A Time for Resolutions

Every New Year brings talk of resolutions. We've all heard people commit to losing weight, exercising more, working smarter, spending more time with loved ones and so on. It is not surprising that so many people make resolutions. It's human nature to want more out of life. What surprises me is that we call them resolutions instead of goals. The word "goal" has a completely different feel to it. A goal is something that will take focus and effort to attain. A goal is something that takes planning, scheduling, action and measurement of results versus objectives. A goal is something where the risk of falling short or fear of failure may be the one reason that people don't want to venture into this uncomfortable territory.

The old adage that smart people learn from their mistakes and that successful people learn from other's is pertinent to this discussion. Countless studies show that individuals who lay out their goals in writing accompanied by an action plan are the ones who get what they want out of life. So why is it that such a small percentage of us lay out our goals each year. In life, rewards go to the bold. If you haven't already begun a regimen of writing down your goals annually, today can be your new beginning.

Consider these tips for laying out your goals:

• Commit about 2 hours for this.


• Lay out long-term (the rest of your life) and short-term (this year) goals.


• Categorize your goals by the areas that are of the greatest importance to you. For example, I use the following categories: Health, Spiritual, Relationships, Career, Financial, Adventure and Educational. The key is that you find the categories that match your life.


• Under each categories, list your goals. This is actually fun. We remember making our Christmas lists when we were kids. This is your Christmas list for life and you are in charge! Next to each goal, list the action steps you need to achieve the goal. Remember that you can enlist the help of others here. Then, next to each action step, list a deadline. As they say in the newspaper business, without deadlines, nothing gets done.

After you've writing your goals, set them aside and go back to them a day or two later. This is a dynamic document and you should be tweaking it as you go. Once your goals, actions steps and planned completion dates are laid out, pull out your calendar and ensure that the actions you need are placed into your schedule as your top priorities. Ensure that things of lesser importance always follow these which are of greater importance.

Review your goals at least monthly. For me, the beginning of each month is the trigger for review. It's amazing how looking at them frequently keeps you grounded and focused. You will find yourself working on your priorities rather than someone else's. Your results will improve and you'll find yourself getting what you want out of life!

Happy New Year!

Jim Pascale

Jim Pascale is a 20+ year veteran of consulting with small business owners and has comprehensive knowledge of franchising and small business operations.

Contact Jim at jimpascaleminnesota@yahoo.com.

Don't Be SNIOPS!

16 years of my career were spent working for a dynamic entrepreneur named Tom Gegax. Tom and his co-foundering partner Don Gullett founded Tires Plus. Tires Plus was a Minneapolis based tire and service retailer (now owned by Bridgestone-Firestone www.bridgestonetire.com/ ) that dominated markets it entered. One of Tom's favorite expressions was "Don't be SNIOPS!" SNIOPS stands for Subject to the Negative Influence of Other People".

How has the chatter around your office or work place been lately? Are you hearing a lot of doom and gloom? Does it seem like business is bad and getting worse? Are many of you afraid for the loss of your jobs? Are you wondering how you are going to handle to bills if your income stream comes to a screeching halt? If these are the kinds of thoughts that are racing around your head, how exactly are you going to focus and remain fully engaged with your business building initiatives? If you are an entrepreneur or manager, your leadership has NEVER been more important than it is right now.

The point of this article is not to ask you to be an ostrich or a Pollyanna. The current economic situation is very real, but focusing on the challenges rather than the objectives will derail any team. As a leader, consider these techniques for pushing through these tough times.

• Ask for and share success stories. Good news can be as contagious as bad news. Find it. Spread it!
• Keep meetings with staff focused on objectives and steps to attain them. A receiver who looks down field before catching the ball often drops it. Keep every one's eye on the ball.
• Celebrate all successes publicly within your work groups. Seeing others chalk up "wins" will drive the rest of the team and show them that it is possible.
• Keep long-range planning and objectives visible. Short term market challenges look like blips when looked at as a small part of a long-range plan.
• Keep your team tuned in to WIIFM. No, this is not a radio station, but "What's In It for Me". Remind them of the rewards that await them for good performance.
• Emphasize the intangibles. With people, motivation often comes from the little things like a face to face compliment about a specific task or project done well. Send hand written notes acknowledging notable efforts and accomplishments. Studies show that environmental issues outweigh compensation when people list what is important.

There is an old adage that reads "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." As a leader, step up and keep the focus on moving forward. Be realistic, yet positive. You will get results that may surprise you.

Jim Pascale is a 20+ year veteran of consulting with small business owners and has comprehensive knowledge of franchising.

Contact Jim at jimpascaleminnesota@yahoo.com.

Common Denominator of Success for Entrepreneurs

Recently, at an annual conference of a franchise company, the franchisor's leadership team held a series of 4 meetings with its franchise operators to discuss pertinent issues for each group. The interesting part is that the top quartile (in terms of sales volume) met first, then the second quartile, and so on. For these particular meetings, management thought that high volume business operators would interact best with each other and the low volume franchisees would be facing challenges similar to other low volume operators.

The first group, the high volume franchisees, talked about numbers, numbers and more numbers during the entire meeting. They shared benchmarks about their marketing expenditures and plans, margins on sales, product mix by percent, payroll costs and so on. All the pens were flying in the room. By the time the fourth group came through, the meeting was completely different. When questioned about percent of revenue budgeted for marketing or about sales product mix, this group had no idea where they stood. It was a blinding flash of the obvious that the low volume operators did not understand the key metrics behind their businesses.

In high school and college I ran track and cross country. I was blessed with runners body and was very competitive. It is hard to imagine finishing 4 laps around the track and not knowing how fast I ran the mile. It's hard to imagine not knowing the split times for each lap. Without targeting 64 second laps, you would never finish the mile in 4:16.

Ask yourself the question, "Am I in touch with the key metrics that drive my business?" Strong leaders take it to the next level and ensure that all their team members are in touch with the metrics they control. Laying out a plan and consistently measuring actual versus desired results separates the winners from the "also rans".


Jim Pascale
The Entreprenuer's Advantage
Learn more about franchising at http://www.franchise.org/
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jimpascaleminnesota@yahoo.com