I’ve lost my umph for it. But I’ve found a new umph, and I’m writing about it at my new blog, My Breakthrough Business. Check it out, or be umphless.

Marcia

Here’s what I’m hearing: fear is normal. It’s natural. And we all have plenty of reasons to be scared - our stock market nest eggs are being wiped out, our customers are leaving in droves, jobs are being lost in record numbers, and watching the news can put us in a cold sweat. All of this bad news makes it almost impossible to concentrate on anything else but “it.”

In a recent article in the New York Times, neuroeconomist Gregory Berns, M.D., Ph.D., who directs the Center for Neuropolicy at Emory University, wrote:

“. . . fear - whether of pain or of losing a job - does strange things to decision-making. . . worrying [takes] energy. It means that these extreme responders had less available neural processing power to deal with other tasks.”

I don’t want to concentrate on “it.” I hope you don’t either. Below are some suggestions I’ve gleaned from various places that have been helpful for me, and maybe they’ll be helpful for you, as well.

1. Don’t beat yourself up about it. That will only make it worse. So you’re scared sometimes. Realize that your fear is only temporary; it’s not permanent. Then don’t let it become permanent.

2. Decide to be happy some of the time. You can do it. Just decide. (This will help with #1: when you’re not afraid, you can be happy.)

3. Don’t surround yourself with negativity. Turn off the TV unless it’s good news. Don’t talk about how bad things are. Don’t hang out with negative people. Doing these things doesn’t make the situation any better, and can in fact make it worse - at least for you.

4. Keep moving. Fear paralyzes and encourages retreat. If you keep moving forward, you push it away. It may be difficult to “soldier on,” so don’t keep going in the same direction if you feel that way. Try something new, take a class, investigate, look for different opportunities. Dr. Berns says, “I don’t care what your business is, but if you think it will eventually come back to what it was - your brain is in the grips of the fear-based endowment effect. What I am doing is looking for new opportunities. This means applying neuroscience discovery to realms where it hasn’t been used before.”

5. Don’t let a lack of information be a cause for paralysis. “But this is all I know.” “But I don’t know how to do that.” “But I don’t know what to do.” All true, perhaps. But where are these statements getting you? It’s always a good time to talk to people, to consider your strengths, and how you might use them in different ways. Information is out there. It doesn’t hurt to go look at it. Who knows what you’ll find? At least it will get you moving (see #4).

6. Count to 10 before reacting. My mother used to say, “Wait three days,” but I’m not going to ask that of you, not now. Whenever I wanted to do anything impulsive, whether it was to buy something expensive or tell off one of my girlfriends, my mom would advise me to wait three days. It was so difficult, but my mom was right - many times, the situation looked entirely different in three days. These days it’s especially important not to jump to conclusions.

7. Be still. I’m going to get all woo-woo on you for a moment. You know that voice in your brain telling you to freak out? The one reminding you how awful things are? You can’t hear the brilliance that’s inside you with that thing yapping at you all the time, and the answers come in silence. If you don’t meditate or do yoga or have a practice to still your mind, now’s the time to start one. It can be as simple as sitting calmly and breathing slowly for a few minutes a day. But do it. You’ll be surprised at how much it can help.

Okay. Now. Action steps:
a.) print this out and tape it on your wall
b.) vow to take at least one of the seven tactics to heart now before you forget
c.) send me an email (marcia@hoeck.net) to let me know how you’re doing!

Never worry about how to make sure you’re hiring the “right person” again
I started my marketing communications firm 25 years ago, and almost immediately, it started growing fast. I was overwhelmed by the amount of work I had to do, and referrals were coming in all the time. I knew that if I wanted to keep my company growing and live up to the promises I’d made to clients, I had to get help. So I just started hiring.

I was lucky with some hires and extremely unlucky with others. I had some great team members, and others who embarrassed me in front of my clients, stole from me, wasted my time, and “poisoned the well” of my good, existing team. I spent a great deal of time fixing their mistakes and trying to understand them, to mold them into the type of people I needed. Or I’d find a way to let them go and start over with a new person who had a new and different problem. I was constantly frustrated, and not able to get to my own work of growing the business.

Sound familiar? Here’s the most important thing:

What I didn’t realize then was that I hadn’t taken the time to hire correctly in the first place - I should never have hired many of these people!

