the stops and had the table delivered to me that evening and saved the deal.

Go to http://www.susanbagyura.com/audio/negotiations.html to hear some tips on how you can establish negotiation boundaries for your sales, service and support.

Susan Bagyura, leadership coach and Author of The Visionary Leader, shows leaders how to improve their profit margins better, faster and easier than they ever dreamed possible.

I remember back to the days when I first started my selling career. When I envisioned going into sales, I had a very silly idea that I only needed to be sweet and helpful and people would buy from me. Nothing could have been further from the truth. As I had burnt my bridges, there was no going back; I was forced to figure out how to sell.

I studied other people, read a lot of books, attended seminars and went to all the training that I could. Every one of these things benefitted me in my career, but I truly believe that the training that I took on negotiations catapulted me to another level.

Four out of 5 sales leaders and professional will drop their price or give anyway something for nothing when asked. If this is happening in your business, then it is costing you valuable profit margin. If your company isn’t profitable, then it cannot give the services that customers expect or hire the caliber of people you require to grow.

Recently I agreed to try some products under a 30-day trial that would automatically be billed if I didn’t cancel. While doing some banking services, I saw that I had been billed prior to the 30 days. I called the company and the customer service person told me that they bill on 28-day cycles. When I asked how they could bill me 28 days from the date of order, not even the receipt of the products, she said she would cancel that bill and I could have another free 30 days.

It’s interesting because actually I was perfectly happy to pay for the products then and on an ongoing basis; I only wanted it to be done as it was agreed. By just questioning why I was billed early, the company lost revenue. This is an expensive, reactive approach when the company should instill a strategic, proactive approach.

Where do you start? Take a look inside your organization and look at every department that impacts sales. Each department needs to work together to establish boundaries for sales, service and support. Review the terms that you establish with customers and make sure that you operate within them. Understand what you can and cannot do in your negotiations because there are many creative ways to package an agreement that goes beyond money and quantity.

Susan Bagyura, a leadership coach, shows leaders how to improve their profit margins better, faster and easier than they ever dreamed possible. http://www.thevisionaryleader.com

Two years ago, Cisco purchased the Flip video recorder from Pure Play Technologies for $590 million signaling a desire to play a bigger role in the consumer products industry which equated to 2-4% of their revenues. Soon after, when the market was moving towards multi-purpose devices like the smartphone, the Flip decision became a flop.

Oddly enough, even though the Flip didn’t fit in with their enterprise business strategy, the decision to kill off the successful product that is still the top-selling camcorder on Amazon.com has angered Flip customers. Shocked analysts wondered why Cisco didn’t at least sell off the Flip business. But the point is that both decisions/strategies were costly and flawed.

Further Cisco never asked the customers to see if there were other features that they could include in the Flip to make the product even more desirable. At the time they made the purchase, viral videos were exploding. With Cisco being the leading manufacturer of Internet equipment, they probably thought that Flip would continue to load the network which would be good for their overall strategy – but in a market they didn’t know and understand.

Failing to fully understand your market and your customers’ wants is a serious mistake. The original idea of the Flip was a quick, easy and inexpensive way to make videos on the fly which could be directly uploaded to YouTube without having to do any messy, time-consuming conversions. As the marketplace matured, what enhancements did the consumers want? One has the feeling if the product had stayed in Pure Play’s hands that it would have evolved as the market developed.

The Flip division had 550 employees. Does it seem likely that these people had firm ideas of how they could improve the product, possibly expand the product line and capture a larger share of the marketplace? However, as this acquisition didn’t fit with the core business, there was little or no chance of convincing headquarters of further investment. When a company has multiple companies or layers, it must keep the management at all levels informed of the strategy and growth plans instead of doing things in secret and taking uninformed decisions.

Regardless of the size of an organization, the goals must harmonize with the strategy. I like to look at it this way. The Mission is the ‘why’ or the purpose of the organization. It has to be something big and juicy, like transforming your people or your industry, but it must be something that really excites everyone. The Mission doesn’t change; it’s the beacon for the business. The Vision is the strategy or how you are going to do it. The vision or the ‘how’ will evolve, but it must always harmonize with the Mission. The Goals are the ‘what’ or in other words, the company’s products and services.

If there’s a misalignment in the relationship between these areas, serious business problems will occur which unfortunately most companies can only see in retrospect. It’s easy to spot in the Cisco scenario.

