The right reasons?

THESE DAYS entrepreneurship is buzzing so much that it’s on everybody’s lips. It seems that there has never been a time when it has been this high up on the popularity scale. 

As the successful stories make it to mainstream media, more and more people are starting to consider entrepreneurship as a way of living. But amid all of this a very important question arises: are people in it for the right reasons?????

Money: "a means, not a goal"

THE MEDIA today focus a lot on the financial value of successful entrepreneurs and how much money they have accumulated. Not to take anything away from the successful entrepreneurs, but all of it seems very overblown and over the top.

People need to have in mind that entrepreneurship is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme. I personally don’t know any successful entrepreneur who started his business because he wanted to be rich. The sole reason why they are successful is because they went into something they were passionate about from the beginning and because they wanted to MAKE a difference.

"Dedication’s what you need"

ENTREPRENEURSHIP might seem fun and challenging when looking in from the outside, but once you get into the game, you have to be prepared for long days, hard work and the constant frustration associated with building a business. 

Even though advances have been made in technology, one thing hasn’t changed and that is the amount of passion and discipline required to make ends meet. 
Friends and family are great supporters, but people need to understand that the energy must still come from within if they want to succeed. 

"The harsh TRUTH"

Being an entrepreneur is hard. It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme and not everybody is cut out for it. It’s a very specific way of living that requires a lot of sacrifice, and the sooner people realise this the better.

The world doesn’t need more wantrepreneurs who are in it for the excitement. Instead, it needs more passionate souls who truly want to make a difference.

Do you agree or disagree?

Friends or Employees

Can bosses be friends with their employees? When I started my business at 18, I didn’t think about it. Since then, my opinion has been shaped and battered through 18 years of torture, disappointment, disbelief, inspiration, support and appreciation.

I now have made over 210 employees, many of whom have been with me for more than 5 years. But do I consider them my friends? Sure, some. I would certainly say I am on friendly terms with all of them. Some owners call their employees their family. Is that better or worse than calling them friends? I guess it depends on how you feel about your family!

Until last week, I thought I had this all figured out. I had come to the conclusion that you can be friends with some of your employees — but not at the expense of being the boss. It has to be boss first, friend second. It is just like being a parent i would quese. Parent first, friend second.

But many employees don’t really need a boss. Yes, they may still need mentoring, and they may still make mistakes (just like the boss). But they take responsibility and try to do the right thing. They can be trusted. They look out for the best interest of the company. They work with you, not for you. They don’t need a boss in the worst sense of the word.

I am sure there are many business owners who would say that some of their employees are their best friends, and I am equally sure that many business owners would say you cannot be friends with your employees. So what is the right answer?

As I said, my thinking on this was jolted last week. I was talking to my old production manager, Stefan, who has been with me for almost 5 years, through a recession, two business moves, probably 60 employees, and the numerous ups and downs of business. Together, we have figured out how to run a responsible, well run business. 

In the middle of a conversation about business and friends, he stated that he didn’t have any friends at work. I was taken back. Here is part of the conversation:

Me: Stefan, do you consider me your friend?
Stefan: No, you are my mentor.
Me: Do you think I care about your well-being?
Stefan: Absolutely.
Me: Do you think I would help you out if you had a problem?
Stefan: Sure.
Me: Isn’t that what a friend is?
Stefan: If I left the job earlier, would you keep in touch with me?
Me: Probably not.
Stefan: Then you are not my friend!
Me: But if you stopped by to say hello, I would be friendly!
Stefan: Would you help me move?
Me: No. You’ve got me there. All right, maybe I am not your friend. But I feel a little bad about that.
Stefan: Sorry. I decided a long time ago not to be friends with the people I work with. I’ve been burned in the past.
Me: Can I be your business friend?
Stefan: Hmm. Let me get back to you on that.

It is about a 25-minute drive from stockhom to my house, and I thought about it all the way back. I came to this conclusion: The answer depends largely on what your definition of a friend is. Sure, there might be a difference between a business friend and a lifelong friend. But in my case, I have numerous people who fit into both categories. And that makes me very happy and fortunate. Personally, I cannot imagine spending 50 some hours a week, dealing with the joys of victory and the agony of defeat, by myself.

On second thought, I don’t have to imagine it. For many years, I had employees, but in reality I was totally alone. It was brutal, especially because I was still trying to figure out what I was doing. Now I am surrounded by an organization, including about nine or 10 people who I would consider my friends. And as friends, or as valuable employees, they tell me when I am wrong. You might say they are the opposite of yes men.

And one last thing to Stefan: You are my friend, whether you like it or not. :)

So what are your employees to you? What is your boss to you?

Xmas and New Years is around the corner.