Once I figured this out, I got serious about why and how I was hiring people. I read all I could about it (which wasn’t much - most of the team building information is geared towards big business and is written from an HR perspective, and I needed something that understood me, as a small business owner!), I talked to everyone who could help me, and I thought carefully about what was going wrong with the people I’d hired. And then I started to try things, to do things differently when I hired. And slowly I developed my own system, which allowed me to get out of the ongoing cycle of managing people and fixing mistakes and back to what I’d started my business for in the first place.

I found that hiring really included 3 major areas:

1. the conversations with candidates
2. the interview logistics, and
3. protecting myself and my business

And so I developed a series of conversations, interview logistics, and methods for protecting my company. I learned what to watch for in candidate reactions — what they said, and what they didn’t say. I created a series of checklists, grading sheets, and contracts. And it started to work overwhelmingly well for me. I started to get more of the right people on the bus.

It worked so well that my team started to sync with me. We shared the same values, philosophies, and work ethics. They began to roll up their sleeves beside me to help me build the business, and before long, began managing the day-to-day aspects of the company without me. My business continued to increase in revenue while I decreased my involvement, enabling me to focus on my passions, strengths, and other business building activities. At the same time, my team was growing into their capabilities, gaining confidence, resourcefulness, and leadership skills.

So that you can hear, straight from me, a bit more about how these strategies work, I’ve created a short, 18-minute audio, and I’d love to have you check it out. Download the free recording, “Hiring the Right Person: 8 Proven Strategies You Need to Know Before Your Next Hire.”

It’s all about entrepreneurial success by people who’ve left the corporate world to become successful entrepreneurs, or who have powerful strategies for us “corporate fugitives.” Let’s face it - we’re special! Entrepreneurs who have come from a corporate background have different needs and concerns than entrepreneurs who’ve not “battled the beast” that we know as corporate life. And the Corporate Entrepreneurs TeleSummit addresses those needs and concerns.

The event began February 10th, but it’s not too late to sign up, or to purchase CDs of the series. The calls so far have been extremely powerful.

And we’ve got these incredible speakers - really!

Michael Gerber of the E-Myth,
Michael Port of Book Yourself Solid,
Pamela Slim of Escape from Cubicle Nation,
Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz and SEO School,
and many other fabulous guests.

Get the entire schedule when you sign up at
the Corporate Entrepreneurs Unplugged TeleSummit.

February 10 - March 19, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 am PST/1 pm EST

Listen to the FREE Preview call posted on the site.
Corporate Entrepreneurs Unplugged TeleSummit

For those of you who missed the call or would just like a recap, the call content is the subject of this post: “The 7 Big Marketing Mindset Shifts to Start Your New Year Off in Prosperity.”

If you’d like to listen to a recording of the call, we’ve made an MP3 download available. You really need to listen to get all of the insights and great advice from both Joe and me, as well as the marketing tips and true stories from others’ experiences as well as our own.

Why mindset?
Getting your mindset tuned up is one of the most important things you can do at the beginning of the year - more important than planning campaigns, tactics, or techniques. If your “inner house” isn’t in order, if you have self doubt, if you don’t know you have people, resources, and systems to support you, the best of strategies can fail.

Check that you have these 7 elements in place and you’ll be off to a great start.

1. You are responsible for your current results

It sounds so simple. You may think, of course I’m in charge of my life. Or do you really think the economy is in charge of your life, or your company, or the government?

There is a huge shift in our country away from truly being responsible for ourselves, and we’re all guilty of it to some degree.

We see it on the news all the time. Many in our country expect the government, their employers, their parents, and others to take care of them. This didn’t start until the Industrial Revolution when people started working for companies, and the companies started taking care of employees.

Before that, if you needed food, you went out and plowed a field. If you needed money, you sold a horse, or did a project for a neighbor. Think about that for a minute. Are we all just a bit too willing to wait for an answer today from someone else rather than to go out and plow the field like our great-grandparents did?

What does this have to do with marketing? A lot.

It’s tough to market now, there’s no doubt about it. A lot of people, and companies, have tightened their buying. But you are in charge. You may have to find a different field to plow, or a different tool to use. But you are still in charge.

Marketing isn’t always about advertising, or direct mail, or spending lots of money. Sometimes it’s about getting close to your customers in different ways.

One way might be to give more personal attention at a time when many companies are pulling back - Let your customers know they’re buying from real people. Be authentic, be helpful. Now’s the time to come out from behind the counter and really be personal with your customers - they’re not getting that everywhere, and they’ll come back to you if you give it to them.