The $40 billion company purchased a $590 million company in a consumer-based market that they didn’t know and wasn’t in harmony with their enterprise-based mission. As there were no new developments in the product within the 2 years of ownership, then it can be concluded the goals also weren’t in harmony with the mission and the vision either. Although the Cisco management can be admired for recognizing their error and getting out; killing off a hot product is extreme.

As you look at your business strategy and goals for the balance of the year, what lessons can you take from this Cisco example? There’s still time to harmonize and make the most of 2011.

Susan Bagyura, creator of Your Personal Guide To Starting A Business, teaches the essentials of starting and growing a successful business. The audio to this article may be heard HERE.

As I thought about this news clip, I wondered why university students are worried and waiting for someone else to create something for them to do. I mean after all, they have been given a great opportunity to expand themselves through higher education and now have a greater awareness in at least one field. Why aren’t they thinking and masterminding how they can invent, create, start or at the least somehow see ways that they can impact the business world based on their new knowledge.

I was then reminded of the story of Fred Smith, the founder of FEDEX. It was when he was a student at Yale University, one of his professors stated that airfreight was the wave of the future and would one day become the primary source of income for airline companies.

Smith actually wrote a paper disagreeing with him. He argued that the passenger route patterns were inadequate for shipping freight. He purported that costs would not come down and the only way to make airfreight profitable would be by creating a whole new system based solely on packages which would encompass small and large cities. His professor actually thought Smith’s idea was preposterous and gave him a low grade.

Fred Smith’s idea was to start an all freight airline that would fly at night when the airports weren’t congested. It would carry small packages that were time-sensitive thereby eliminating any cost concerns. There would be main hub for collection, sorting and distribution which would be tracked through a customized software program. He chose his home city of Memphis.

Although the financial community wasn’t excited about his idea, he did raise $91 million to finance his untested idea. It was his enthusiasm and conviction that convinced these people to invest. As his idea started to become a reality, major airline companies tried to block him. But his persistence and commitment to his idea won out in the end. Fred Smith actually revolutionized the way and the speed with which we communicated and made faxes a thing of the past.

Some may think the Fred Smith was a guaranteed success because he went to Yale. Then let’s look at Sir Richard Branson. He doesn’t have a degree from any university, but he is one of the richest men in the world. He achieved his success by delivering old products and services in new, improved ways. He focused on and improved industries that weren’t serving the customers well.

By the age of 16 he already had 2 failed business endeavors. His first success at 17 was with a student magazine. When he was 20, he started a small mail order business selling records which he called Virgin. Shortly thereafter, he opened a record shop on Oxford Street in London. He had his trials and tribulations; and even ended up in jail accused of selling export stock, but nothing would dampen his desire for success. He went on to start a record label, a mobile phone company along with redefining the airline and train businesses.

The world is rapidly changing and this is the time–more than ever–for people to mastermind. A mastermind is simply a small, autonomous group where everyone is focused on success and creating something greater. The foundation is predicated on a question. It could be something like: “How can we create more jobs?” “What are the greatest needs in our society and how can we address them?” “How can we apply our education to the current situation?”

Any time that someone starts talking about something that can’t be done; others should remind them that this group is only focused on what it can do. The beauty of masterminding is that we are using our creative faculty of imagination. Everything in this world started with imagination—whether it’s the clothes you are wearing, the chair you are sitting on or the paper that you are holding.

Our future lays in our collective imagination. It’s not about waiting for someone else or something else to determine our future. It’s our responsibility to decide what we want; to decide what we are willing to do and to put our efforts towards that idea. This applies to our families, our work, our city, our country, our world—everything.

Susan Bagyura, author of The Visionary Leader: How To Inspire Success From the Top Down—available online from Amazon and Barnes & Noble or at the Family Bookshops in MQ and Qurum. Download the mastermind instructions http://www.susanbagyura.com/Susan-Download.html

As I thought about it, another person came to mind. He was awarded a huge contract last year to do his dream project. At a time when everyone should be happy, the subcontractors started causing problems. Time was slipping by arguing over unimportant matters instead of getting started on the contract. When I first heard about the problems, I gave some suggestions of what to do to turn things around. One of the main suggestions was to quit talking about the problems and the issues with the subcontractors and instead start focusing his mind and efforts on the desired outcome.

