February 22, 2012

Is Hiring A Happy Barista Important?

By Chris LoCurto

Yesterday I taught EntreLeadership principles to an amazing group at the Mississippi University for Women. the people I met were as beautiful as the campus where the event took place. Not only did they have incredible southern hospitality, but as leaders and business owners, they had some fantastic questions as well.

One of those came from the owner Cafe Aromas. She asked me how important it was to try and find someone who absolutely loves being a barista, instead of just someone who can do the job. You see, one of the things I teach is, don’t hire someone who can do the job. I dont wan’t that person. Many people can do the job and they bring absolutely no excitement whatsoever to the work environment. See exactly what I mean in Don’t Let Someone Ruin Your Already-Bad Day.

If you understand where she’s coming from, you understand why she asked the question. It’s difficult to find good people to come in to work that early in the morning and be cheery. Why is that so important? Because to those of us who are addicted to that silly little nectar that God created, the barista is the caffeine before our actual caffeine. Walking in when you’re trying to wake up, and seeing someone who seems to not care about you at all is frustrating.

I want to see that person who’s upbeat, happy, and doing what they can to help kickstart my day. That’s why it’s important to spend more time in the hiring process to find people who believe that serving coffee in the morning is considerably more important than it sounds. If you find a server with the heart of a servant, we all win.

Question: How important is it to you for one of the first people you see each day to be a happy person?

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13 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

February 21, 2012

EntreLeaders Share Their Favorite Business Apps

By Chris LoCurto

For many of today’s business leaders,  smartphones have become an essential tool, allowing them to run their companies from virtually anywhere. In fact, according to a recent survey by RingCentral, 34% of business professionals at small- to medium-size companies use smartphones more than their computers for business. And a whopping 83% said they would rather give up their morning coffee than their smartphone.

After the shock of finding out how many of you are willing to give up caffeine wore off, we wanted to hear from our EntreLeader Facebook community about the business apps they’re using. Just a head’s up: we’re not endorsing any of these products, just sharing the opinions of our Facebook fans. Here’s what they had to say about their favorites.

“Mint.com helps track all finances, personal or business. It allows me to quickly track expenses and see where my money is going. I can create, edit and track budgets electronically. Sadly, I can’t keep everything in envelopes.—Nick

“BizXpenseTracker: What’s not to love about this app? It’s a great way to keep up with my expenses, mileage and time, with as many categories as I want/need! My favorite feature?  I can photograph my receipt and export it.”—Vickie

“Square allows our small business to take debit cards (on a smartphone) without the large processing fees. It’s 49 cents per debit.”—Anita

“WorldCard Mobile allows me to take pictures of business cards, and then it saves the images and syncs  them to my contacts.”—David

“HoursTracker: I have many clients that I bill by time. This app keeps track of my time. I can also export my hours to Excel and e-mail from it. There’s a clock in/out button, and it even keeps track of my revenue by day, week, month or job. I love it!”—Amy

“JotNot Scanner: I scan documents right from my iPhone. It’s sooooooo much better than buying a scanner when you only scan once a week or so.”—Wavecation

“I travel all of the time, and TripIt keeps all my itineraries in line.”—Bryan

“iThoughtHD on my iPad: I use it for mind mapping and creative thinking. It allows me to deductively think through an idea, problem, project, etc. It’s compatible with Mindjet’s Mind Manager, which I have on my iMac desktop.”—Alan

“Mapquest: Now, I never get lost!”—Darlene

“GetPaid!: I can create an invoice on location and e-mail a client within seconds of a job’s completion.”—Kevin

“Definitely Dropbox, for having my files when and where I need them, and Join.me for free web-conferencing for up to 250 people.”—Chris

“I have a few that are my favorites: Square, Evernote, Sign-N-Send, Dropbox, Wunderlist, Dragon Dictation.”—Matt

“Habit Streak keeps track of my progress on daily goals and activities. It tells me how many days in a row I did what I said I would do.”—Michael

Question: What’s your favorite app? 

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8 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

February 20, 2012

Money, Can You Really Agree With Your Spouse In Business?

By Chris LoCurto

Money problems are the number one cause of fights inside a marriage. Some studies show that 57% of the fights inside of a marriage are over money.

