One of the common topics that I notice come up from Founders and Owners is how to manage the multiple priorities they have.

There are so many hats we wear that we often have many similarly prioritized initiatives going on at the same time: from managing a newer member of your team, to pricing your services for next year to planning marketing initiatives. The list can be endless.

And they’re all important.

Sometimes, it feels impossible to chose what to focus on next because it IS nearly impossible. They all have to be done!

While everyone’s situation can be somewhat unique, what I do know is this: when we focus on the many, progress is slow; when we focus on the few, we speed up.

Based on KPMG’s 2022 SMB Business Outlook Survey, 83% of SMB leaders are confident in their company’s growth over the next three years.

KPMG has also identified that the single most significant source of growth over the next three years will come from organic growth (innovation, R&D, investments, new products, and recruitment) ranked at 24%. Other forms of growth cited were Digital and Technology Investments 18%, Strategic Alliances with third parties 18% and Attracting Fresh Capital at 10%.

Organic growth involves evaluating your operational models for efficiencies, enhancements, or other initiatives that will strengthen your company.

This is where the consideration of adding value comes in…

How easy is it for you to find time and space in your calendar to work on the really important things to you?

You know, the things that will advance your business or improve how you work?

Here’s a thought.

What if the act of creating space for meaningful work is just as powerful as the space itself?

If creating space in your business feels like a big lift, I want to invite you to think about how the practice of creating time and space for important initiatives is a fundamental skill a founder and owner can cultivate.

We can all relate to the owner that wears all the hats. Bookkeeping, Sales, Customer Service, Leader, HR, Manager, etc. You may be at this stage right now.

Even when you have team members occupying these roles, the work of an owner and founder is rarely a calendar of open space.

However, the owner and founder that is able to create some white space is the one that goes farther. Their companies seem to advance, evolve and grow further…

If you’ve been tuning in for a while, you’ve heard me discuss the many contributing factors to building value in your company.

I’ve touched on attributes like growth potential, differentiation, financial performance, diversification of people, suppliers and employees, but you know what these all boil down to?

The SVO Model of Sustainability and Growth…

How often do you celebrate your progress and accomplishments?

I know you have all of them - I see you doing all the things in your business and in leadership.

From getting that new role, hiring a new manager, adding a new admin person, capturing a process you’ve been meaning to, taking more personal time, booking that vacation…..

From small to large these are no easy feats and I invite you to celebrate them.

Thinking about the next 10 years or ‘when’ you’ll be ready to think about handing over your business to prepare for that event is like waiting until the day before you hand over your house keys to its new owner to paint the walls, fix the leaky faucet and renovate run down bathroom. It’s too much too late.

And, consider what you could be leaving on the table by doing so?

You could be passing up, with some adjustments, a beautifully run company that actually reduces your headaches.

You could be passing up additional value in the business by not having some of its functions running more smoothly with a little TLC. AKA leaving money on the table.

You could be passing over obvious headaches to the new owner but that existing employees and customers still have to deal with, jeopardizing retention.

The belief that ‘getting ready to pass’ down is reserved for the actual event is actually robbing you of more money, more joy and likely more stability now.

One of the secrets to being an attractive company to run and purchase? Read more here.

If you didn’t show up to work in your business for a day, would it continue to run?

Ensuring your business can run whether you show up to work or not is a sign of a true business.

If the answer to this question is no, then you have yourself a nice job you go to each day.

The day will come when we won’t be able to work in our business either for a day, a week, a month, or longer. The question is, will this be a planned break or an unplanned break?

If that were to happen right now, and it was an unplanned break (think injury, illness or caring for a loved one as examples), what would happen to your business? your employees? your family’s salary?

Has this thought ever gone through your mind?

You keep pouring more of your efforts in but you can’t seem to grow beyond the level you’ve achieved in your business.

You’ve been hitting the same revenue line for the last while, or maybe even the last couple of years and you can’t seem to go beyond, no matter what you do.

Beyond our plans or intentions, there’s a barrier we can’t seem to break.

