Topics of conversation:

• Current employees moving on to other endeavors. How do you keep the additional employees so your business does not suffer.
• Managing employees, how to fire someone that does not fit the job, and not feel bad about it. How much do you educate the employee before they have to start doing things on their own. Separating business decisions from personal emotional feelings.
• Promotions, raises, and keeping employees happy in the work place. Perks for reaching goals, bringing in business, and company profit plans.
• Trade show display booths, and presenting your business.
• Maintaining focus on expanding the business working with investors.
• Marketing promotions, movie screens. Email marketing and CRM systems. Networking groups vs. referral groups.
• Changing industries, but staying in sales. How do you handle the ups and downs of learning the new industry but surviving the revenue decrease.
• Time management issues.

Join us at our next meeting, this Thursday at Bamboo Club on Shea and the 101.

Here is the accountability list and partners.  The next meeting is Thursday Feb 28th where Jim Dye will be our speaker. (Reminder; the person listed under Partner is the person the MEMBER reaches out to support, help, remind, nag, etc.  So Jeff will reach out to Bill, Dr. Chris will call Kessley, David calls Brian, etc.

Member, Task, Partner
Jeff Orr, Complete Subscription in alignment with monthly focus, Bill Lane
Chris Bonin, ,Schedule a new Dinner with the Doc, Kästle
Shawn, 3 yr. plan – Finish School, work 2 years in new field and start own company year 3, return to Redwood.
David Hash, Complete Install, respond to current business offers (2), Brian
Bill Lane, Add 15 more people to 1st class, 1 to 1 with Jeff Orr, Start 24 day challenge, Louisa
Kästle Olson, Get Adventure Travel website up, send marketing emails out, complete FB page, Wayne
Brain Horiwitz, Software done by March 1, Jim
Louisa Ward, Get Taxes Ready for CPA, evaluate where business has originated, Beth
Wayne Neill, On Going efficiency goal, Birthday cards, Juli J
Jim Dye, Tax papers, personal and business, Jeff Orr
Beth Keune, Transition office to MAC based products (I blame Dwight for this), Dr. Chris
Juli J, Contact 15 clients

Members discussed successes and challenges such as:

• Time management and scheduling challenges.
• Some businesses have to work twice as much to make the same amount of money from previous issues.
• Growth and client retention.
• Out of state employees
• Over the last few months, the measures put into place are starting to work out.
• Follow up with potential clients have improved
• Partnerships are helping grow the business and leads
• Recommendations: book four disciplines of execution.
• Franchises up and running and being profitable.
• System building and project management (CRM systems)

Everyone enjoyed our guest Speaker: Troy Henson of EVOC Excellence.
Troy Henson of EVOC helps business leaders achieve their personal best at work and at play with an in-depth understanding of psychology, business, and communication.

Troy began coaching small business owners, professional, and entrepreneurs over 12 years ago. To date Troy has helped thousands of people from architects to professional athletes create breakthroughs in their thinking, their business results and their lives.

Troy spoke about:

• How business owners can strategize and be successful.
• Improving focus, efficiency and planning in your life and business, and his 4 step strategy.
• Being: who are you, and who do you need to be.
• Memetics: creating habits to better your business.
• Castle: build the plan to grow your business. 25 year, 10 year and 5 year plans.
• GSDF: Get stuff done fast, planning and execution.

All Business is Not Good Business

While your product or service may be beneficial to the vast majority, not every client is worth the effort. A business filled with clients who are consistently looking for a “better deal” – or are otherwise causing you to lose sleep at night – is a clear sign that it’s time to redefine your target market. Start by creating a list of characteristics of your best customers and then research how best to reach them with your company message.

During the meeting, we heard from several of the members weighing in on their client focus. We found that while most of us have a good idea of who we are targeting, there are definite challenges in finding cost effective ways of reaching those specific clients.  We discussed the best ways to zero in on these clients through various marketing efforts.

I woke up in a good mood and began my day only to be derailed quickly by an operational challenge that I was not mentally prepared to tackle.  It ruined my morning and I had a hard time getting focused on the tasks I needed to do.  It was one of those days that all of us have.   But, I knew in the back of my mind that things would turn out ok because in just a few hours, Redwood was on the calendar.