If you’re an entrepreneur or self-employed, chances are you struggle with taking any real time off. Sure, your lifestyle may allow you to “work from anywhere,” but you’re not recharging the batteries when you’re chained to your smartphone or iPad, even while sitting at the beach.

It’s never easy for a business owner to take time off. For starters, taking a week off usually means no paycheck for that time. Ouch. And more importantly, when you're a solo entrepreneur or small business owner, there’s the very practical matter of figuring out who's going to mind the shop and take care of clients in your absence.

Fortunately, with many clients and vendors also taking vacations for the holidays, the end of the year is practically the one time when it’s easy to sneak in some guilt-free and stress-free time off.

Here are a few tips to make your holiday time off as smooth as possible:

- Give advanced warning.
Everyone is expected to take time off at some point, and any reasonable client or customer shouldn’t bat an eye if you want to take a vacation, particularly on the days surrounding Christmas and New Year’s.

The key is to give clients, vendors and any other business contacts a sufficient heads up that you'll be gone. Nothing is more frustrating (and unprofessional) as talking to someone one day, then emailing them a few days later only to get an auto out-of-the-office response that he or she will be out for a week.

Give your clients and colleagues plenty of time to ask you about any paperwork, projects, invoices, etc. that they might need while you’re out. If you’re lucky enough to have a point person (who doesn’t mind working this time of year), let everyone know his or her contact information. Likewise, if you’ll be checking email or voicemail while out, let people know your parameters. Showing clients that you care about their needs upfront is the key to having a successful vacation without jeopardizing business and relationships.

- Set your 'online' expectations.
Most experts advise that you should unplug completely during your time off. However, since I rarely heed this advice myself, I’m not going to expound upon it here. Rather than leaving my Android behind altogether, I’ve found it helpful to strike a healthy balance between work and home.

For example, when I’m with family and friends, I want to be 100% present. I don’t want to check my email sneakily Christmas morning or be distracted while out catching up with friends. So, I will leave my phone or tablet aside for hours at a time, then excuse myself to catch up on work for half an hour or an hour at a time. Some entrepreneurs choose to set aside one or two hours each morning or evening for work matters.

There's no single approach that works for everyone; the key is to find what’s right for you. But remember, a critical part of any vacation is downtime — and it's hard to rest your brain when all your tech tools are demanding your constant attention.

- Focus on the big picture during downtime.
With so many businesses shutting down at the end of the year, it’s common for many entrepreneurs, particularly freelancers and contractors, to experience a slow-down in work whether they plan it or not.

If you find yourself with some quiet days or hours, make the most of that time. If you find yourself with some quiet days or hours, make the most of that time. Instead of just tending to some day-to-day work for the sake of staying busy, focus on the big picture instead. The end of the year is a perfect time to reflect on where your business has been and where it’s going. Think about what worked and what didn’t, where you can improve, which products or services were profitable, and how you can better address client needs in the coming year.

- Make sure your team has balance, too.
Remember that you're not the only one with family and friends this holiday season. If you have employees or contractors working for you, make sure that they feel comfortable and encouraged to enjoy the holidays and some down time.

That way, there will be no resentment and everyone will be ready to hit the ground running in January.

- Say 'no' if you start to feel stressed.
Being an entrepreneur is a stressful activity just on its own, without the added holiday pressure of travel plans, family get-togethers, holiday shopping, end of the year parties and more. The stress can take a toll on even the most zen person among us.

If you start feeling overwhelmed, chances are you're overcommitted and it's time to pull back. Drop a social engagement or two: It's far better to truly enjoy a few things than feel stressed and frazzled while trying to force everything in.

For your business activities, focus only on the most important items that need to be accomplished; one trick is to make a list of what needs to be done, and ask yourself which one would make the biggest difference to your business (hint: it’s not always responding to whoever is complaining the loudest).

- Don't apologize.
Most importantly, don't apologize for taking time to relax and enjoy food, drink, family and fun. A break gives our bodies and minds a chance to rebuild and refocus. You’ll come back in January with a fresh perspective, ready to take on more challenges and be more efficient than before.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in linkedin.

Failure-friendly

In the past 10 years, the culture around entrepreneurship has become increasingly failure-friendly. Serial entrepreneurs hop from one failed business to the next and billionaire entrepreneurs like Richard Branson wax on publicly about their failures almost as much as their successes. Still, "no one likes to fail, we are hardwired for success."

But what if you could actually use failure to help you succeed? Here are some keys to start failing your way to success:

Call failure something else.

When was the last time anyone got hired for a senior-level position without any experience? For serial entrepreneurs, "experience" is simply another word for "failure". By labeling a failed effort an opportunity to expand your knowledge base, you're framing it in a more positive light, allowing yourself to add to your credibility as a more seasoned entrepreneur.

