Going from business operator to business owner

Business owners continuously struggle or fail for one primary reason:

They are great operators

but they are lousy business owners.

Business operators get tired and Business owners get rich…. You cannot succeed at a high level in business without skills, tools and a team of people you can rely on.

No workshop runs by itself. The Quality of your team is the single most important component of a successful and efficient business. And yet it is the one place where business owners tend to make exceptions: They tolerate mediocrity and substandard outcomes.

The players on your team are highly important to your success… responsible for kicking the goals and winning the game. Lousy players = more brain damage for you and the less money in the bank.

👉 All "A" players have SIX common traits.

✅ They have a scoreboard that tells them if they are winning or losing and what needs to be done to change their performance.

They will not play if they can’t see the scoreboard. Do you have a scoreboard? All my high-performing clients track the numbers—and review them regularly from different angles to understand what’s really going on.

✅ They have a deep-seated internal, emotional need to succeed. They do not need to be externally motivated or begged to do their job. They're keen and they want to succeed because that is who they are . . . they're winners. Motivation is for apprentices, bystanders and casual participants (B players and C players). A players, professionals and quality tradespeople rarely need motivating. They have discipline.

Instead of trying to design a pep talk to motivate your people, why not create a challenge for them? A player’s love being tested and challenged. They love to win. I’ve even seen B players move from B to A when challenged.

✅ They love to be measured and held accountable for their results. Like the straight A student in high school, an A player can hardly wait for report card day. C players dread report card day because they are reminded of how average or deficient they are. To an A player, a report card with a B or a C is devastating and a call for renewed commitment and corrective actions.

✅ They have the technical head and skills to do the job. This is not their first rodeo. They have been here before, many times over and they are technically brilliant at what they do. And if they don't know... they go and find the answer. They study, they read and they are humble enough to ask for help.

✅ The four most important questions an employee can ask are:

• What else needs to be done?

• What else can I do?

• What do I need to do?

• What can I learn so I get better and add value to the business?

✅ “A” players see opportunities. “C” players see only problems.
Every situation in your business is asking a very simple question: “Do you want me to be a problem or an opportunity? Your choice.” You know the job has outgrown the person when all you hear are problems. The cost of a bad employee is more than their wage or salary.

My 5 rules for hiring and retaining “A” players are:

• Interview rigorously.

• Compensate generously.

• Onboard effectively.

• Ensure that there is high level of support during implementation

• Measure consistently.

• Coach continuously.

Here’s the bottom line:

🛑 You can’t babysit your way to high performance. Who you have on your team will dictate whether you have a high performance or high maintenance business and... how much brain damage you're left with.

Take Care,
Kelly

Systems – Strategies – Support