So if it’s that bad at home, what happens when a couple works together with the business finances? Well, here’s a very common question from one of our fans:

My husband and his father are running a small real estate management company. My husband hired me to start managing the finances/keeping the books for them beginning in September 2010. After working with their finances for several months now, I see that there is a substantial amount of credit card debt.

I have tried to explain to my husband that I need to apply the principle of the “debt-snowball” to this debt instead of continuing to make several minimum monthly payments that are several hundreds of dollars each. My husband argues with me about this stating that this will destroy the company’s credit rating, etc.

This is the same argument he made with me when I started FPU and told him we needed to start the debt-snowball on our personal credit card debt. In that case, he finally stopped arguing with me and let me go ahead. In terms of the small business, he is being a bit more difficult. I need to be able to show him the specific answer that the debt-snowball is applied in the same manner in a small company like theirs, as it is in personal finance. Please help!

The debt question is one that I get A LOT in EntreLeadership. So many leaders think that people can’t run a business without debt. So inevitably, during my event I will ask how many people are running their business debt free. It’s usually about 30% of the attendees. If people can’t run a business without debt, then how are so many doing it?

There are a few things to consider:

  • What does God say? – The Bible is very clear on the issue of debt. DON’T DO IT! In fact, Proverbs says that if you have gone into debt, get out as quickly as you possibly can. Nowhere in the Bible will you find God blessing someone with debt. Nor do you see Him separating out personal and business. He doesn’t differentiate.
  • It gives me options – Actually, I am a firm believer that debt robs you of your options. When your money is tied up paying off debt, you’re not able to take advantage of situations when they come up. On top of that, you are potentially holding God back from doing some of the things He want to do in His business. (It is His, right?) I have seen plenty of God situations that people weren’t able to capitalize on because they were bound by debt. Going into debt is saying that you know better than God on the speed of growth you should have.
  • But my credit score! – There is only one thing that you need a credit score/rating for – to go into debt. That’s it. It’s there to help you get into more trouble. If you have cash, you don’t need a rating. Besides, you get MUCH better deals when you pay companies with cash. Especially in a time when so many companies are not getting their receivables collected for months on end. Go ahead and destroy the credit rating, it’s not helping you.
  • Proverbs 31 – Who can find a virtuous wife? Her worth is far above rubies. Her husbands heart trusts safely in her; so he will have no lack of gain. Dude, listen to your wife! She’s onto something. Women have a sense of discernment that us guys just don’t have. And like fools, so many guys don’t listen to them when it comes to business. This is a mistake. God has wired them differently than us. Drop the pride and ask for her opinion. You’ll be surprised at how much money, time, and nose bleeds it will save you.

Question: What ways have you experienced this in your life?

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8 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in Financial, Leadership, Small Business

February 17, 2012

Everything’s Amazing & Nobody’s Happy

By Chris LoCurto

The great Lance Osborne, Director of Simulcast for the Dave Ramsey organization, sent this to me the other day. It’s both funny and slightly sad. :-)

Ever get ticked off by the little things in life? Sure, we all do. But seriously – how bad is it?

Check out this perspective on our world, by Louis CK:



(If you’re easily offended, don’t watch his other videos… he’s dirty, but this video is pretty clean.)

17 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Random Thoughts

February 16, 2012

Part Two Of How To Win At Delegation

By Chris LoCurto

In yesterday’s post, How To Win At Delegation, I talked about how both you and the person you’re delegating to need to be mature enough for the process to work. If either of you has the maturity of Charlie Sheen, you’re probably in trouble … But hey, at least you’re “WINNING!”

Today, I continue the discussion with a couple of concepts every leader should understand before delegating.

  • What’s your end game? – A common mistake many leaders make is delegating tasks. The problem with this concept is you don’t really get any buy-in from the person. What you get is someone who will basically only do what you’ve asked of them. In an upcoming EntreLeadership Podcast interview with Stephen M.R. Covey, he explains the importance of delegating RESULTS, not tasks. This way, the team member takes ownership and is working with the end in mind instead of just the next thing on the list to accomplish.
  • Become a waiter – The most important piece of delegation is being there to serve the person to whom you delegated. It’s a safe bet that you will always hear me say, “It is every leader’s job to make their team successful, especially when delegating.” You have to make sure they have every question answered; have all the tools necessary to complete the task; and consistently check with them, making sure they completely understand what the task is and if they have any more questions. Immature leaders hear this and say, “Shoot, I might as well just do it myself.” Yes, if you plan on spending the rest of your days growing your business at the speed of smell.
  • More please (said in a British accent) – As they begin to show you how well they are doing with the process, start lengthening the rope of responsibility and authority. Allow your team to make the necessary decisions to complete the project. If you give someone the responsibility (e.g., put their neck on the line) but don’t give them the authority to make the decisions needed to be successful, then you’ll have a completely demoralized team member who doesn’t want to take risks for you ever again.