2. Make careful choices, and choose differently than others

We make hundreds of choices every day, many of them unconscious. You brush your teeth without thinking about it, you choose what you’ll eat for breakfast. In your personal life, it’s easy to let life just pull you along - to just drift along on autopilot.

The same thing can happen with your marketing, and you just do the same things over and over. It’s time to make some new and different choices.

Don’t unconsciously follow the crowd, because your decisions determine your results.

You might want to check out Michael Port’s new book, The Contrarian Effect: Why it Pays Big to Take Typical Sales Advice and Do the Opposite. In it, Port discusses why the typical old sales tactics we’re all familiar with no longer work. He advises finding newer approaches to building client relationships and closing more sales by doing the exact opposite that conventional sales advice dictates.

Another way to make different choices is to look outside your market, and not just do what your competitors and others in your industry are doing, what’s always been done.

Sometimes a tactic that’s well known in one market is totally unknown in another, and can work very well.

3. Get out of your comfort zone

We’re always told to be cautious. “Don’t reach too high, you may fail.” How many times have you heard that, or “You can’t do that, something may go wrong”?

Anything I’ve ever done that was worth doing was out of my comfort zone.

Learning how to catch a mooring point in extremely high winds after blowing out the main sail in the British Virgin Islands was out of my comfort zone. The first time I got up in front of a large group to give a branding presentation was out of my comfort zone.

Starting my business in a city where I knew very few people was definitely out of my comfort zone.

I remember my dad telling me that I could be anything I wanted to be, and I believed him - and I didn’t want to let him down. So I kept reaching. Now, if I don’t feel a little bit scared by something, I figure I’m not growing.

We all need to get out of our marketing comfort zones, too. We need to keep our marketing growing, to keep taking some risks. I love the story about Richard Branson, when he first started his commercial airline company, Virgin Airlines. The way the story goes, Branson didn’t even have a plane when he made his first flight. He sold tickets to passengers, but he didn’t even have a plane. He rented a plane, and slapped a “Virgin” logo on it. I’ll bet Branson was out of his marketing comfort zone on that one.

4. Surround yourself with people who are where you want to be

We’ve all heard that we are the sum of the five people we hang around with the most. Well, you can become the sum of the five companies that you admire the most if you study the marketing they do. Check out and comment on their blogs, follow their executives on Twitter, study their websites and print literature, read their press.

Learn how organizations where you want to be market themselves, get under their skin, and their “marketing” will rub off on you.

Bringing this down to you personally, there’s no better way to surround yourself with people who are where you want to be than to join or form a mastermind group. One of the most famous mastermind groups of all time included Henry Ford, Thomas Edison Harvey Firestone, John Burroughs, and Luther Burbank. These men, all leaders in their fields, would get together often to share ideas and encourage each other. Each of them found the group to be pivotal in their growth.

5. Not everyone will like what you do

Your marketing has to be authentic to your organization - you can’t please everyone. If you try to, your marketing will be very bland. It’s important to remember that not every customer is right for you - you need to find those that align with you, that are a good fit for you.

This has to a lot to do with positioning - when you choose a position, when you decide to put a stake in the ground, it naturally excludes some things and some people.

With positioning, you’re saying “This is what I am,” or “This is what my organization is,” which in effect, also says “This is what I am not.” A lot of organizations have a problem with this, don’t want to exclude anyone or any segment in their marketing. But doing so can be one of the most powerful marketing stances you can take.

And when you do take a position, and you start to have success, there will be nay sayers, and detractors, who will criticize you. Expect it. It’s going to happen. Don’t let it sway you or make you second guess your direction. Not everyone is going to like what you do or support your success.

6. Learn to make decisions quickly

If you want a “safe” position, move slowly and keep going around and around on the same carousel, thinking and planning, thinking and planning. But if you want some “rockets” in your life, in your business, in your marketing, learn to trust your intuition, and don’t beat things to death.

One of my favorite books is an old one, Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. Andrew Carnegie, listed as the second richest man in history by Forbes as of mid 2008, had a theory that it was not luck or special talents that got him where he was, but that there were qualities he possessed that could be duplicated by anyone, with the same results. Carnegie arranged for Hill, a reporter, to interview 500 of the world’s most successful men over a period of 20 years, to uncover the similarities that led these men to success. Hill’s book is about those 15 similarities, including imagination, faith, desire, persistence, organized planning, and decision. Almost without exception, Hill’s successful subjects made decisions quickly, and changed them slowly, if at all. People who failed to be successful, Hill found, made decisions slowly, and changed them quickly and often.

