You probably assume that feelings of overwhelm are a reaction to external factors. My employees keep interrupting me… The market is changing and I need to adapt… I have so much to do and there aren’t enough hours in the day… There are certainly plenty of external factors that will make things more difficult for you, so it’s time to … Read More

It’s so easy to find yourself unsure of what to do next, or overwhelmed by how to get started, so you put off the work for an hour, a day, a week…  Which gives you plenty of extra time to worry. Somehow the worrying always gets done. But what if you did the opposite? What if you chose to put … Read More

When I reflect on the myriad calls I have shared with overwhelmed small business owners, the one thing that surprises me the most is that nothing has ever been particularly surprising. Sure, a few circumstances have been a little more exotic than others, but the underlying themes are ultimately the same: I’m stuck and I don’t know what to do…  … Read More

The two things that are most likely to prevent you from having good ideas are simple: You don’t have to be the smartest person on the block to have good ideas, but you do have to invest time to think AND be willing to generate a stack of ideas that won’t work.  Here are some things you could try… How … Read More

Does anyone remember a professional basketball player named Michael Jordan? Look him up. He was really good. Rings on rings on rings good. He was an iconic, generational talent, and is regarded as one of the top two NBA players of all time on every list I could find.  And he was very terrible at baseball. Minor league baseball. I … Read More

I grew up in the 80’s and learned a lot of valuable lessons from sitcoms. Unfortunately, these shows also drove home a subconscious message that still haunts me to this day: nothing ever changes. That massive promotion that would change everything for our fictional heroes? Yeah, it never materialized. The winning lottery ticket? Yeah, that got lost in a series … Read More

No delegation, no freedom. You know you need to do it, and I’m going to give you four ways to cancel your excuses and make delegation happen. Fix your processes One reason delegating feels so difficult is that your subconscious knows that it’s going to be embarrassing to hand off a messy process..  Maybe it is riddled with workarounds that … Read More

Getting started is the most difficult part of documenting your processes and workflows. To help you get started, here are 5 things you should document right away… What is one process you will document this week? If you are ready to get serious about documenting your way to delegation, check out my Make Your Business Work For You Mastermind that … Read More

I want to share one of the most profound things I have learned in nearly 20 years of small business ownership: the workaround is not the solution. In the heat of battle you are likely to find short-term workarounds to get a project completed. You are going to use duct tape and bubble gum to make things work in a … Read More

My knowledge of SpongeBob SquarePants is incredibly limited, but here’s one thing I’m certain of: Mr. Krabs loves money.  He knows exactly what his business exists to do FOR HIM and he’s a model for the rest of us.  When you have complete clarity about what you want from your business you can better contextualize the difficult days (because there … Read More

Making your business work for you is going to fundamentally change your relationship with your business for the better, but how in the world do you keep yourself from being held hostage by all of your commitments? Here’s one way: stop saying “yes” to things you shouldn’t say “yes” to. Instead of instantly agreeing to take on another exciting new … Read More

“You didn’t come this far to only come this far.” –The internet is undecided about who said this first “What got you here won’t get you there.” –Marshall Goldsmith These two inspirational lines have been on my mind lately. It’s easy to roll your eyes and dismiss them as cliches – unless you hear them spoken aloud by Denzel Washington … Read More

The client on the other end of the phone was on the verge of tears: “My employees are driving me crazy!” Carrying the weight of small business ownership is no small feat and you can’t do it alone. Even if you don’t have W2 employees, you likely still employ contractors to make your enterprise work. Unfortunately, every person you hire … Read More

I don’t know if I’ve ever been “cool,” but I know for a fact that any chance I had is in the rearview mirror. How can I be so sure? Well, one of my favorite things is to have the laundry done before I go to bed on Friday. Yeah. But here’s where that decidedly uncool pastime can help you … Read More

I heard a story recently about a mysterious sound reported by the Swedish navy in the early 80’s. The sound occurred frequently in the waters along their coastlines and the military set out to determine what sort of threat might be behind it. They suspected submarines and literally dropped bombs into the water to destroy this mystery threat.  Nothing worked. … Read More

I once leased a very expensive software product and then abandoned it because our operation wasn’t in a position to integrate it in a productive way. It still makes me mad that I paid THOUSANDS of dollars for a software product that was never put to use, but I couldn’t afford to waste more time and money trying to make … Read More