Along the way, be sure to ask their thoughts and ideas for the task. Then, you can gauge their progress and how much input is needed. Who knows? They might say something you didn’t think of.

By the way, these tips can ALL be done with your kids if you’re a parent!

Question: What have you done to make the delegation process successful?

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12 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

February 15, 2012

How To Win At Delegation

By Chris LoCurto

Delegation is so massively misunderstood it’s crazy. Here’s a good example of how bad it can be. I used to watch The Apprentice back in the day because it was an incredible example of how NOT to lead people. You see the worst leadership from start to finish.

My favorite episodes were at the end of the season, when there were two people battling to win the spot of the “Apprentice.” The show brought back three former players to be team members for each finalist. Then, the finalists “lead” the new teams. Almost every time, one of the finalists will be off to the side on camera talking about how leading is giving people a task and then getting out of the way and trusting the team to use their talents to get the job done.

Then, you see a camera on some of the team members running around saying, “I have no clue what I’m doing, I’ve never done this before, and I can’t seem to get our leader to give me direction.”  In the end, their leader is usually the one who loses the game. Go figure.

That’s a HORRIBLE way to lead, much less delegate! Delegation is not giving someone a task and then waiting to see if they fail. It’s making sure you do everything possible to help that person succeed. So here are a few things you can do, so you don’t end up like an Apprentice loser:

  • Grow up already – You can’t delegate unless you are mature enough to understand how important it is to growing your business. When you properly delegate, you duplicate yourself. As a leader, you goal should be to get all the tasks off of your plate, so you can—it’s crazy, I know—LEAD! But you can’t if you’re stuck every day doing things someone else can do. Too many times I hear leaders say, “Well it’s just faster if I do it myself.” Yes, because you weren’t mature enough to teach someone the right way to do it. Proper delegation takes time. But when someone is trained, you’re golden.
  •  Do an ID check – While you have to be mature, so does the person you’re delegating to. If they can’t ask questions when they don’t understand something—For example, Is this supposed to be prostrate instead of prostate?—they will struggle in completing the task. They also have to be mature enough to not get in over their head. The person who says, “Oh, of course I’ve synthesized a mentholated alkaloid before … I usually use vise grips for that. This person is going to be explaining to you why your project has missing pieces.

Now that I have you on the edge of your seat, I’m going to make you come back tomorrow for the rest.

Question: How have you seen delegation gone bad?

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16 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

February 14, 2012

Creating a Winning Culture

By Chris LoCurto

If you haven’t had a chance to listen to our EntreLeadership Podcast, make sure you check it out. The bi-weekly show on business and leadership is full of valuable information, lessons from Dave Ramsey on business and is hosted by this incredibly talented, awesome guy who interviews some of today’s top leaders! OK, OK, I confess. I’m the host, but it is still an awesome show.

This week, my podcast producer, Chris Mefford, and I answered some of your questions sent in via Twitter and email (podcast@EntreLeadership.com.). We didn’t have enough time to answer all the queries, so on this blog post and future ones, I’ll tackle some additional questions.

Hi Chris,
I have been listening to your EntreLeadership podcasts since they debuted. I love them. I am a small business owner of an insurance agency. I started it when I was 22  and am now 26, so I am still a little green when it comes to processes and business. I have nine staff members (all 40-plus), and gossip and self-accountability have become huge issues. In fact, I recently fired someone for gossiping after a second warning. I also feel that they do not take our goals and promotions seriously. When given an option for $50 bonus if they hit a certain goal, they laughed at the manager. I really want to nip this in the bud as soon as possible, but I am unsure of the correct process to do so. Any advice or books you would suggest I read?