Here’s another story I like about Richard Branson. Apparently he’s extremely dyslexic. You can imagine that dyslexia might be a problem when running $25 billion worth of companies. But because he has trouble with the detail in reading and studying contracts and the amount of paperwork involved in his businesses, Branson learned to study body language and facial expressions and uses his intuition to make decisions, and to make them quickly. Our intuition is a gift. We should all learn to use it more effectively.

7. Set up systems to support you

Are the systems you’re using still useful? Do the things you’ve been doing for awhile still serve you? Ask yourself, “Does this need to be done at all?” And if it does, ask, “Does it need to be done by me?” and “Is there a system that can do this?” When things slow down in business, people organize drawers, clean files, and get to things they haven’t had time to get to when busy. And that’s fine, but don’t get stuck there. You need more time to be creative, to be entrepreneurial, even within your organization, so don’t get hung up in the admin, in the tasks. Get out there and talk to people, make connections, start thinking differently, and use systems to support you.

Here’s an example: It wasn’t that long ago that we didn’t have email - that constant intrusion on our lives. Would we allow people to interrupt us that often in person, a constant barrage of questions and requests at our door? Or even on the phone? No! Sometimes you need to close the door on email and messaging, too, and not be interrupted. Tim Ferris, in his book The 4-Hour Work Week, recommends checking email twice a day. If that makes you swallow hard as it did me, you’re definitely addicted. Ferris has an auto responder set on his email program that tells people he’s checking his email at 11 am and 3 pm (or whenever) in order to be more productive, and if they have an urgent need in between, they should give him a call. I love the idea and am working towards it, but I have to confess, I’m not there yet.

That’s it. Those are our 7 Marketing Mindset Shifts. I’d love to know what you think, and would appreciate links to this post. And don’t forget to get the recording.

As I went back and looked at the past year for my marketing firm, I saw many things that we did well, and many things we’re going to change, tweak, or eliminate for the year ahead. I also found this article that originally ran in January of 2008, and thought it was a great reminder for all of us in our marketing, especially in tough economic times like these.

And so, in keeping with current themes of caution, frugality, and sustainability, I offer it to you once more - dusted off for the New Year.

MARKETING NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS: 3 Things to Resolve NOT to Do in 2009
Stand up, put your hand over your heart, and repeat after me (go ahead, it will sink into your brain better if you do, and what do you care if anyone is watching?):

1. “I will not jump on every new trend.”
Have you made some good marketing decisions in the past year? Do you have a plan to move your organization in a particular direction? Have you accomplished some good work on your brand? If so, stay the course. Give your plans some time to work. One of the biggest problems we see with failed marketing initiatives is a lack of focus and commitment.

After doing all the work to get a marketing initiative started, it’s easy to lose interest in it, especially when you see competitors doing something different or notice a new trend. You also might think your customers are tiring of your marketing and want to see something fresh (after all, that’s the way you feel after months of hard work, right?), when actually, just about the time you’re getting tired of your marketing approach is when customers are beginning to notice and relate to it. Remember, your customers aren’t seeing it and obsessing over it every day like you are. Be consistent, give them time to get familiar, to connect. Stop jumping on every new trend.

2. “I will not try to fit in with the crowd.”
Remember in high school how difficult it was to be different, and how much you wanted to fit in with the crowd? As you got older, you realized the value of being yourself. It’s the same way with organizations.

It’s still tempting to look to your competitors, to the industry, and try to fit in. To do what’s expected, to fit the industry norm (our website should be like this, we should do this type of marketing) - you’ll be respected that way, right? But that’s not what positioning and differentiation are all about, and it won’t help you break out above the pack.

You need to look outside of your industry for inspiration, and your organization needs to be authentic. You need a point of differentiation that is unique to your business that your competitors can’t also claim. If you are authentically “you,” that’s something no other organization can be. Be yourself. Stop trying to fit in with the crowd.

3. “I will not “˜keep a stiff upper lip’.”
You know, keep a straight face, do your duty and don’t show emotion. Even the proper British have relaxed their standards on this one, and their “footballers” sometimes cry in public when they lose. It’s still difficult for businesses, though, to show true character and personality.