However, as the months went by, this gentleman continued to talk about these problems to anyone and everyone that would listen. I realized that he’s in love with the story. The more he continued to talk about this, more terrible things would happen. The story was getting larger and more incredible so he told it even more often. It was a vicious cycle.

Both of these people talked to me about their positive thinking, yet they had these negative outcomes. How could this be? It’s because of their deeply seeded irrational fears. She has a negative idea around her health going back 15 years ago when she had an accident and she continually holds onto these fears. He has a negative idea of his worthiness, even though he’s highly accomplished, and feels he must fight for what is rightfully his. This scenario, the fights for domination, has played out many times in his career. The beliefs both of these people hold are overriding any of their positive thinking—particularly if it’s just a fleeting moment of positive thinking.

In The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale says that unless you have a positive attitude about yourself and your abilities, “you cannot be successful or happy.”

I think he’s half right.

Yes, you need a positive attitude to be happy. However to be successful and to change beliefs, then it’s important to consistently and persistently use this winning formula:

• Decide exactly what it is you want. It’s vital to be clear and specific of what you want to be, do or have. While you are writing this down, dream big and leave behind any doubts.

• Make it your primary goal. Keep your focus on your goal. As you go through your day, question if what you are doing will move you towards your goal or away from it.

• Establish a series of yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily objectives to achieve that goal. Develop a plan of how you think you can bring that goal into reality and put the targets and activities into your calendar.

• Resist the urge to give up along the way. Failure comes from giving up which means that everyone has success within their control. Celebrate each milestone. When you hit an obstacle or a plateau, ask yourself “What’s the best action that I can take right now to move closer to my goal?” and then do it.

My own experience proves that, by doing this, you can achieve almost anything you want in life – even if you don’t have much faith in your own abilities. Further, it has been proven to me countless times over the years by people I’ve known personally, people I’ve coached, by friends and colleagues, and even by people in stories that I’ve read about. Many of these people may not have realized that they followed this formula as they are the so called unconscious competent; but it still works just the same.

But what if you want happiness? Happiness is a state of mind and you can choose at any moment to be happy. In that case, then you can follow Norman Vincent Peale’s advice and start thinking positive thoughts about yourself.

Peale went on to say, “Lack of self-confidence is one of the great problems besetting people today.” He referred to a survey of college students indicating that for 75% of them, confidence was the thing most lacking in their life.

We’ve all experienced time when our performance was affected by our self-confidence. If you’ve failed a test that you studied hard for, messed up in an interview, forgotten your lines in a play, or been hurt by a rude comment, you know what Peale means.

“The blows of life, the accumulation of difficulties, the multiplication of problems tend to sap energy and leave you spent and discouraged,” Peale says. In such situations, “it is easy to lose track of your abilities and powers” – but by re-appraising your personal assets, you can convince yourself that “you are less defeated than you think you are.”

As an example, Peale tells how he counseled a despondent 52-year-old man. Everything in his life, the man said, had been “swept away” by a recent business setback. “Everything I built up over a lifetime is gone.”

Peale recognized that although the man had indeed experienced a serious setback, his chief problem was the way he viewed it. “Suppose we take a piece of paper and write down the values you have left,” he suggested. And so they did. Among other things, the list included a 30-year marriage with a wonderful wife and 3 children, many good friends, good physical health and integrity.

That’s a great list. If you find yourself feeling down, I would hope that focusing on your positive personal assets could help you overcome the worst feelings you could possibly have about yourself. Meanwhile, get into action using the above formula and watch your happiness and self-confidence grow.

Susan Bagyura’s book The Visionary Leader: How To Inspire Success From The Top Down is available online through Amazon or Barnes & Noble. To listen to the the audio of this article, click here.

The inspirational leaders can be charismatic, compelling speakers and move employees along in a shared mission. They’re great examples demonstrating the behavior they want others to exercise.

The leaders who focus on developing others are genuinely interested in and good at developing other people’s skills. Natural mentors, they coach others to understanding their strengths and weaknesses.

Change catalyst leaders are “movers and shakers.” They challenge the status quo and make compelling arguments to anyone in opposition to change. They’re good at overcoming challenges and barriers.

The conflict management leaders easily understand different viewpoints and find common ground that everyone can support. They bring conflict to the light, recognize feelings, and redirect energy. They’re great negotiators.

