September 17, 2015 by

The Results of The CNN Political Debate

cnn

[Ritu Jethani] © 123RF.COM

Last night, in fact as this article is being written, CNN held a three hour debate by the Republican Candidates making the cut for the eleven allocated spots. For anyone who complains about watching a baseball game on TV – seriously three hours?

Here are the results of the CNN Political Debate…  

Not exactly! Here is the question for you in your life and your specific business: Is there a result from this debate which would definitively impact your life or your specific business one way or another?

Please do share this with all of us in the comments section.

The remark often made is that Mr. Trump is an entertainer and therefore he has no place in politics. Wouldn’t it be closer to the truth to say that the political environment which we have today, demands a candidate who is an entertainer?

In the grand scheme of life what is exactly changed by these debates? These are shows put on by either cable or broadcast TV in order to attract viewers and sell commercial time which translates across the board into making money. Mmm?

Sounds a lot like entertainment to me? 25 MILLION estimated viewers were tuning in to be entertained!

For a number of years my travels for work often took me to London, among numerous other international locations. One piece of advice given to me was: “Don’t talk about religion or politics, don’t talk about futbal unless you know what you are talking about and never, ever, ever talk about the Queen! Based upon this advice no stand is being taken here in support of any political party or aspiring candidate. For those in the small business community what do these debates or politics in general do for you in your life or in your business?

Seriously, help me out here – talk to me, what is it that is missing or not clear to me?

It is not to say that the topics covered are not important. They are seriously important. Not one single second was spent discussing how to help the growth of the small business owner. Not one single second was spent speaking about the crushing regulations placed upon the small business owners. Possibly worse is – not one question was asked to bring this topic of conversation to the forefront.

Consider the following: A report by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics stated in the third quarter of 2013 total net job growth by firms with 1–49 employees accounted for 40 percent which was 41 percent for large firms with 500 or more employees!

You cannot overlook the role of small business in understanding the state of the economy in the U.S. Small business owners are innovators and entrepreneurs and are the backbone of our communities – their power should not be underestimated!

It you believe these statements of fact – how in the world is it possible that not one single second during this political debate was spent speaking about small business?

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive coach and business consultant who resides in Stamford, CT.

Filed Under: Business Environment, Small Business Tagged With: , , , , , ,
May 28, 2015 by

Unrealistic Expectations

expectationsThere are numerous studies which state that 8 out 10 entrepreneurs who start a business fail within the first 18 months. Bloomberg for example makes this case – meaning 80% of these businesses are toast within a year and a half.

There are numerous reasons why this happens. When asked, many of these entrepreneurs will say they ran out of money. Although in fact this may be true, my thought is there were a few things which happened earlier which might have changed the outcome.

A question one of my coaching clients might be asked at some point by me: “What amount of money would you like to set this year or next year as your target?” More often than not an answer might be something along the lines of: “One million dollars!” My response is: “Okay, great, by the way how much is the most you have ever made in any one year in your entire lifetime?” The silence is deafening! Allow me to re-phrase the question: “Have you ever earned over six figures in your own business of any type ever before?” For many there is still silence. A few might say once or twice they have achieved it.

My next question is: “Would you consider a more realistic or achievable target of possibly 50% more than your best one year total ever working in your own business instead?” The point of this conversation is to not allow the thought of a near term unachievable goal become the driving force behind the operation.  It is not my intent to become a dream killer. It is to allow the dream to become a reality.

If the “One Million Dollar” mark has to be there then let’s move the target date to achieve that type of number out a few years so it becomes a more realistic and achievable goal. A sure way to doom the enthusiasm of an entrepreneur and their team is to set the bar so high they will have absolutely no chance of hitting it.

In a world where everything is able to be measured and reported rapidly and easily, it would become quite obvious to everyone, unless the business was a miracle business opportunity, that the far reaching unrealistic expectation would never be achieved. It is far wiser to select a stretch goal with a bit of wonder and fear attached to it which would still be attainable than to set an unreachable goal.  The entrepreneur and their team would be able to see the results moving toward the goal and potentially shift one or two things along the way to improve results in order to achieve the goal. This is how momentum and a driving spirit are created and maintained. This is one item to consider early on in setting up your business and revisit at least once each year.

Mitch Tublin is a business consultant, advanced certified personal and executive coach and a professional speaker based in Stamford, CT.