Many organizations continue to hide any human traits behind thick walls, preferring instead to let their products and services do the heavy lifting. This, I believe, is a mistake. Customers are people, and studies prove that people still like to work with people, they like to relate to people, they like to buy from people.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned in my many years of marketing is this - if organizations will be more like people when communicating, whether it’s to customers, shareholders, partners, or employees, the audience will respond. Don’t be afraid to show your organization’s human side in your marketing. Don’t keep a stiff upper lip.

People will always want to communicate with people over an impersonal unknown, given a choice. So if you’re communicating for an organization in any way, it makes sense that you’d want to communicate in a way that your audience wants to hear your message. And if you do that, there’s a good chance you can make an emotional connection with them.

4 Ways an Emotional Connection with Customers Can Build Your Business
There are four ways having an emotional connection with your customers can help you build your business and continue to be a powerful base and support for your company for years to come:

1. If you have an emotional connection with your customers, your customers, employees and all of your audiences will consistently feel that they know your organization and what to expect from it, which will develop trust and loyalty. They will stay with you.

2. If you have an emotional connection with your customers, your company will be aligned with the correct customers - ones who will see your true value and resonate with what you have to offer. This will give you unique value to create true fans and overcome price concerns. When I say your company will be aligned with the correct customers, this is something that a lot of businesses have trouble with. They want to have everybody, the whole world, as their customers. In reality, every customer is not right for you. If your organization can get good at being authentic and being true to itself, you will get aligned with the correct customers; the ones who will see your true value, who will resonate with you. They will be the ones who will value your products and services and not haggle over price.

3. The third reason that having an emotional connection with your customers can help you build your business, and this is really helpful, is that you”ll be able to bring strategic focus and clarity to the power of your marketing, which will give it deep meaning and recognition, which means no more guess work with your marketing. It will become easier to develop clear and consistent communication. You”ll know who you are marketing to. You”ll know who your audience is. These communications will foster customer loyalty and advocacy. You and your customers will understand each other. You won”t be doing “˜flavor of the month” marketing anymore, “Well, let”s try this,” or “Let’s try that.” You”ll know exactly how to market to your customers.

4. The fourth way that having an emotional connection with your customers can help you build your business is that you”ll be able to differentiate your organization by giving it strength to stand apart from your competitors. Your positioning will be authentic. Again, nobody can be you. Once you really start to drill down into your authenticity and understand who and what your company is, there is nobody that can be you. You”re the only one that can be you. This will really help to differentiate you in the marketplace.

So go ahead and get rid of the idea that you have to communicate like a big company, even if you are a big company. It’s people you’re communicating to, not bricks and mortar. Look for ways to be personal, authentic, and to make a connection. Study the organizations you like that do it well, the ones with marketing and communications that draw you in - betcha dollars to donuts they’re making an emotional connection with you.

Am I right?

Amazing Grace

Liesl Diesel Weasel Bezo

Amazing Grace, the bichon, got her name because she owns my heart and she’s just so so amazing, and Liesl Diesel Weasel Bezo, the mini dachshund, got her name because that’s what my husband calls her and of course she needs a long name.

Okay, I guess I do have something to say about my dogs. If they got your attention, I should capitalize on it, and we all can learn from it.

There are certain things that get people’s attention, warranted or not. Pets and babies do it. Sometimes things people should be learning about, like marketing and employee engagement, don’t.

I did write a very interesting post about capturing attention awhile back (in fact I have an entire category on the subject), and for those of you who require attention-getting devices and visuals, there’s also a cartoon of a very charming kitty in that post. Sound marketing advice as well. You should read it.

1. Matching suits. As a woman in an executive position, your skirt must match your jacket - or your status might be mistaken as “less than.” I learned this the hard way.

2. Heels, not flats. Doesn’t matter if you never wear them, are uncomfortable in them, can’t walk in them. Heels, not flats.

3. Get a M.A.N. as a mentor and make sure he goes to bat for you. You cannot win without this. And yes, it’s about “winning.”

4. If someone drops the ball, do not pick it up for them. If you do pick it up, run it to the end zone yourself. Anything less than this will be considered “loser” behavior.