The pain of this is you want to expand your company and want to hire or build on the services you offer, but without solving this revenue plateau your hands feel tied…

Have you been in the situation where, no matter what you do, you can’t seem to break through your revenue ceiling? You might be moving the needle a few percentages, but in general, your topline revenue seems to have stalled?

This is exactly the situation a very talented and accomplished friend was in when she was telling me the story of her business. She went on to say that no matter what she did (reminding me she already worked long hours) that she can’t seem to generate more revenue, year over year. Each year she thinks it will be different, but somehow doesn’t end up making significantly more to consider it meaningful growth.

I was asking her deeper questions about how she operated in her business and who and what brought in the most revenue.

“It’s me brining in revenue and I’ve changed up my services, but I’m not getting the type of growth I’m looking for.”

After hearing her story, I started to see a couple of reasons why she was experiencing a revenue plateau.

Are you waiting for things to ‘slow down’ to focus on your goals?

When I was a Relationship Manager selling Professional Services back in the day, I had a number of prospects tell me to call them back when they weren’t as busy. When I did call back, guess what they had to say? It’s still not a good time, I’m still so busy!

Granted, I also understood for some, this was likely a way of deferring a ‘sales’ conversation, but this response also came from many current clients who were in the middle of project with my company. After leaving that role and years later moving into working with my clients, the same message was popping up - that was, in its essence - I have this goal, but I have too much going on to pursue it.

It’s like saying, I want to start running, but I don’t have time to buy the shoes.

Isn’t this the point of prioritization?

If life or the demands of the business are getting in the way of your most important goals, then are you really prioritizing them?

I’m saying this as much for me as for anyone else who sees themselves here.

I too, have said the words - “I just don’t have time to do that thing that I know is going to help me move forward and has been on my goal list for a while.”

This is what I call…

Our vision is to see more purpose-driven companies excel and sustain through generations, making a positive lasting impact on the world.

How does my company contribute to this?

We coach founders & owners to grow by adding transferrable value, create a succession platform and take a vacation.

Part of lasting through generations is capturing the brilliance, savvy and know-how of you, the founder and owner, to ensure you don’t leave a knowledge gap when you decide not to be directly involved in your business anymore.

Your knowledge is gold and is the foundation of how your company started and what contributes to its ongoing success.

Even if you are aren’t thinking about passing your business to another in the future, or at the point where this has even entered your mind; capturing and transferring knowledge is a skill that takes practice and planning. It’s possible and it doesn’t have to be perfect or complex. And, it can be a process that evolves.

Powerful =

“…having control and influence over people and events.” In this case, I’m referring to control and influence over ourselves and our own impact.

“…having a strong effect on people's feelings or thoughts.” In this case, being intentional with our own thoughts and feelings that support us in our efforts.

We all know the Wealthy Barber story where he saved and invested 10% of his income each month, and over time and the power of compound interest, he became a millionaire. It took time and small increments of his paycheque each and every month.

It’s the commitment, regular modest investment, and the compound effect over time that I’m drawn to in this story as a parallel to consistently making space for your own personal leadership practice.

Having a personal leadership practice allows us to show up powerfully each week.

Here’s a thought: If we don’t have a personal leadership practice, how can we expect our employees to show up powerfully too?

A personal leadership practice doesn’t have to be developed through grand gestures, but can be small, focussed and consistent. (A few minutes of regular planning will go a long way.)

First, what does personal leadership look like for us?

When I was younger I loved to dance. (Well I still do, but I actually took lessons and performed in my youth). What I admired about professional dancers was their athleticism, their grace and their superb amounts of skill. The way they could capture an audience and tell a story through movement.

What I learned was in order to get to be so skilled and master their craft, they practiced all the time and often practiced the basics. Like a musician mastering and warming up with scales. It’s the foundational steps and method that help them to hone their craft. It’s focussing on the foundations of their craft that built the muscle memory and capacity that they have today. The ballet dancers always came back to their pliés.

When I hear and speak to business owners and founders today who want to grow their companies, some of them have all sorts of plans and initiatives. I always love hearing about their plans and vision. It’s inspiring. Until I hear about their method…

Several years ago my husband and I were asking questions like: Will we have enough to retire? How much is ‘enough’? What do we need? What do we want our future to look like?

