Want a great business? One that will thrive for generations? Allow autonomy. Jason Cohen, founder of WPEngine, said at a recent talk he gave (quoting someone else), “Approval doesn’t add value.” Most entrepreneurs don’t allow autonomy in their business. They institute monarchical-like approval processes for even the smallest of tasks. They are too scared of […]
Category Archives: Hiring & Training
How To Unbottleneck Your Business
Sole Driver Syndrome Personal productivity is first and foremost concerned with efficiency: how to get more done within the time you have. Entrepreneurs have a strong affinity to personal productivity, some even becoming devoted fans of the book Getting Things Done by David Allen. One of the side effects of this devotion to personal […]
Salespeople Have A Thermostat
If a salesperson has been getting a commission of approximately $50,000, then he/she won’t make much more than that next year. The good thing for entrepreneurs is that the salesperson is unlikely to sell less the next year. Earning Temperature Think about the thermostat that controls the temperature in your home. If you set the […]
Do You Prevent Your Business From Accelerating?
Self-Imposed Speed Limits When I left the military and moved across the country, I rented a Uhaul truck to move all my stuff. The super-frustrating thing about this truck was that it had a governor installed. An accelerator governor prevents the vehicle from going faster than a pre-determined speed. The national speed limit was 65 […]
Why Is Hiring So Frickin’ Hard?
This is a raw sample chapter for my upcoming book, Leader: The CEO Manual For Entrepreneurs. Hire For Your Core “What job(s) should I hire for first (next)?” I’ll attempt to explain why that question is so difficult to answer for founders and how to solve it. Here are several of the key issues I […]
Are You Failing Your Team?
If you’re not investing in your team’s growth, then you are failing them and your company. I’ve got a client who is a really nice guy. Cares for people. He’s generous with his time and money for family, friends and charitable causes. But he gives very little of his time or money to improve his […]
Tool: How To Delegate
Having worked with clients to turn them into the leader of their company, one stumbling block I found was that they didn’t know how to delegate. Sure they assigned work to their employees and contractors. That’s delegation, right? Not really. They were abdicating. They handed the work over to their team and then promptly forgot about […]
Trust But Verify
Entrepreneurs love to talk about scaling their business. They love to talk about growth. The problem is they also believe that the existence of their company is dependent upon them. Without them this company would whither and die. In the beginning, that’s true. They took an idea and manifested it into reality. Then they had […]
Hiring For Your First Management Team (Who They Are & How To Afford Them)
In the self-funded world, there is a pervasive and popular idea that when you start a company, your first hires should be for administrative tasks. Popular advice essentially says to delegate the little tasks that you hate doing to focus on the “big picture”. The most common way for you to get rid of these […]
Why Entrepreneurs Shouldn’t Be Making SOPs
Here is a taste of what I’m posting in my private entrepreneurship group: The Forge The Forge is for founders who want to mold a life along with forging their business. It’s more raw than what I post to the public here. Join if you can handle the flames of The Forge. ***WHY ENTREPRENEURS SHOULDN’T […]