5. No one will pick up the ball for you.

6. In light of #5 and #4, do not, repeat, do not drop the ball.

7. Learn how to play the game.

8. Never forget that it’s a game.

9. Never let your guard down, because, no one else forgets it’s a game (#7).

10. Never never never never never never never never show your emotions.

Despite the distastefulness of the above list, I had allowed myself to be lulled into a stupor of corporate security,* until the company itself decided to move out of town - and not just out of town, but 900 miles away. A move wasn’t the right thing for my family at the time, so even though I was offered a moving package, I decided the time was right for me to stay put and start my own business. It was the best thing I ever did, and I’m so grateful for that kick in the pants from the Universe.

From what I hear, some of the rules haven’t changed all that much over the years. The matching suits are no longer required, but some nasty games are still being played.

In my own business
In my own business, I can pick up the ball when someone drops it, and give it back to them. There’s no game to learn, we just learn about our clients’ businesses. We can let our guards down - in fact, we never put them up. And yes, we get emotional from time to time. Ahhhh.

Did you leave your corporate job to work for yourself or start your own business? If so, there are 2 things you must do right away:

#1. Leave a reply to this post, telling us why. The world needs to know!

#2. Go to the brand new Corporate Fugitive Network and sign up! You’ll meet others like you for networking, resources, and support.

* there is no such thing as corporate security, as you well know

- you had an idea that you couldn’t stop thinking about, an idea that you wanted to bring into reality?

- you could do something really well, better than anyone else, and you wanted to do it all the time?

- you were tired of doing things the way someone else wanted them done, when you knew you could do it better yourself?

- you had a passion, a burning desire that was bursting to be expressed?

You’re an entrepreneur, a business owner. And chances are, you didn’t start your business with a burning desire to be a manager of people.

I know I didn’t. When I started my marketing communications firm back in January, 1984 (coming up on our big 25th anniversary next month!), I had big dreams. I was going to be the most sought-after graphic designer around, my award-winning work would be seen in the top magazines representing the most prestigious clients. I’d be flamboyant and philosophical and utterly, utterly creative.

I was thrilled when my business grew and I needed to add some people to help me, and I was sooooo shocked when I found out I had to be a manager.

Why didn’t these people know what to do? How was I supposed to know how to train them? Why did every problem end up on my desk? And if I spent all my time showing them what to do and answering their questions and checking their work, when was I going to have time to be flamboyant and philosophical and utterly, utterly creative?

It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that:

employees = management = stress = need to find a way to do it right.

I knew I needed employees if my business was going to grow, and if I was going to remain healthy and sane. A colleague in business for herself at the same time convinced me of that.

Susan’s Story
Susan (not her real name) and I had very similar companies, so we would compare notes from time to time, and check in to see how the other was doing. When I hired my first employee I was so excited I could hardly wait to tell her, because I had discovered the compounding math of productivity: I could bill for my time, and I could bill for my employee’s time, and make double the money in the same amount of hours! When I told Susan of this intoxicating discovery and suggested she try it, I was surprised to learn of her fear. “But Marcia,” she said, “If I hire someone, I’ll have to pay them, and what if I don’t have enough money to pay them?”

I went through the calculations with her again, showing the profit margin of paying the employee out of the client billing, and billing the person out at a higher rate than you pay them, but it was all lost on Susan. Although she was always extremely busy, her fear of generating enough income held her back. So, as I continued adding employees and adding to my income, Susan continued working until late into the night, trying to meet client deadlines on her own. Our conversations changed, and things became strained. I tried to hold my enthusiasm back while she complained about missing family weddings, and not being able to spend time with her husband when he was in town, as he traveled and was out with clients a lot. Susan was always working, working, working, and her personal life was suffering. As we lost our common connection, we lost touch, and a few short years later, I read her obituary in the paper. She died of cancer, leaving her husband and two small children behind.

Susan’s story haunted me. It made me realize that I truly did need my employees, I really did need help to run my business if I wanted to have a successful business and a successful life.

If you’ve hired employees, you’ve made the right decision, too. They can help your business grow, they can take some pressure off of you, they can support you.

But you may be at the point in your business where you understand the need for help, and you’ve taken that step, and your question is, “But what do I do now?“ You may be at the point I was at, when I hired people, but I found I was spending way too much time trying to manage them.

If that’s you, I invite you to download my free report, “From Problem Team to Money-Making Machine: how to turn your staff into a successful team that makes your business more profitable and frees you to do what you started your business for in the first place.” No strings attached.

There are some powerful strategies in this report, so don’t be fooled by their simplicity.

To your success!