What Lies Beneath

by Jason R Owens | Mar 23, 2016 | Self-Employed Sweet Spot

My readers know I find joy in sharing my ups and downs as I build my business.  When I share about my struggles, it really seems to energize people who find themselves in my stories.

For those of you who don’t know my story, I’ll tell you the short version. 

Years ago I was a sales manager over several new financial advisors.  It is a hard industry where most new advisors don’t survive the first three years.

The single biggest observation I made during my time as a sales manager was that those who followed the company’s formula for success tended to do well — they would end up earning enough money to be successful.

So, why didn’t they all just follow the formula?

I took this very question to heart and pursued it during my doctoral dissertation.

I began to think and noticed that the same question applies to me as well.  Are there areas where I am not following the formula, where I’m not doing what I need to do to be successful?

Realizing There is a Problem

We are not meant to go through life alone. We need each other.

My readers will also know that I’m a huge fan of having a well-qualified counselor help you identify and overcome performance issues.  In a recent eye-opening counseling session, my counselor about knocked me out of my chair.

“Lately it seems you are doing a lot of things 90%.”

What!?!

I see myself as being a hard worker — someone who puts 100% into everything I do.

I pressed into this. “Can you give me some examples?”

To my surprise, she fired off a few examples in rapid succession, not missing a beat.

[shareable]Are you doing things at 90%? Are you ready to change that?[/shareable]

I could see then that I was toast. She was right — there are things I’m only doing 90%.

I left the session with my head reeling.  If she could see those three examples, where else was I holding back from my best?

Diagnosing the Problem

Now that I knew what to look for, I started putting together a list of all the projects I had attempted and failed, times when I had run out of steam.

• There is an online launch I did. I made some money, but I just didn’t know what to do with it next.
• Then there’s an invitation to give a talk for a conference.  How can I give a talk here and still have it fit my brand?
  

In less than 10 minutes I had completely filled a page with items where I had pulled up short of my best.

[shareable]I am overcoming what is holding me back. You can too! Here’s how.[/shareable]

This leads me back to the question — the same question I found while studying the financial advisors I managed all those years ago – why wasn’t I just doing the things I know I need to do to be successful?

• Why am I not pressing into the online launch again?
• What is my hangup with the lack of fit between my brand and the conference?
  

Every person who finds him or herself in this situation is going to have his or her own answer to these questions.

My answer may not be your answer. In fact, it’s pretty likely that my answer is not going to be your answer.

Digging Deeper to Find the Solution

When we think through our own entrepreneur performance, we have to dig deeper than looking at whether or not we have reached our goals.

We need to look at the reason we did or did not reach them. What are the reasons behind all of it?

• You set a goal for yourself last week to call five new people.
• You wanted to attend two new networking functions this month.
• You set a goal for yourself last week to add 100 names to your email list.

Did you meet all of those goals? For most of us, probably not.

This is where the excuses come in.

• I ran out of time.
• Things came up with my child at school.
• I didn’t know what to do next with the launch.
• I’m not certain the conference fits my brand.

But, those are not the real reasons we are missing our goals.

[shareable]Your excuses aren’t the real reason you’re not meeting your goals.[/shareable]

We need to dig deeper into what lies beneath it all.

Are you afraid of failing? Well, you need to admit that and dive into it. Find out why.

Are you afraid of running out of money? I get that. It’s a very real concern — one which should be on your radar.

But, it shouldn’t paralyze you. Dig into that. Why is it paralyzing you? If you must, get someone to help you work on the issue.

This is where the true progress begins!

A New Day and a Bright Future

For me, what lies beneath my 90% behavior is disappointment. My counselor named it out loud right there in her office. It’s what has been keeping me back from that highest level of entrepreneur performance.

She began to unpack for me the ways in which my dealing with this appointment is causing me to pull up short of my goals.

This is the single biggest breakthrough I’ve had in the past decade. Now so many things make sense.

I walked around for the next two days with the highest level of lightheartedness I have felt since I was a child.

All the weight and frustration has gone!

[reminder]What lies beneath for you? What can you do this week to dig into some of your deepest questions?[/reminder]

Are You Leaning Into or Away From Your Problems?

by Jason R Owens | Mar 9, 2016 | Self-Employed Sweet Spot

Several years ago, I was managing a group of brand-new entrepreneurs. They were young and energetic. Full of life and vitality.