The collaborative leader is a team player; bringing an atmosphere of cooperation and friendliness to a group. They get others involved, build enthusiasm and take the time to cement close relationships beyond the minimum effort that is required to work together.

The influential leader builds agreement with the team; appealing to key personnel, getting their buy-in for a project or goal. They’re engaging and persuasive; knowing exactly what to say to gain support.

Let’s explore influence because a leader’s ability to influence is vital to the success of the organization. In their new book Rainmaking Conversations, Mike Schultz and John Doerr documented 16 influence principles which the top salespeople use to make their sales flow.

While reading these principles, it’s best if you ask yourself, “Do I need to improve with this principle?” If the answer is yes, then you have a starting point.

1. Attention. It’s imperative to capture people’s attention. However, it’s quite challenging these days, particularly with the young people, because they’re so focused on their mobile phones, emails and friends. You can’t influence someone if they aren’t paying attention.
2. Curiosity. Most people are focused on what’s flashing or beeping in front of them. The best way to capture their attention is by piquing their interest. Create curiosity by conveying a sense that they’re missing something.
3. Desire. The first question that everyone has is simple: what’s in it for me? When buyers (or employees for that matter) start to see what’s in it for them, they become emotionally involved in wanting whatever it is. Learn to develop that into dissatisfaction and you’ll see growth in your sales.
4. Envy. How you ever noticed that when one friend buys a new gadget, suddenly everyone wants it. If you can get your buyer to want something that other people have, they’ll do whatever they can to they get it.
5. Emotional Journey. You’ve got to reach people through their feelings. The best salespeople take prospects on an emotional journey using stories that help prospects to feel the pain of where they are, and feel what the happiness and fulfillment will be like in their better future.
6. Belief. Belief is extremely powerful. The more convinced a prospect is that your solution will succeed, the more willing they’ll be to purchase. The more your employees believe in your vision, the more willing they will be to move forward on making it happen.
7. Justification. Every purchase is an emotional decision; then people will try to intellectualize it afterward. To make purchases stick, be sure to emphasize the value using by demonstrating the return on investment.
8. Trust. Belief is faith in something. Trust is faith in you. Trust is the foundation of sales. No trust, no sale. Trust is the foundation of a loyal employee.
9. Stepping Stones. Always start with small votes of confidence or agreements. Think of buying as a leap of faith. If you try to force people to make too big a decision too quickly, then the trust is compromised. When people make small commitments, like small projects or orders, they build their trust with less risk.
10. Ownership. Your ability to influence someone is limited unless and until they take responsibility/ownership over their decisions, actions, and results. That buyer must feel like it’s their agenda to take action on the deal. This is exactly the same with your employees. They won’t accept feeling forced.
11. Involvement. Everyone is passionate about success when they’ve played a part in its creation. Get everyone’s buy in and they’ll feel more involved the implementation of the solution. Everyone needs a role and a goal.
12. Desire for Inclusion. Whether it’s keeping up with the Joneses or the fear of missing something, people don’t want to be left out. Many times by showing who else is purchasing your products/services, the more they’ll want to move forward.
13. Scarcity. People value things that are rare and hard to get; this creates a sense of urgency. Highlight differentiation, and make sure that buyers know they may miss out on an opportunity if they don’t act now. Remember, if you do make a time sensitive offer, then you must stick to it.
14. Likeability. People pay attention to, talk to, associate with and buy from people they like. They want to see people they like succeed. Leaders need to pay attention to their likeability factor; both in and outside of the company.
15. Indifference. Nothing pushes a potential customer away faster than the smell of desperation. The more you seem like you need the sale, the less likely a buyer will view you as a peer, and the more difficult it will be to sell. Put yourself on equal standing and be prepared to walk away from the sale if the terms aren’t good.
16. Commitment. Written and public commitments are stronger than verbal and private commitments. Gain written, public commitment for each next step in the buying process to ensure a close of the deal. Be resolute in holding to your commitments as well.

Mastering these 16 principles will reap huge rewards, both in and outside of your company.

Susan Bagyura, a leadership coach, shows leaders how to improve their influence better, faster and easier than they ever dreamed possible. Listen to this article at http://www.susanbagyura.com/audio/influence.html.