Use failure as a stepping stone.

With every failure, identify what you know you did wrong and be conscious not to repeat your mistakes. This will bring you one step closer to success.

I've never heard a millionaire entrepreneur say they hit it right the first time out. The bigger they are, the more they've typically failed.

Never fail alone.

Entrepreneurs like to be trailblazers. But make a mistake on your own and you might have a hard time determining what went wrong. Having a partner you trust and respect can turn every failure into an opportunity for collaboration. "A good partner can help you determine what not to do again.”

Don't hide your failures.

Be proud that you were brave enough to take a risk in the first place. By being forthright about your mistakes, you open yourself up to learning from others.

Baehr's mentor, Walter Hailey, whose insurance company Lone Star Life Insurance went on to become a Kmart insurance company, used to take an hour-long walk at 5 a.m. every morning with a group of close friends to talk about ideas, successes and failures. "By the time they got back to the house, they had solutions," says Baehr. "They had a plan for the day."

Redefine what you want.

Revisit and refocus why you got into business in the first place. Look for your emotional motivators. We are emotional creatures. Logic doesn’t motivate us. Most people only half-heartedly decide they want a lot of things. You have to get really clear on what you want.. 

"The question is: How badly do YOU want it?"

Why is dialogue essential in feedback?

Giving feedback to your colleagues and employees provides them with an observer's insight into how their performance is progressing, as well as advice to solve any problems. But, for a number of people, hearing the six words, "Can I give you some feedback?" generates fear and anxiety. The words go through a translator in our brain and are heard as, "Can I completely tear you down?" It can be perceived that the person giving the feedback is somehow superior to the person receiving it, putting the receiver on the defense.

One of my dear friends Karin Ulfhielm (http://www.vargkask.se/) wrote this that I really wanted to share with you all.

For many reasons dialogue is essential in feedback. I have outlined the three most important below.

1) Our definitions and experiences of feedback differ, interpretations differ, perceptions of words differ, therefore semantics matter. My definition of a word may be completely different from yours. Our way of using language differs. Some people use a very bombastic language rich with words, while others are more cautious and modest both when it comes to the choice of words and the number of words. It is almost as if we are meant to misunderstand each other. Anyone for a dialogue?

2) We all have “blind spots”, meaning that you don’t necessarily see how your behaviour affects others. The same can be said for everyone around you. You see things in your peers that he or she may not be aware of. Thus, we affect each other in ways we are aware of, but - perhaps even more - in ways we are unaware. We need others to help us become aware of how we affect them. If we choose to act on that awareness or not, is the NEXT step. If we are not aware, we do not have the choice to take the next step. Therefore, we need to initiate dialogue in the form of reflection, active listening and clarifying questions in an elegant and tasteful mix.

3) Our defence mechanisms and “triggers” stop us from reaching the understanding of the feedback we are given. If we are only served with the attitude “I as a giver, am right and you as a receiver are wrong”, we will never get to the source of development and learning which lies in feedback from others. Hence, there has to be dialogue about how we interpret each other and how we affect and influence each other.

The big challenge lies within understanding the feedback we are given. We as givers must be aware and observant in making the feedback “recievable.”  For example, be as concrete as possible with examples on the behaviour we want to illustrate. As a receiver, control our defence mechanisms, so we - at least to begin with - actively try to understand what the feedback is really about. Dare to be curious. Dare to ask more questions. Avoid going directly to the (unconscious) interpretation that the person giving us feedback intends to harm us. Unfortunately, that reaction has been inherited from through generations and we need to be aware and work hard to go against that instinct. Choose to find out what the person giving us feedback is trying to reflect.

In a fairy tale world…

I wish that I

- in feedback situation, can stop my defence mechanisms or at least put them on hold.

- choose to see the reflection/feedback I receive as an honest attempt to help me learn and grow, so that I am able to give myself the opportunity to look at and digest it.

- would give myself the chance of understanding.

I recognize that it is easy for me to link the feedback to my earlier expectations and interpretations, confirming what I already know (or believe I  already know…). This makes it a form of self-fulfilling prophecy. Or I simply dismiss the feedback I am given, because I am convinced that the person/-s providing the feedback only wishes me harm. I do have a prerogative in the subject, haven’t I? Yes, of course I do. However, I can choose to train myself in seeing other sides of the feedback I receive. I can let myself “play” with the perspective that I might be “ALL WRONG”. What would happen then? What can I learn from that? The world is complex. With many different experiences we carry with us, our interpretations of our new experiences will differ greatly in the same situation or reminiscence - again, semantics… A conversation with a sibling or an old friend around experiences from “way back” can show how different we have interpreted events, situations or behaviours.

