CEO Downloaded

When it comes to running a business, a lot of stuff is thrown your way. Over the last three months, I've spent a great deal of time making sure our small business not only survived, but that it was positioned to remain strong despite the current state of the world. Listen to this episode to get a sense of what I've been up to the last few months. And, as things start to become more routine, I plan to get back on track with regular episodes going forward. Stay tuned for more!

Two weeks into the office having transitioned to work from home, communication couldn't be more important. In this episode, I share my thoughts on not only business continuity but how as a leader, you cannot underestimate or ignore the importance of communicating with your staff.

When you are at the top, staving off burnout is always a challenge. What happens though when you have to put your team in a situation where stress levels are up and stakes are higher? How do you, as a leader, make sure your employees avoid burnout? Listen to this episode to hear more about how I'm approaching my team to avoid a turn for the worse.

With the world on fire, I've had to make many changes to our small business. Sometimes, unexpected things happen as a result. In this case, one of our recent changes to help reduce people's exposure to the virus, brought with it a positive unexpected consequence. Find out more in this episode.

Unless you live under a rock, you know the world is going through a crazy time right now. The COVID-19 pandemic is hitting lots of people and companies hard. In this episode, I'll share with you the impact the virus has had on our business, how we prepared, and some important learning points along the way. I'm sure we're far from through this but the insight and experience so far is not to be ignored from a leadership standpoint!

Looking back over the last six months, I've accomplished a lot. In this episode, I recap the large projects, new products, and current status of all the effort put in.

We all need time off on occasion. Make sure you are finding time for yourself to recharge your batteries so you come back ready to go in the office!

Although the year just started, the bank came calling. In this episode, you'll hear more about the importance of a strong relationship with the bank and your business. As a leader, this will end up being one of the more important relationships you have so pay attention!

When is the last time you had somebody cry in your office? For me, it happens a handful of times each year. It just so happens that I had someone breakdown in my office again today. Find out more about my approach and the challenges that come along with addressing this type of scenario.

When you're at the top, big weeks are fairly common. I happen to have a big week this week and in this episode, I'll take you through what I did to prepare. As a preview, I did not wait until the week officially started to get stuff done. Listen now to learn more!

With the end of the year approaching, staff members have PTO to use. In one case, a member of my team mismanaged this remaining time off. Learn from his mistake in this episode of Coached.

With a key product line on the line, our team had a chance to shine. Unfortunately, a member of our management team didn't see things the way I would have expected. Listen now to find out where he fell short and what we did to succeed.

Just recently, I was challenged as to whether my way of running the business was the best way. I'm always up for a challenge and in this case, I decided to take a minute to process the question and my thoughts before responding. Listen now to hear how I ultimately addressed the question and what my perspective continues to be.

Being eager to take on new tasks is great. When you bring a new employee onboard, as the leader you need to make sure they don't take on too much too soon. Listen now to hear how I stumbled as a leader when I brought on my new high level sales guy. You'll also find out what I'm doing to fix the situation as well.

When you are in business, service makes a huge difference. Over the past month, I have had one shipment of product going to, and now from Europe. Despite planning and shipping with plenty of time to spare, things still went horribly wrong. Find out more of the details in this episode...fair warning though, this is a little more of a venting session from me!

We launched a new product this week. Did it surprise me that we ran into issues implementing? Nope, not at all. Listen now to hear my perspective on what went wrong and how I handled it.

My European travels continue on the company's dime. This time I had the opportunity to hang out in Amsterdam for 36 hours. Listen now to see what I was able to squeeze in on my short trip to the Netherlands!

I'm on the road again for work. In this episode, I share some details about what it is like to be in Dusseldorf Germany. From the hotel room to the food, Dusseldorf has some good, and one not so good, things to offer. Listen now!

Wouldn't you know it - my job has taken me to yet another country! This time I find myself in Dusseldorf, Germany. Listen now to find out why I needed to jump on another plane to Europe for my role.

As you probably know, I'm a busy guy! After reviewing all of the projects underway, new products being added to the line, and all the other day to day stuff that comes across my desk, I decided it was time for the appropriate delegation. Listen now to find out why I hired vs. delegating to existing staff.

Now that I have been to New Zealand twice over the past two months, I thought I'd share a few more of the details with you. Listen now to hear more about the flights, the airports, the motels, and more!

I was in New Zealand just two months ago. I find myself back in the lovely country of New Zealand yet again. Find out why I'm here this time. Check out the episode now!

Another week, another trip, and another ocean crossed. Today, I crossed the Atlantic ocean and found myself in London. As I prepare for the upcoming trade show, I am taking a minute to contemplate the time, effort, and commitment it takes to cross the Pacific ocean one week and then jump on another plane to cross the Atlantic the following week. Listen now to hear how I am preparing for the upcoming week and how I get myself ready to tackle the challenges ahead.

Time is tight every single day. When it comes to running meetings, such as the weekly manager's meeting, sometimes less is more. In this episode, I will walk you through my day and then take a closer look at what it means to manage by exception and why that is so important. Listen now to learn how to save yourself some time.