Thanks again for your online information. It really helps. – Liz

Liz,

Let me say how impressed I am that you started an insurance company at age 22! Wow! As for the issues, it all starts with leadership. It sounds like you’ve hired some folks who think they can take advantage of a young leader.

My advice is this: You need to focus on creating the culture and core values that you want for your company. Without them, confusion and chaos set in. If you don’t like what you see, or you’re not seeing what you want, teach your team about it.

As far as the specific issues:

  • Gossip – The best thing you could have done was let that person go. That sets a tone with the rest of the team that says it’s unacceptable. I would take it a step further and let them know that if they are the one the person gossiped to, then they will be let go, as well. In other words, if someone comes to you to gossip, you better stop them in their tracks and send them to their leader. Be sure you remind the team once a month until their eyes roll back in their heads. :-)
  • Laughing at a manager – This is someone who needs to be brought into your office right away. I would sit them down and ask them to explain themselves. And then, let them know if they don’t appreciate the bonus on top of the money they are getting paid to work there, then maybe they need to find another place to laugh. Obviously, they don’t care about the goals of  your business. They are just showing up for a j.o.b. You don’t need this kind of person. Give them another chance to take the goals and promotions seriously. But if they can’t get on board, let them go.

My advice assumes you have instituted a culture of no gossip, you pay your team market rates or better, and you have attainable goals and promotions. If not, you have to go back and start with those.

Understand that you can’t create or change culture overnight. It’s a process. But there’s nothing wrong with hitting the most important ones hard and fast. The team needs to know what you refuse to tolerate, so they can anticipate your moves.  Forty-plus or not, they’re still like kids needing to be parented. You’re doing a great job to be where you are! Keep up the good work and get that culture in place.

Question: What would you do with these team members?

 

15 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

February 13, 2012

How to Inspire Your Team

By Chris LoCurto

Recognition is a funny animal. Author Ken Blanchard says, “The last applause most people got was at their high school graduation.” How sad is that? I mean, think about it. When’s the last time someone applauded you that didn’t involve tripping over something and landing on your face?

I have plenty of co-workers who applaud me from the back of the room when I’m on stage and can’t say the word perpetuity in one shot. Mastering that word is a lot like parallel parking, if you get it on one shot, you throw your hands up and say, “That’s right! One time baby!” OK, maybe that’s just me. I do have the advantage of having groups of people applaud me after I speak. Although, I can’t ever figure out if it’s because I was good—or because I was leaving. I dunno.

It’s not hard for me to remember what it was like working at a company where the occasional applause never happened. It was a happy day when my leader realized it had been a while since he had told any of his team members, “Good job.” He would come out of his office and have that look on his face like he just spun the Wheel of Fortune in his head with all of our names on it. “Ah! LoCurto, you’re doing a good job. Keep it up.” Then, you could see the pencil in his head check that task off his list for the week. If that’s you, WHY DO YOU WORK WITH PEOPLE?!

Do you remember when you were a little kid, and you so badly wanted your dad or mom to put their arm around you and tell you how special you were? Or your first day of a new school when you hoped you could make at least one friend? Or the numerous times you wished your brother would quit pinning you down by putting his knees on your arms and torturing you for what seemed like your entire pre-teen life? Just me again?

The truth is, we all want to be accepted for who we are and recognized for our talents and abilities. Nobody likes the guy who recognizes you by checking it off the task list in his head. Instead, we all would like someone to put their arm around our neck and tell us how amazing we are. We want a person to tell us that we’re special and just how proud they are of us. Okay, I can hear the tough folks out there saying, “I don’t need that sissy stuff!” Oh yes you do … and it’s not sissy.

It’s called affection. And if you don’t recognize it, you probably haven’t received it in a while. What’s sad is that so many people haven’t felt that pat on the back, heard the sincere voice of appreciation, or heard applause that didn’t require them eating 10 tacos in under a minute for so long that they don’t realize how many people around them haven’t either.

There are people on your team, in your leadership and within your family and friends who are starved for recognition. And while it’s highly possible you’re not receiving the recognition you deserve right now, you have the choice to break that cycle. Spend a few moments thinking of some of the amazing things your team members, spouse and children have done lately and go tell them about it. Who knows—they might just recognize you back.

Question: What’s your favorite way someone showed appreciation for you??