I did my best to turn the page prior to the meeting but was edgy, short tempered and wanted to stay away from customers and really just about anybody.  Needless to say, I got to the meeting and started feeling better after talking to one of my colleagues.  I let him know I was off but wasn’t sure I was ready to divulge all that had occurred that put me in the place I was emotionally.

I was a bit quieter than normal in the discussions and a few members noticed I wasn’t myself.  With a gentle nudge from the colleague aforementioned, I brought up my mental state of the day and was able to unload my frustration and general malaise.  What I was feeling and experiencing was empathized with from the group while they let me vent.  Now mind you, this was not some soft, teary-eyed dump I was doing; rather just a normal, albeit unpleasant, rant that others have felt in their day-to-day business conduct.

The support and constructive suggestions to remedy the feelings I was experiencing made all the difference in the world.  A burden was lifted.  I had an action plan to help right my mind.  I left feeling a bit exposed but soon realized that offering up my true mental state was the quickest way to getting back to focusing on my business and the resuming the forward momentum of the bigger picture.

As Chris mentioned in the last post, there is an earned trust amongst us.  The members walk the walk in their honest, direct feedback.  No one is there to grandstand.  They are there to be advisors in all aspects.  If you are willing to truly face your biggest challenges as a business owner, Redwood members will help you overcome them.  All it takes is the willingness to share and absorb.

Dave West

Koko FitClub of Scottsdale

http://www.youtube.com/user/KokoScottsdale?feature=mhee

One newer member is in the process of trying to get his new business officially launched. Dealing with several aspects of the setup were at times overwhelming for him. Another member is in the process of deciding in what direction to take his business. External forces outside of his control have changed his industry in the past 24 months. The forecast for the next 5-10 years is that it will only get more difficult to succeed. This business owner is forced to decide whether to shift his focus in the current business, sell the current business, and whether to start a new business or go back to working for someone else. Lastly, another member discussed some of the challenges that he is having with an employee that is not performing up to expectations. We gave him feedback on how to properly handle this issue without getting into HR issues.

The most refreshing aspect of the meeting is that the members are truly beginning to trust each other and open up about some of their most difficult and private issues. We feel that this open, honest environment is where we all can really make a difference in each others’ businesses. This truly gets at the vision and intent of starting these small business mentoring groups.

If you are a local, small business owner that is facing challenges in operating your business, then you need to attend one of our meetings. We create a safe, constructive environment for you to share ideas, challenges, successes, and failures.

Borg’s company provides wide format, high resolution graphics and printing services on almost every type of object, wall, vehicle, or sign you can imagine. He reported that his business revenue had increased by 79% over last years figures from a similar period of time. One of Borg’s challenges like most small business owners was how to best manage the large increase in demand for his products and services. Other concerns brought up in the case study were time management challenges, working too many hours with no time off, and increasing profitability.

The members responded back to Borg with several good ideas to help him overcome his challenges. One idea that was well received by Borg and the group in general was to implement a production schedule for each day’s projects. Borg had brought up that their production could get thrown into a state of chaos if they were to receive a request for a last minute job from a client or prospect. By agreeing to take on the last minute project, the other jobs would sometimes suffer which in turn could affect customer relationships. The advice was to setup a strict production schedule for each day and then follow that schedule unless time permitted to do rush jobs. The other factor that will help the situation is that Borg is adding a second printer which will help increase their production capability.

The case study above is an example of a how the Redwood Alliance and its members are providing small business owners in Phoenix with good advice on how to better run their business and overcome challenges that they face on a daily basis.

Please check out this wonderful article from Gordon Parkman at ARC.  I would imagine that all of us could benefit from the sound advice on how to avoid being overwhelmed in our business.   http://www.firedrummarketing.com/public_message_view.jsp?s=d1zxff0zsj

Don’t forget  to check out the next Redwood Alliance Meeting this Thursday.  Our meeting will be a great opportunity to pick up some more good advice on how to maximize your business.  Learn more at www.theredwoodalliance.com.

http://mashable.com/2012/03/15/self-employed-tax-deductions

and come visit us at the next meeting of the Redwood Alliance!