For Clients Only

Today's episode is an exercise. You'll need 5 minutes of quiet with a pencil and a piece of paper to do it. Get that now, then dig in to find a new awareness of how to have more days where you are showing up as your best self. 

Today I pick up a topic I talked about previously, The Rollercoaster. The extreme ups and downs that owners and CEOs experience. I'm amplifying my prior comments based on a post by Ben Horowitz (https://a16z.com/the-struggle/) and another by Arzhang Kamarei (https://www.kamareiadvisory.com/post/ldr-trauma) If you are experiencing the kinds of conditions described in this episode, give me a call. There is a better way!

The way we are being in our business development conversations can make all the difference in your results. Today we talk about how to lead the conversation with your actions, and demeanor, to get better results.

There's a distinction between being present, where we're grounded and working from a place of non-judgment and performing where we're outside of ourselves, and evaluating how we're being perceived. Today I try to define that distinction. 

This is the audio of a presentation I gave at David Baker's MYOB conference in October 2024. In it I talk about 3 big fears that inhibit growth in your agency. Enjoy.

For clients thinking of selling their business someday, I'm sharing some of the things I learned over 10 years buying and selling business.

Mindfulness practices (like meditation) are hard to get started with. Today I give you 5 mindful practices that don't involve sitting on a pillow!

If you've led your agency for any length of time, you've experienced some ups and downs. So, knowing that there will be some low points, even extreme low points, how do we make it more likely that we can face those challenges and persevere? We need resilience.  In this episode I've got 6 ways we can build our resilience as a leader. 

Are you losing motivation for your business? Is it just not as engaging as it was in the past. Here's one lens to use that could change that.

If you are looking to land some new clients quickly here are 4 ways you can approach folks who already know and like you. By adding value to them you position yourself as someone they might want to hire!

I'm no Nostradamus, but I've made some assumptions for my own planning for 2024 and I'm sharing those here. 

What would happen if everyone on your team was a solid leader? What problems would go away? What opportunities would be available?

This week I'm adding onto my definition of leadership from the last episode by talking about one aspect of Jim Collin's concept of "Level 5 Leaders."

Today I'm articulating my model of what leadership is, and where it fails.

I've been trying to be more aware of how I'm thinking about a problem to see if I can't find the best tool for the job at hand.  Today I talk about some experiments I've tried and thoughts about how you can improve your thinking. 

When you are doing something new, like growing your creative firm, you are going to enter into some periods of uncertainty. There might be places where nothing seems like it's working, and the situation is growing desperate.  Listening to an interview about how two Navy Seal Team operators deal with uncertainty inspired some insights for how we can create agency in times of uncertainty.  You can hear more from the interview that inspired this episode by listening to episode 403 of the "Finding Mastery" podcast. 

I don't know about you, but I'm not very productive when in that “overwhelmed” state. Sometimes, when I have 100 things to do, I stare at the list and get none done.  It turns out that when you ask your brain to do 100 things at once, it doesn't want to do any at all! Today, I talk about 3 roots of overwhelm and how to chop each one down so that you can forever stay free of overwhelm. 

If I told you that you could make a few simple changes that would massively improve the thinking environment and creativity of you and your team, is that something you'd want to learn more about? In today's podcast, I've got three ideas to do just that. 

When we have expectations of our team, we're frequently disappointed. When a project fails, we often attribute that failure to the team "not living up to expectations.  But I see it as a failure in leadership.  If we gain agreement from our team about the parameters of the assignment and create a plan for completing that assignment with them, we are much more likely to find success.  Today, we'll talk about how to do that. 

I've watched partnerships form, dissolve, and founders offer "equity" to employees and partners throughout my career. Most of those deals ended poorly! Today I will explain why that is and offer Phantom Stock as an alternative.  For more about phantom stock: https://www.nceo.org/articles/phantom-stock-appreciation-rights-sars

As I look at how I evaluate the difference I'm making in the world I realize that it's shifted significantly throughout my career.  I'm curious, do you see similar shifts? Have you found better ways to accomplish your ambitions? 

Some issues come up in your agency, and you have a discussion, make a decision, and never have to talk about it again.  But with other issues, the discussion keeps going around and around. Or you make a decision, but folks are always finding ways to make exceptions.  That's a sign that we've found a tension to manage instead of a problem to solve. 

In order to be at my best, I need to prioritize sleep and time off.  If I'm not rested, I'm not making my best decisions, my creativity is addled, and who wants "that guy" working in my business? How much time do you need to recover? What would it take to get that?

As leaders, we spend most of our lives making decisions. Those decisions have real consequences for ourselves and our company and team members, so using all the resources we have at our disposal to make the best decisions possible is essential.  Today we talk about how to use your mind, heart, body and spirit to help you to know.   

I've heard it said, "People never change!" That feels like a difficult way to live. So in today's episode I walk through an example of a time that I felt like I needed to change and how I responded to that to create a different way that I was being with people. 