However, only a few short months later, it was very easy to see who was going to survive and who wasn’t. This is interesting because each of these new entrepreneurs:

• Received the same training from our parent company
• Had no prior experience in the industry
• Experienced the same roadblocks and frustrations

A few members of the group were doing really well. The remaining, however, were clearly in trouble.

[shareable cite=”Jason R. Owens”]Are you leaning into your problem, or away from it?[/shareable]

The ones who are doing well, or simply going about their business, were setting appointments, having conversations with prospects, and writing contracts.

Most interesting to me though, was the behavior of the people who were not doing so well.

Diagnosing the Have-Nots

When I began doing my coaching sessions with this group of new entrepreneurs, my opening question was, “How’s it going?”

This simple open-ended question was really meant to see what was at the top of their minds.

Oftentimes I would hear stories such as “I had this great meeting set up with the client, but they cancelled” or “I had a very good deal on the hook, but the client never came to sign the paperwork.”

Layer 1

So, for a moment, let’s call this Layer One. This is the beginning of the conversation– it’s when people tell you where they are mentally.

[shareable cite=”Jason R. Owens”]Here’s how to overcome your entrepreneurial hurdles.[/shareable]

The danger here is that we can’t just attribute the problems of the low performers to scarcity thinking, as if thinking differently would magically solve all their problems.

Performance Themes

After a few minutes of conversation with each entrepreneur, I started seeing themes which differentiated the achievers from the non-achievers.

The achievers were doing things that, at first glance, didn’t appear to be that amazing. They were simply doing what they were told to do in their initial training:

• They were setting appointments.
• They were seeing people.
• They were writing contracts.

And really, at first glance, like I said, it doesn’t seem like this was anything spectacular. The ingeniousness lay in the fact that they were indeed:

• Setting appointments
• Seeing people
• Writing contracts

Let’s contrast this for a moment with what was happening with the non-performers.

Here’s a list of the behaviors that I observed in that particular set of people:

• Spending an inordinate amount of time learning about the company products
• Filing papers
• Setting up their office
• Getting distracted by home and automotive repairs
• Setting up systems for their workflow, yet not actually doing any revenue-generating work.

A Name for What I’m Seeing

As I researched this performance issue for my doctorate degree, I learned there is a name for what I was seeing.

These two types of behavior are called problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping.

Problem-focused coping is leaning into your problem. Meaning, essentially, that you are doing the work required to get out of whatever hole you’re in.

Emotion-focused coping, on the other hand, is leaning away from your problem. This means you will do everything but deal with the problem itself.  This behavior is so common to entrepreneurs that it deserves to have a book of its own.

[shareable cite=”Jason R. Owens”]Are you leaning into your problem, or away from it?[/shareable]

It is safe to say all of us have used emotion-focused coping in the course of running our businesses.

Combating Emotion-Focused Coping

How should we combat it?

• Recognize when you are leaning away from your problem rather than facing the issue. The first step is always acceptance.
• Put pen to paper. Answer this question: Why aren’t you (fill in the blank) — setting up more appointments, picking up the phone more often, attending more networking meetings, etc.?
• Dig into the issue to name what you are feeling.

Layer 2

After you have put pen to paper, look at what you have written and ask yourself this next set of questions:

• Is this an issue of not having the right skills or knowledge?
• Do you simply need additional coaching in this area?
• Is this more of an issue of abilities? Meaning you have seen someone else do this before, but you just don’t know if you can do it yourself.

The real payoff comes when you dig deep here. Again, look at this list of questions and ask yourself:

• What kind of emotions arose as you were putting pen to paper?
• Did you find yourself saying “I always seem to be dealing with (fill in the blank) — fear, procrastination, perfectionism, etc.?

To solve issues related to knowledge, skills, and abilities, it’s a good idea to seek out a professional coach who can help with these matters.

When sorting through issues which have to do with emotions, a good licensed counselor is a great place to start and this can truly be the key to overcoming the roadblocks which have been holding you back.

[reminder]What techniques do you use to stop emotion-focused coping (leaning away from the problem) when you notice it in yourself?[/reminder]

Hard Work Plus Two Other Keys

by Jason R Owens | Jul 22, 2013 | Self-Employed Sweet Spot

What it Takes to Succeed Like Nick

Raised as the first generation of his family born on American soil, Nick learned the value of a strong work ethic in his early years. Nick’s father had moved from Greece decades earlier and started a restaurant.