 

 

22 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

February 10, 2012

Part Two Of 5 Ways To Get Stronger/Smarter/Better After A High Speed Crash

By Chris LoCurto

If you were able to make it through the video of my crash in yesterday’s post – 5 Ways To Get Stronger/Smarter/Better After A High Speed Crash, then hopefully you picked up some valuable lessons that I learned from that crash. Or you maybe I’ve shattered your current image of my intelligence.

Either way, here are a few more things I learned:

  • Over confidence can hurt – There is no doubt you have to be confident to drive a Formula car at high rates of speed, around tight corners and over blind hills. My problem was I was so confident that I knew what the other driver was going to do, I didn’t ask the question, “What if he changes strategy and hits the brakes?” I had no doubt that he was going to take that turn as hot as I was. Had I thought about it, perhaps I would have ended up in 8th place instead.
  • Winning isn’t everything – And it’s not the only thing, either. As I was sailing through the air, I was able to shout out two “LORD JESUS” before hitting the first time. As you see me rapidly jump from my cockpit, you can see I wasn’t really that hurt. I have no doubt that the God of Heaven and earth was holding me as that car tumbled like clothes in a dryer. No matter how badly I want to win, knowing there’s a God who loves me like crazy is way more important. The crash was a very violent crash. But I love a God who is bigger than my crashes—one who can pick me up out of them, dust me off, kiss my wounds and put me back on track.

Sometimes in life, we don’t recognize the lessons that are right in front of us. When we don’t, we miss out on growing.

Question: What lessons have you learned from crashes in your own life?

16 comments | posted in Leadership, Small Business

February 9, 2012

5 Ways To Get Stronger/Smarter/Better After A High Speed Crash

By Chris LoCurto

If you don’t know by now, I have taken up the sport of Formula Car Racing. In other words, I drive an open-wheel race car, and I recently received my pro license.

Read on, and then jump to minute five. (Everything before minute five is a full course caution) If you can’t view the video, click here.

My dad is not a fan because there’s a saying in open-wheel racing, Once you touch wheels, someone’s going up. And that’s pretty true. You have wheels traveling at high rates of speed going in the same direction. It’s like dropping a baseball into a pitching machine. Once the ball touches the wheel, it’s shot out like a canon.

I had my first two pro races at Road Atlanta. In the first race, I went from 16th position to 10th. In the last few turns, I passed a car to take the 10th place spot. Not bad for my first pro race!! In the second race, I went from 14th to 9th. Again, really good for only my second pro race. Only, there was a little problem.

I was battling it out with the same driver that I passed in the last few turns in the race before. We were keeping a really hot pace in the last lap. When we got to the turn before the turn I passed him in, he over-slowed his car. Something I never expected to happen. In the video above, you will see what happened. At the beginning of the video, we were on an all-course yellow, so jump to minute five to see what happened. (If you don’t like crashes, don’t watch.)

After the crash, I started thinking about what happened and came to some pretty deep conclusions I would like to share with you.

  • You can’t win a race if you don’t finish – No matter how well you do, if you don’t actually cross the finish line, you have a zero chance of winning. Too many times, we get most of the way there, but not all the way. If you’re going to be the best at what you do, you have to do whatever it takes to get you to that spot.
  • Be more in-tune with each other – Being a rookie in a pro series, I assumed everyone would drive faster than me. When we came into that last turn, the other driver was most likely thinking he needed a better shot out of the turn, so I wouldn’t take him in the next. Had I thought about it, I could have anticipated him over-slowing the car and sending me flying with the ducks above. I have to know that at any time, one of my team members may not be in a position to run as fast as me. If so, then I have to do what’s necessary to help them get there.
  • Fear can immobilize – While sailing through the air and rolling to a stop is scary, it’s amazing what you can learn from it. You see, until that point, rolling a race car was my biggest fear. It was something that stayed in the back of my mind, keeping me from pushing harder. But something happened after the crash … and the medical tent … and the hour of shame back in the pits. I lost that fear. Not because I could now say, “I’ve done that!” But because suddenly I had clarity on what I did wrong. It was like the crash deposited large amounts of knowledge in my head. Sometimes, we become so afraid of failure that we can’t see how much we will learn from failing.

Ok, so it was too much info for one day. Check out tomorrow’s post for the rest.

Question: How can you see these lessons playing out in your world?

30 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

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