]]> http://www.thevisionaryleader.com/influence-is-a-key-to-success/feed/ 0 http://www.thevisionaryleader.com/ever-thought-about-starting-and-growing-a-business/ http://www.thevisionaryleader.com/ever-thought-about-starting-and-growing-a-business/#comments Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:17:15 +0000 Susan Bagyura http://www.thevisionaryleader.com/?p=158 It seems that most of us have at one time or another thought about leaving a job and starting a business. Does it sometimes sound like it would be much easier? Or when the big order comes in and you think, “I’m delivering the service/product for my employer. If I had my own business, I could have all the revenue.” Have you ever watched others in your company that don’t have your skills or knowledge, but have a higher position than you do? Or is it the independence that attracts you?

The answers to these questions may prompt you to start thinking again about starting a business; but understand this, there’s a whole lot more to consider before quitting your job, taking your savings and registering a business. In fact, many people think registering an entity is actually starting a business but that’s just the legal formality and nothing more. The shocking statistics show that as much as 85% of new businesses fail within the 1st year. How does this happen?

You can equate starting a business with other activities such as getting a driver’s license. No one would even consider just going down to the local motor vehicles office, filling out a form, paying money, and then taking the practical and theorical tests without preparation. Usually you would go out and find an expert or a licensed instructor to teach you everything you need to know in order to operate a vehicle, including the basic mechanics of a car along with a solid understanding of the laws of the road. Along the way, you would get behind the wheel with the instructor sitting next to you and start clocking hours of practice before being allowed to drive alone. You would have the opportunity to ask questions and getting a deeper understanding of the rules and principles of driving.

But too often people start businesses without any preparation; jumping in before creating their vision and business plan, hoping that everything with work out in the end. That’s like believing in the tooth fairy. Just as with the driving lessons, it’s critical to invest the time and effort to educate oneself on the essentials of starting a business as preparation is the foundation of success.

For the past 6 months, I’ve been working with a group of female entrepreneurs that are committed to starting and growing successful businesses based on values, knowledge and insight; both their own and that of other successful female entrepreneurs and business advisors. They analyzed their individual strengths and skills while examining the areas where they’ll either learn new skills or draw on outside help by delegating, recruiting or outsourcing.

A new idea, spotting a gap in the market, or improving an existing product/service can all be the basis for starting a business. These budding female entrepreneurs examined opportunities for starting and growing businesses by looking at complementary services or products they could add in the future.

After learning the traditional way of doing market research, several of the women preferred using the fast failure method (see this article for more information: http://www.susanbagyura.com/blog/?s=fast+failure#) to uncover critical market knowledge as quickly as possible. When starting and growing a small business, one must develop a pragmatic, action-oriented mentality.

We explored the best approaches for starting the businesses, potential channels for distribution along with the advantages and disadvantages of buying an existing business, running a family business, buying or setting up a franchise or as a solopreneur.

Along with studying how to write a business plan, raising money or funding for the business, and choosing the right premises; we examined the most common mistakes new business owners make and how to avoid them. Starting a small business can be risky and success is not always guaranteed, but by preparing these female entrepreneurs for many of the challenges, they are stacking the odds in their favor.

These female entrepreneurs are poised for success as they have discovered the purpose for their leadership, chosen their preferred leadership styles and competencies, learned the soft skills of leadership while embracing the essential elements of goal setting and goal achieving. Leadership is a process; it’s a life-long journey with continual learning experiences. The best way to learn leadership is to combine basic knowledge with experiences.

Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of this program was the formation of mastermind groups where female entrepreneurs successfully worked together and supported each other throughout the various phases of the process. The creative ideas that came out of those mastermind sessions were astounding.

From my aspect, the thrill was in watching these female entrepreneurs grow in confidence. In the free preview of the program, many of these ladies said that they had been thinking about starting a business for a couple of years. Although they really wanted to do it, they were afraid; mainly because they just didn’t know how to get started. By having the chance to learn from a registered business consultant, over a period of time, with other committed and eager peers, these women have laid a solid foundation for their businesses, their personal development and their success. Move over fellas and make room for these successful female entrepreneurs!

Susan Bagyura, creator of The Powder Puff Guide To Starting A Business, teaches women the essentials of starting and growing a successful business. The audio to this article may be heard at HERE.