“The best thing my father ever taught me is that success takes time. It was almost 10 years before things really started rolling for him in the restaurant business.”

The restaurant did so well that Nick’s father began moving a few of his brothers to the States from Greece. With extra help the restaurant flourished until there was more than one location. Nick knew he wanted to start his own business, but doing what?

In 2009 he found his answer in paper products — think cups, napkins, straws. This was a perfect leap for Nick since he already new the restaurant business so well.

“It was actually my uncle’s idea. My uncle and my father had this old warehouse, and they let me use part of it for this new business. My cousin and I would work through the day cleaning up the warehouse, fixing the receiving dock, and assembling shelves. Then we would go work at the restaurant in the evenings.”

Not One Business, but Two

As if operating a traditional start-up isn’t enough, Nick still runs his first venture that he started in 2005.  Nick was introduced to the Amway business by his best friend while he was in college. Since then he has built a sales team that has reached the Platinum level which is a marker of distinction amongst Amway’s independent business owners.

Nick works the first shift hours in his paper products company, then between 5 and 10 in the evening, he’s working on his Amway business. On occasion, he still helps out the family business by working a few hours a week at the restaurant.

The One Secret

Time and time again I keep running into this same theme as I interview entrepreneurs — hard work. Seems that every successful person I know works really hard to get there.  Nick told me about the 12-15 hour days that he logs between his two ventures.

“If you want to be successful, you’ve got to commit; you can’t go into this lukewarm.”

Key Lessons

There are a few key lessons that I want you to grab from Nick’s story.

1. Notice that Nick found his passion after he found his product. Passion was discovered through action.
2. Go up — In business lingo, Nick’s opening a restaurant supply company is called “vertical integration”. If you already know an industry, consider being a supplier to it.
3. Time — This is probably the greatest gift we can give ourselves is the perspective that good organizations and good businesses take time to develop. If you haven’t grown a $1 billion business in 12 months, don’t sweat it.

Best Quote of the Interview

“When you are in business school, no one ever tells you that, as the boss, you get paid last. In my first year in the paper product business there were several months when I went without pay. You’ve got to be mentally prepared for that.”

She Went From Employee to Contractor

by Jason R Owens | Jun 27, 2013 | Self-Employed Sweet Spot

Barbara had been working as a CPR instructor for years.  She was employed by a fairly well-known healthcare provider and enjoyed her job.  She had held numerous positions in the company, but the one thing she liked best was instructing CPR.  There were storm clouds on the horizon, however.  The company was making major changes in the way that they offered CPR instruction.

“They came to me one day with a choice.”

Barbara could choose to stay with the company as an employee, but she would have a very limited number of days were she actually had the chance to teach.  The other option was to become an independent contractor and the company would provide her with ample leads.  Barbara and her business partner, one of Barbara’s decades-long co-workers, took the jump together.  They decided to form their own business as independent CPR instructors.

When I asked if she ever had any second thoughts during the transition from employee to business owner, she said, “There are a few times when I woke up in the night wondering what I was getting myself into.”

The transition from employee to business owner is daunting for many; however, Barbara and her business partner had several things going in their favor.

• They already knew their craft.  Each had more than enough experience in instructing CPR classes.
• They already knew the business.  They were familiar with clients and their instruction needs.
• A dependable source of sales leads.  Their former employer is a known entity and will be able to supply leads for years to come.

As far as start-ups are concerned this one looks poised for success before they even open their doors.  But there is a danger here.  There is only one source of leads.  When I have seen this same model used in other businesses, it can be quite problematic.  Sometimes business owners in these arrangements unknowingly develop a sense of complacency with regard to acquiring new clients.  Then one day the phone stops ringing, the source of leads dries up, and the business is left scrambling for revenue.  Barbara and her business partner have already addressed this concern, however, by the end of their first year.  The business has grown beyond contracting with just their former employer.  In fact, they are now contracting with 3 larger firms, and business is booming.

When faced with an opportunity like this, we often have no idea how things are going to work out.  The story could have 12 different endings.  This start-up story is ending well.

“We each put a bit of money in to get the business started.  We started to pay ourselves back a little at a time.  Our husbands thought this business was just something that we were playing with.”  Barbara had a huge smile on her face when she shared, “Toward the end of the year, my CPA called us and said that we had better go shopping because we were making too much money.  I couldn’t believe it.  We paid ourselves back and made a profit in our first year!”