We’ve both worked in the financial industry and we have a good understanding and knowledge of personal finance. However, we wanted more than our general understanding and wanted to speak with an expert in retirement planning.

We explored possibilities and chose someone who we love working with and has the expertise we needed.

Once we made that move I felt incredibly relieved. Like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders because we now have a plan built for us.

And, I feel more confident in our ongoing day-to-day financial decisions because I know where we are in relation to where we are going with our ‘plan’. It was a very smart decision for us and I’m so thrilled we made it.

Getting help in the areas you need it is important. We can’t be all the things.

And we don’t know what we don’t know.

You can apply this to a number of areas in life.

There are common mis-steps that I’ve made and I see others making. I’m highlighting them here so we can support each other in our collective pursuit of our personal and professional goal achievement.

Three common areas where even high-achieving professionals can become derailed:

1. Allowing urgent items to take priority over our schedule, nudging goal efforts aside.

You may be thinking - of course…it’s urgent.

Well, is it urgent for you or someone else? Many times what’s urgent for someone else lands on your plate with a deadline attached, creating a sense of urgency for you. Particularly if you’re in a line of work where this is the norm rather than the exception, this can be a challenging environment to pursue those important but not urgent activities, which is the category that many goal efforts fall into. But, note I said challenging, not impossible.

The number of decisions you make in a day can be astronomical.

And this can cause decision fatigue.

Decision fatigue can make us second guess our business decisions, slow us down, and make us feel like we’re missing out on opportunities.

We should have started that project by now…

My best employee has just resigned…

We need more clients but I feel like we can barely manage the ones we have…

This doesn’t make you a bad or unsuccessful business owner.

In fact, the more your business grows and expands, often the more situations you are faced with that require your input.

But if you ever wonder which direction to take, struggle with employee performance, or wonder how you’re going to continue to manage it all, then read on.

As some of you are considering and refining your goals for this year, I want to ask you…do you have a goal to grow your business?

As business owners, ‘growth’ can be a loaded word.

I hear some saying - yes, they’re all about the growth and that’s their focus.

I hear others saying - no, I like my business the way it is, I’m not looking to grow at all.

And also saying - growth means more work from me and I just don’t have more to give.

Maybe there’s even another camp here that isn’t reflected. In spite of what you may think about growth in your own business I think it’s worth deconstructing what growth means.

Happy New Year!

I hope this email reaches you healthy, happy and ready for what’s coming this year.

I’m hearing from some of you that you are cautiously optimistic but approaching the start of the year slowly.

And I’ve heard from others that you are ready and putting your head down with clear intentions, and you’re moving ahead with your plans, regardless of what else is going on (Omicron be damned!).

Whatever your thoughts are on beginning your year, I want to ask you about goal setting.

Do you set goals?

And if you do…?

Do your goals light a fire within and get you excited to hit the ground running?

If your goals aren’t generating that kind of excitement, I encourage you to take a look and see how you can write or re-articulate your goals so that they do.

Because, if you aren’t excited by the prospect of moving ahead with your goals, then why do them? AND, you lower your chances of hitting them in the first place…

Have you ever wondered if business could be done another way?

If your business, and your relationship to it, has to be the way it is?

If you’re in the camp that’s thrilled and love your relationship to your business, then keep doing what you’re doing!

However, if you’re in the camp where you’ve had successes but are thinking: How much longer can I continue with this? Then this is for you.

What if you could re-write some of the rules?

What if there was another way that didn’t require such a drain and strain for you, and you didn’t have to sacrifice growth and profits to do it? What if your business model supported and created the environment where the business supported itself versus feeling like it’s all resting on your shoulders?

I know so many of you are planning on taking time away this month to spend time with family or for personal reasons.

As you prepare to be away what are your intentions?

What relationship do you want to have with work while you’re away? Are you looking to be completely disconnected, occasionally checking in, available when needed, or do you plan to be full on working but just away from the office?

Consider this:

1) There’s what you want

2) And, there’s what your systems and structures will support…