]]> http://www.thevisionaryleader.com/ever-thought-about-starting-and-growing-a-business/feed/ 0 http://www.thevisionaryleader.com/is-your-organization-being-good-or-getting-better/ http://www.thevisionaryleader.com/is-your-organization-being-good-or-getting-better/#comments Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:18:03 +0000 Susan Bagyura http://www.thevisionaryleader.com/?p=160 Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson taught us in the reprint last week that the biggest differences in results occur when the goals are about being good rather than getting better. As she said, “Where being good is about proving how smart you already are, getting better is about developing skills and abilities — about getting even smarter.”

What would be the outcome if you, as a leader in your organization, focus and encourage your employees to try harder; to get better at their position by being open to developing new skills rather than trying to be good by not making mistakes? Encourage people to stretch and go beyond their comfort zone. Allow mistakes to happen without recrimination and together look for the learning as a way to improve for the future. People will naturally hide or cover up mistakes if the message is “don’t make any mistakes” rather than being open about an outcome when the message is “how can we improve?” or “what can we do differently next time?”

No matter at what level we are performing right now; we can all improve; and the benchmark should be our past performance. The question for each person to ask themselves is ‘how can I improve…?’ This approach takes the pressure off of the person to be perfect and allows them to open up to new and better ways of doing something.
But as leaders, how can we try to encourage our staff to see the challenges in the business as opportunities to get better, rather than be good or not make mistakes? Most people resist being told outright what their goals should be. As the leader, it’s paramount to decide the experience that you want your employees to have while they are employed with you.

Use these three proven methods which will allow you to provide the subtle signals and cues that encourage your staff to, often unconsciously, hone in on the right motivation.

How to Talk About a Challenge Beforehand
You can shift your employee’s focus to getting better by talking about whatever they’ll be working on as “an opportunity to learn a new skill or to develop personally”. Make it sound like a fun experience; something to look forward to rather than something to avoid. Tell them you’re sure they’ll “improve on over time.” Most of us are quick to snap into be good goals whenever we feel we are being judged or compared to others, so be aware that well-meaning encouragements like “I’m sure you’ll catch on quickly” can send the wrong message.

How to Give Feedback About It Afterward
As much as you can, avoid comparing your staff’s performance to other people (as that creates be good goals). Instead evaluate him relative to the task requirements (e.g. how much of the project was completed correctly) or to his own progress (e.g., how well he did compared to his last project). Create an environment where the employees know that you will be honest and open with them while allowing them to make mistakes in their personal/professional development.

Feedback should always emphasize actions that your employee has the power to change. Talk about the aspects of her performance that are under her control, like the time and effort she put into doing the task or the method she used. Help her identify what needs improvement and what she can do to improve. This will also help her to stay positive and confident, even when she’s struggling to get the hang of it.

Focusing on her actions, rather than her ability, is just as important when it comes to praise. Tell her you admire her creative approach, her thoughtful planning, her persistence and effort, her positive attitude. When we praise people for being “smart” or “talented,” without also praising the hard work that allows talent to shine, we are sending the message that it’s all about being good, and that when you are good, success comes easily.

How to Talk About Role Models (And That Includes You)
Goal setting should be a standard operating procedure. As goals are incredibly contagious, one person pursuing a particular goal can actually trigger the same goal (unconsciously) in another, so long as he sees both the role model and his goal in a positive light. When you tell your staff inspirational stories of how other people reached their goals, be sure to emphasize the crucial role that hard work, persistence, and thirst for knowledge or skill played in bringing about that person’s success.

Even more important than how you talk about others is how you talk about yourself. Let people know how you have grown and developed over the years along with the time and effort that you put in to achieve your success.

So when you tell your own story, be sure to share with your employees both the happy times when hard work and persistence paid off, and the sadder times when you feel you gave up on yourself too soon. They’ll definitely get the message.

Susan Bagyura, a leadership coach and business consultant, helps transform businesses better, faster and easier than they ever dreamed possible. Listen to this article HERE.

]]> http://www.thevisionaryleader.com/is-your-organization-being-good-or-getting-better/feed/ 0 http://www.thevisionaryleader.com/it%e2%80%99s-not-about-being-good/ http://www.thevisionaryleader.com/it%e2%80%99s-not-about-being-good/#comments Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:16:30 +0000 Susan Bagyura http://www.thevisionaryleader.com/?p=156 This following article written by Heidi Grant Halvorson, PhD appeared in the Huffington Post. Although it is directed towards children, it contains leadership wisdom for everyone.