Is there one solution on how to become a better receiver of feedback?

I do not think there is one ultimate solution, but I believe a good starting point is to actively think of why it is so easy to receive feedback from one person and completely impossible from another? Why do we listen more to what A has to tell us, than B? How do we see ourselves? Are we inflexible, cannot change, end of story? Or, is it possible for us to look at ourselves from a more evolving perspective, where we have a chance of growth, change of approach and leave our earlier views, when we have been given the opportunity to see ourselves in a completely different light?

How can we have feedback being one of our most valuable tools in the toolbox for growth? I believe that if we strive towards a dialogue, we are half way there…!

Rock on, Karin Ulfhielm (http://www.vargkask.se/)

I want to really thank Karin for writing this above and letting me share it.

While giving and receiving feedback can be a delicate process, there's no doubting its value in helping to identify issues and solve them. Business owners should manage feedback in a positive way so that it can do what it's intended to do: Help improve and grow your business.

Fear is your friend !

Fear and self-doubt plague all of us. To the degree you can overcome your insecurities, you will experience freedom to be yourself and reach your full potential as an entrepreneur. The most important thing to understand is that everyone experiences these scary emotions to some degree, regardless of how confident and self-assured people may seem.

After I made a recent presentation at a Government Office, an audience member asked me, "How do you become so self-assured and confident?" I responded: "How do you know I am self-confident? The truth is you don't know what I am experiencing inside, only I know that. You have the impression that I am self-assured and confident, but you don't know that for sure."

We continued to talk about the importance of confidence versus fear, and I left the presentation alarmed over how big this issue is. Because I have witnessed so many individuals who stop themselves from ever getting started because of that tormenting self-doubt, I decided to write down the things I do to handle it. Follow these five tips when fear and insecurity strike:

1. Don't forget that it's normal. When you are fearful or insecure, remind yourself that you're simply feeling what most other people experience. You are probably doing something that is new for you or that you are excited about. Fear is a normal feeling, and I would be more concerned if you didn't experience it.

2. Fill your calendar. The busier I stay, the more confident I am. Never allow too much white space on your calendar and you will not experience fear. I tell people, "If you want to meet the devil, just have too much free time on your hands." Doubt loves the person with lots of time for thinking about himself and stirring up negative feelings.

3. Embrace fear. For me, fear has become the indicator of the things I actually need to and must do--and that have had the greatest payoff. Do what you are scared to do and watch your confidence grow. I am not suggesting you need to take physical risks, but that you should make the call you are most scared of. Regardless of the results, you will walk away inspired that you did it rather than thinking less of yourself for not taking action.

4. Go beyond your comfort zones.Very successful people don't seek comfort; they seek success and are willing to do what is most uncomfortable. But most of the world is seeking comfort and familiarity, which are traps that cause you to settle for the mediocre. If you want to get to the next level of your business, you've got to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

5. Take '10X' Actions. Albert Einstein said imagination is more important than knowledge, but I will take massive action over either. I am not the smartest guy or the most creative, but I assure you that if I operate at activity levels 10 times my competition, I will dominate. I never use the word "action" in the singular because I have never found one action to be effective enough that it didn't require a follow up. Multiply whatever you think is required by 10 and become a machine of action. If you do that, I assure you that your fear will subside.

Look forwards to your Comments in linkedin. 

Challenge yourself

Sometimes our commitment to the ways things are overshadows good decision making. Maybe it’s the whole ‘devil you know is better than the devil you don’t’ kind of thinking. Or maybe it’s that even good change can be annoying and distracting. In any case, this tendency can be particularly dangerous for those of us who work for ourselves. We don’t have bosses or organizations to pressure us into changing our outdated or nonsensical ways. We are in charge – for better and for worse.

In order to challenge myself and keep my own bad habits in line, I came up with this list of tough questions:

1: If you could wave a magic wand to instantly fix three things in your business, what would they be?(be honest, don’t just say “get more clients”…what do you KNOW is broken)
* What prevents you from fixing these things on your own?

2: What three things would you stop doing for the business if you didn’t have to?
* Why don’t you? What would make doing them better?

3: What are you doing only because you feel like you “should”?
* What would happen if you didn’t?

4: What important thing do you never seem to have “time for”?
* Why? What makes it hard to prioritize?

5: What have you given up for your business or to be an entrepreneur?
* Are you OK with that sacrifice?

Surprisingly as painful as it can be to sit with these questions (and their answers) this exercise has led to some really wonderful changes and improvements that have brought me great satisfaction.
Did this help you? Was it painful to ask this question to yourself? when was the last time you asked yourself this?