I'm starting to question some things that I felt very confident that I knew the right answer to. By letting go of confidence, I'm seeing room for growth.

I've found that sometimes folks have misconceptions about selling, making it a drag to get on calls with prospects.  Today I try to unpack a couple of those misconceptions so that selling can be fun and easy. 

"Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom." ~Viktor Frankl In today's podcast I talk about what that space has meant for me, and encourage you to look into that space.

Here are 10 ways I consistently get in the way of my company's growth.  I hope that by sharing these, you might see some of the ways that you are getting in the way of your company's growth.  Awareness is the first step to mastery!

We all tend to put forward a particular side of ourselves to the world. That side of ourselves is usually a part of why we are successful! But at some point in our lives, we might see the costs that accumulate from only showing that one side of ourselves to the world.  Today's podcast might help you to see different choices. 

You may have heard the maxim, "Hire slow, fire fast." Here are some anecdotes that might help unpack that!

Most founders I meet walk with a limp -- not a physical limp -- but there is something they are dragging around, a mistake, an employee, a client, or some beliefs that they'd be better off without.  Today I'm offering a way to let that thing go. 

When you are at a low point, it might be useful to quit.  You can quit part of what's going poorly, or all of it, for real, or just in your head.  We'll look at the options in this episode. 

Have you found that there is a segment of the work you do that's a drag? Work that you get paid well for but don't enjoy anymore? In today's episode I tell you how I found myself in that situation and how it drove me to find a way to make more money, and enjoy what I did again.   

Early in my entrepreneurial journey, I thought that the way to "do more" was through efficiency. At some point, I realized that efficiency had limited upside, and instead learned to slow down, to speed up.  In this clip from a webinar I co-hosted with Jill Salzman (for her FoundingMoms.com community), she and I talk about one of the benefits of slowing down and giving up on efficiency -- connection.   

The most likely outcome of any sales call is that the prospect says "no." But, even knowing that, I'm terribly disappointed when that's the outcome! So I'm experimenting with losing the deal before the call. Listen in to learn more. 

Do you go through an elaborate, annual goal-setting process? Does it work for you? In today's episode, I try to outline a lighter, easier way to make a plan to see progress. 

There's been a lot of confusing economic news lately. High inflation, rising interest rates, and some big layoffs; what does that mean for our companies going forward? I've tried to explain my view of what's happening and how you might respond.  Reach out to me with questions! I'd love to talk about it. 

When I think about money, it makes me anxious.  Maybe that's why I spend so much time calculating, planning and budgeting! What would happen if I felt more comfortable around money? I tried an experiment, and here's what I found out. 

The story I tell about how I came to start and grow my business is filled with tales of sacrifice, late nights, and harrowing feats.  It's a hero's journey.  Unless it's not! In today's podcast I look at both sides of that story. 

Today I want to share some ideas I've been working with that aren't quite baked yet. Would you help me by giving me your feedback? I don't want to live in fear. Fear keeps me from a lot of good things.  So if I want to eliminate fear, what do I choose instead?  

The challenge of growing an agency can be pretty overwhelming.  There are so many moving pieces; they all feel like they need to grow or be optimized right now! In this episode, we apply some advice I got from my Algebra teacher about solving difficult problems to narrowing your focus so you can make more progress. 

The hardest part of the sales process happens before you even pick up the phone, get on a zoom or send a single email. And the battle is fought inside your own head. In today's episode, I share one way to defeat the resistance, and I offer a jujitsu move that can remove the resistance altogether.  If you are struggling with executing your new business plan, listen in!

Your strong desires can be a powerful signal to identify the next move you want to make.  In this episode, I walk through an exercise you can use to identify your strongest desire. 

There's more than one way to measure progress.  Sometimes it makes sense to measure what you're doing. Accomplishments on this line respond to increased focus, effort, and grit.  But when you are feeling stuck, when more effort isn't getting you the results you are looking for, it's time to look at who you are being and how that's holding you back.  Listen in for more. 

You have an operating system in your head that runs your life.  It's not visible to you, but it impacts your life every day.  In today's episode we talk about how to "see" our operating system and what to do about the "bugs" we find in that system. 

When we assume the mantle of leadership, we take one the big decisions. But we rarely know everything we need to know to make those decisions with 100% confidence -- that's where imposter syndrome sneaks in.  In this episode, I talk about my journey with imposter syndrome and how I've adjusted my leadership to minimize it. 

What if you focused all your efforts on selling just one thing? If you took the thing that your business does best, that your clients value the most, and just sold that? I've got 2 stories today about business owners who did it, and what they learned. 

Do you ever get the feeling that you haven't done enough? That maybe you aren't enough? In today's episode I'm trying to find that elusive "enough" -- I'd love to hear how you find it!

Have you ever felt stuck, working hard to change a situation in your life or business and yet feeling like you are trying the same things that HAVEN'T worked before? Today we talk about getting unstuck.