“Understanding why some children dig in and work hard when faced with something new and challenging to learn, while others get anxious or give up, has been a focus of research in psychology for decades. Most people assume it has a lot to do with intelligence, but that’s surprisingly wrong. No matter how high your I.Q. is, it says nothing about how you will deal with difficulty when it happens. It says nothing about whether you will be persistent and determined, or feel overwhelmed and helpless.

The goals our kids pursue in the classroom (or on the playing field, or anywhere else, for that matter), actually tell us a lot about how they will cope with difficulty. The biggest differences arise between kids whose goals are about being good versus getting better. Where being good is about proving how smart you already are, getting better is about developing skills and abilities — about getting even smarter.

Studies show that kids who see their goals in terms of getting better — who see a less-than-perfect grade on a math quiz as a signal to try harder, rather than as evidence of “not being good at math” — benefit from this outlook in many ways. They find classroom material more fun and interesting, and process it more deeply. They are less prone to anxiety and depression than their be good peers. They are more motivated, persist longer when the going gets tough, and are much more likely to improve over time.

But as parents and teachers, how can we try to encourage our kids to see challenges in the classroom as opportunities to get better, rather than be good? Most children resist being told outright what their goals should be. Tell a student that she should focus more on learning than proving that she is smart (something I have actually tried as a college professor, by the way) and she will rightly point out that she is being graded for her work, so she has to care about how well she performs.
So it’s often much more effective to take a less direct approach. Using these three proven methods, you can provide the subtle signals and cues that encourage your kids to, often unconsciously, hone in on the right motivation.

How to Talk About a Challenge Beforehand
You can shift your child’s focus to getting better by talking about whatever they’ll be working on as “an opportunity to learn a new skill” (feel free to throw in adjectives like “fun,” “cool” or “useful”) and saying that it’s something you are sure they’ll “improve on over time.” Most of us are quick to snap into be good goals whenever we feel we are being judged or compared to others, so be aware that well-meaning encouragements like “I’m sure you’ll be the best in your class” can send the wrong message.

How to Give Feedback About It Afterward
As much as you can, avoid comparing your child’s performance to other children (which creates be good goals), and instead evaluate him relative to the task requirements (e.g. how many of the test questions he answered correctly) or to his own progress (e.g., how well he did compared to his last test). Knowing that you are being evaluated in a certain way provides a sense of what the task is “about” — either competing with others, or making progress.

Feedback should always emphasize actions that your child has the power to change. Talk about the aspects of her performance that are under her control, like the time and effort she put into practicing, or the study method she used. Help her identify what needs improvement, and what she can do to improve. This will also help her to stay positive and confident, even when she’s struggling to get the hang of it.

Focusing on her actions, rather than her ability, is just as important when it comes to praise. Tell her you admire her creative approach, her thoughtful planning, her persistence and effort, her positive attitude. When we praise our kids for being “smart” or “talented,” without also praising the hard work that allows talent to shine, we are sending the message that it’s all about being good, and that when you are good, success comes easily.

How to Talk About Role Models (And That Includes You)
Like the common cold, goals are remarkably contagious. The sight of someone pursuing a particular goal can actually trigger the same goal (unconsciously) in a child, so long as he sees both the role model and his goal in a positive light. When you tell your child inspirational stories of how other people reached their goals, be sure to emphasize the crucial role that hard work, persistence, and thirst for knowledge or skill played in bringing about that person’s success. For example, Michael Jordon is a good role model — not because he was born with incredible talent, but because he was a notoriously hard-working player.

Even more important than how you talk about others is how you talk about yourself. Time and again I’ve heard parents say things like, “I don’t know where she gets it from — I was never good in math,” or, “I’m not really a science person.” When they were children themselves, these parents were unfortunately taught that mastering math and science was a matter of innate ability — as if people are just born capable of long division. It’s easy to inadvertently pass along the same mistaken beliefs to your children when you talk about yourself this way.

So when you tell your own story, be sure to share with your children both the happy times when hard work and persistence paid off, and the sadder times when you feel you gave up on yourself too soon. They’ll definitely get the message.”

Next week I will show you how we can take these findings and apply them towards leadership in your business.

Susan Bagyura, a leadership coach and business consultant, helps transform businesses better, faster and easier than they ever dreamed possible. Listen To The Audio Here

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