Are you ready to Chart Your Course™ for your life or for your business? Mitch is ready to work with you either for a Full Chart Your Course Day or over a period of time. It is your choice. >> CONTACT MITCH HERE <<

Filed Under: Achieve Goals, Business Planning, Business Strategy Tagged With: , , , , ,
May 8, 2014 by

Top Ten Things Entrepreneurs Need To START Doing Now

toptenstartIn approximately one year David Letterman will host his last Late Night Show. In honor of the marketer and promoter of the Top Ten List here is my Top Ten List of things Entrepreneurs Need To START Doing Now:

10.     Decide as soon as possible if you intend to run a business or a hobby. The biggest difference is one choice means you must charge for your products and services and make money. The other choice is more about just having a good time or having something to keep you busy. Which is your choice?

9.     Create a plan for your business. Some may call it a business plan. It should cover every aspect of where you intend to take your business. Then you drill down and have a marketing plan, a financial plan, a staffing plan and more.

8.     Your clients and customers are going to make your business. Referrals are your best friend. When you are trying out something new or want feedback – go to your customers.

7.     Create a consistent brand. Weave this brand across social media platforms and live this brand in your daily life.

6.     Be strategic about Twitter, Instagram and other social networks. The wrong statement, recorded video or taken out of context quote is difficult if not impossible to undo.

5.     Calculate the value of one hour of your time. Anything you are doing which is not up to that level should not be done by you. Period. End of story.

4.     Do you need some help in your personal life to free up more time? Make a list of what these items are and either batch these yourself or with your significant other or hire some help.

3.     Each week or at least each month review your SMART goals and cross check these with your business plan. If something is not matching up – make an adjustment or assess what is going wrong and why? You cannot get from Point A to Point B  if you are heading in another direction.

2.     Find a Business Coach to provide you with accountability and to ask you questions to consider. This is not easy, running or building up a new business, and no one has to do this alone.

And the Number One Thing Entrepreneurs need to START doing now:

1.     Do it! Take Action! Overcome your fear of failure or your overwhelm. If it does not work out, get back up and try something else. Just keep taking action steps.

Are there some items missing from this list of the Top Ten Things Entrepreneurs Need To Start Doing Now? Please comment to this and add your item.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive and personal coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

Filed Under: Achieve Goals, Business Strategy Tagged With: , , , ,
April 11, 2014 by

Top Ten Things Entrepreneurs Need To STOP Doing Now

Top Ten Things Entrepreneurs Need To STOP Doing NowIn approximately one year David Letterman will host his last Late Night Show. In honor of the marketer and promoter of the Top Ten List here is my Top Ten List of things Entrepreneurs Need To Stop Doing Now:

TOP TEN THINGS ENTREPRENEURS NEED TO STOP DOING NOW

10.   Procrastinating – Eat the frog and don’t wait until the last minute

9.     Being distracted – Turn off your phone, walk away from Facebook, don’t watch the latest Youtube video. Focus on the task at hand.

8.     Forgetting the customer is always right – Good customer service always comes back to this basic principle.

7.     Staying on Facebook all day long – You have better things to do; designate a specific time per day when you will log in. You should be there for business and creating relationships. With this clear purpose in mind watch the clock and set a specific amount of time for facebook activity.

6.     Tweeting all day – Designate time here too and have a purpose for what you are using twitter for.

5.     Doing errands – Set your work schedule and stick to it. If you are going to or leaving an appointment while you are out this is a perfect time to stop in a store if you need to pick something up. As you are scheduling an important visit to the Doctor’s Office consider what else you might achieve while you are in this area or in transit. Are there any clients or prospects you might meet with nearby?

4.     Physically going to Staples, Best Buy, etc – How can you use online shopping and other features (like postage purchases) online to maximize your time?

3.     Not strategically thinking and planning for your business – Have a solid business plan in place and set SMART goals.

2.     Doing everything alone – You are not a webdesigner, an accountant, a marketer, a PR firm, a social media manager, etc. Build up a solid team to help you with the tasks you are not good at / do not have time or energy for.

And the Number One Thing Entrepreneurs need to STOP doing now:

1.     Avoid taking action – It’s great that you are taking time to learn and educate yourself on how to grow your business and achieve your goals. But what action have you taken? Jump in and tackle those action steps starting now!

Are there some items missing from this list of the Top Ten Things Entrepreneurs Need To Stop Doing Now? Please comment to this and add your item.

Coming soon: TOP TEN THINGS ENTREPRENEURS NEED TO START DOING NOW

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive and personal coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

Filed Under: Achieve Goals, Business Strategy Tagged With: , , , ,
May 18, 2012 by

Valuable Lesson for Small Business Owners

We Owe Jamie Dimon for teaching Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners a Valuable Lesson (and every other CEO as well)

Are you a small business owner or an entrepreneur? Are you the CEO of a midsized or larger company? We all really owe a big thank you to one of the most successful Wall Street CEO’s, Jamie Dimon, the current chairman, president and chief executive of JPMorganChase. No, this is not a roast of Jamie Dimon. It is not a skewering of Jamie Dimon article about what may or may not have taken place, or what he knew or did not know about his business. It is the opposite. We owe you one, Jamie.