It pays to know where you stand before you jump into something. Today, I spent a very important hour discussing a potential opportunity to get a feel for where a very important person stood on a topic before actually jumping into an offer. Listen now to find out more about my day and about how some pre work and feelers can save you time and trouble in the long run.

If you think the work day ends at 5:00 PM, you are sorely mistaken. In this short coached episode, I share with you why it is important to go to that dinner or have the night cap before calling it a day.

Sometimes it takes a holiday to get a deal done. In this episode, you will hear about the months of work that finally all came together in a big way. From negotiating the deal to getting the corporate attorney to make update over a holiday weekend, it would be hard for anyway to say the time and commitment didn't pay off on this one!

My trip continues! This time I made the jump over from New Zealand to Australia. Hear more about the trade show and additional opportunities that came out of my trip down under!

New Zealand is a beautiful country! Rolling hills, crystal clear lakes, and snow capped mountains are just some of the things to see and experience in New Zealand. It just so happens that I had an opportunity to visit New Zealand recently. Find out more about how my role at the top took me over 9,000 miles from home.

As CEO, I am constantly facing a shortage of time. Want to know how I find time to get everything done? In this Coached session, you will hear more about what it takes to cover all the items needing covering at the top.

Coming off the Rep Visit episode, Rep Reports fits nicely. When you are at the top, it makes sense that you have employees helping you with many aspects of the business. One of these aspects is reporting and analytics. For me, keeping the generation of the monthly Rep Reports on my personal to do list helps me stay better connected to the business. In this episode you will hear more about what I do and why I do it to stay on top of our Sales arm.

When my staff doesn't follow through it has serious consequences to the business. Get Coached on the importance of follow through now!

Nothing slows progress down like miscommunication. Get Coached on how I think about clarity and expectations of my team.

Reps can be an important part of your business. They help drive sales, can become product experts, and can help refine your strategic thinking. I spent the day with the President of our largest rep group. Listen now to find out more!

Coached from CEO Downloaded are bonus episodes designed to give you short (2 minutes or so) pieces of insight, perspective, and advice on focused topics. Think of it like me stepping into your office to share what I think about a specific topic. Check out this episode to learn more about Coached from CEO Downloaded!

Vendors are a large part of a lot of businesses. Vendor vetting for new products or product lines is an important part of keeping your business protected and growing at the same time. I am approached on a weekly basis by individuals and companies that would like to supplement or even replace our current vendors. Today, I spent time exploring a new relationship based on over two years of slowly warming up to the owner of the company pitching the solution. Bigger picture for you...if you are going to lead, you are going to have to know how to properly vet a vendor.

It is not uncommon for an attorney to get involved. From day to day operations to reviewing agreements and contracts, an attorney can be very helpful for a business. Today, as a result of everything else on my plate, it was time to call the attorney in for a review. In this episode, you will hear more about the general overview of my day and a deeper dive on how and why I engaged the company's attorney. You won't want to miss this one especially if you haven't engaged in the legal side of things. Listen now for more!

It's common when you are at the top to face complicated situations with the potential to have long lasting and significant ramifications. Over the last two days, I worked through what I refer to as a power session. What was the session all about? Well, when an opportunity to invest in or buy another business crosses the desk, more times than not it is worth a closer look. In this episode, you will hear what went on in the 16 hour working session spanning just over a day and a half.

Many dynamics are at play when leaders sit down to have conversations. If you are not prepared, you are putting the success of your business in jeopardy. If you over prepared and dive too far into the weeds, you may be exposing your inexperience to the other party. In my conversation with the CEO of one of our top distributors today, we got things done. Listen now to hear how it went from greetings to getting the next steps nailed down.

I lost my grandpa this week. He was 92 years old…only days away from his 93rd birthday. This is an exceptionally hard loss for me. My grandpa was, is, and will always be, a key part of who I am today. From the good to the bad, he was always there for me. Get my take on balancing grief and running a business.

Performance evaluations are key to the success of any company. When it comes time to sit down with your staff and let them know how you are doing, it is critical you have an effective process and system. From defining the evaluation time frames to setting S.M.A.R.T. goals to holding people accountable for their results, the top down tone and focus goes a long way in the performance evaluation process success.

When you look at running a business in today's environment, IT is always going to end up near the top of the list. Being a leader in small business, it is your responsibility to, at a minimum, understand how many of the IT components work. For example, do you have an in house or remote server? How do your employees gain access to company shared drives on that server? Who sets up and manages your VPN? How do you get a computer set up for a new employee? Those questions are really only a few to get you started. Don't forget about your phone systems, websites, backups, and...well, the list just keeps going. In this podcast episode, I talk a bit more about what IT looks like for in a small business.

The CEO Downloaded podcast is designed with the next generation of leaders in mind. Find out what it takes to run an organization. From day to day activities to the multi-million dollar decisions, CEO Downloaded gives you insight on what it takes to be at the top. Listen now to see if you have what it takes to have the title of CEO in today's business environment.