Everyone who runs a business or a company should personally thank Jamie Dimon. For those who do not know, last Thursday, Dimon announced to various analysts, essentially to the world that his bank had lost $2 billion, yes a ‘b’, by taking a wrong and ‘stupid’ (his words) bet with a hedging strategy utilizing credit derivatives. (Excuse me but how do you actually ‘bet’ with a hedging strategy?)

The market punished the stock of JPMorganChase on Friday and Monday, essentially taking $20 billion in market value off the table, out of the house, gone. Forgive me if this topic is not your typical area of interest. It will be in a moment. You may find billions and credit derivatives to be of absolutely no interest to you. Fully appreciate your view. Here is why this is so valuable. So important, we must pay attention as business owners and leaders of our businesses.

All of us who run our companies need to remember to do one thing every single day. If you are only able to do one single thing – do this and only this one thing.

Do what we are good at doing, do what we are great at doing!

Just do that one thing and you will soar to the top in your field and run a most successful business. It is when we stray off track. It is when we stop listening to the advice of others and think we are the one who needs to give advice and not receive it.

It is then we are ready to fail. You think it is not true? You think this is not about you and your company? Take a look at your vision statement for your business. Read your mission statement for your business. Is this what you and anyone who works with you, or for you is spending their time and efforts on? If not, maybe you need to rework your vision statement and mission statement. Or is it possible you and your company have strayed? You are off track. The business is involved in other businesses and other areas which are off the mark.

Do what we are good at doing, do what we are great at doing!

If you feel you must have these other items done and it is not what you or your business does best – there is a single answer in one word – outsource. This is the solution for your excuses.

Get your business back on track. Just do the one thing you are great at. Contact Mitch Tublin today, to bring your business back to the one thing you do great, at info@thementorguy.com.

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
January 16, 2011 by

Strategic Business Planning: An Entrepreneur Has The Edge In Creating Their Strategic Plan

Strategic Business Planning: An Entrepreneur Has The Edge In Creating Their Strategic Plan

If you have never worked in a corporate role you may not recognize how true the statement was the other day by my good friend Lorrie Morgan Ferrero on her free teleseminar for her new course on copyrighting. On her call Lorrie was referencing a recent engagement where she was speaking to corporate folks and she was amazed at the “hoops they needed to jump through to get anything done”.

Reaching Goals with Strategic Business Plan

Evgeni Dinev / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The majority of entrepreneurs are running either a solo business operation or they have a small group of employees working with them. This permits the entrepreneur to create their strategic business plan in an easier environment and to implement their plan with less challenges. If there are issues there are specifically three:

  1. Taking the first step and creating a strategic business plan
    (over 75% of small businesses do not have a strategic plan)
  2. Working with an adviser or mentor who is pulling you to aim higher
    (over 80% of executive teams spend less than one hour per month discussing strategy)
  3. Having the accountability to stay on course and constantly measure where you are and where you are heading
    (over 85% of organizations do not execute their strategies in a successful manner)

In order to be of service to you and provide you with the type of information you must have to be successful in your business, here are some descriptions of the types of planning which are often utilized in running a business and why they are necessary. This is not a complete list. It is a sampling in order to show the difference in a Strategic Business Plan versus some of the other types of plans which are critical to success as well.

You are welcome and in fact encouraged to add the types of planning you feel are not represented and describe why they are necessary by commenting in the area provided.

A Business Plan – defines the purpose of a business, often includes financial information specifically if being written to obtain funding, describes the legal structure of the business entity, provides a foundation in writing for ideas.

A Financial Plan – describes the money story, includes budgets for past year(s), current year and forecast, especially important if seeking funding.

A Marketing Plan – creates the methods for the business message to get to the outside world specifically to your market, details the chosen areas such as social media (which may have its own plan), direct mail (which may have its own plan), advertising (which may have its own plan) and more.

A Staffing Plan – details the needs of the business to permit growth by hiring or outsourcing personnel for specific purposes and by when, includes the requirements for the roles and more.

An Exit Plan – over 90% of small businesses are privately held and do not have any formal succession plan or exit strategy (http://ventureexitpartners.com)

A Strategic Plan – statements of mission, vision and business focus, a plan of action may be derived from this plan, drives the competitive advantage of your business, the basis of every other plan for your business and more.

These brief descriptions should assist you in your understanding of the value and ease of creating a strategic plan for your business. If you are ready to create your strategic plan for your business or rework your current strategic plan and have an adviser guide you, contact Mitch Tublin at www.thementorguy.com – an expert Business Strategy Consultant.

Filed Under: Business Strategy Tagged With: , , , ,
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