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DON’T WALK AWAY

If you are an entrepreneur you understand it takes a lot of work. Not to mention time, sacrifice, dedication, determination, patience, perseverance, and so much more. What drives me as an entrepreneur is that belief in what I am doing. I believe in my mission; the “why” in the “what” I do. That keeps going.

Unfortunately, there are so many messages out there that make it look so easy. It’s simple, but it is not easy. And most importantly, it doesn’t happen overnight. These messages are being created and delivered by the wantrepreneurs. They want it so bad they are willing to do whatever it takes make you and anybody else believe them, follow them, and buy their secret formula. The secret is there is no secret. It takes everything I mentioned in the opener.

The sad part is that so many people fall for the ones playing with smoke and mirrors. I’ll give them credit, right or wrong, they are good at what they do. I get it. If thought I could get the real thing faster I would go for it. I have fallen for few tricks in my time. For me, it became part of the learning process and ultimately, reinforced the reality that it takes time and hard work.

Of course there are many out there that are real and legitimate but it seems for every one real one there are ten snake oil salesmen. It often seems that these true entrepreneurs came out of nowhere but if you ask any of them they will say that their overnight success took ten years to accomplish.

If you have that drive, desire, and passion in you, don’t give up. Don’t be discouraged when things are not happening fast enough. Anything worth having is worth working for. Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t fall for the scams. Just put your head down and do the work. If you can’t say that you did everything in your power to make it happen, then keep going, don’t walk away. Regret is a horrible thing to live with.

Don’t walk away before the miracle. You will never know what might have been if you stop short.

Talk Soon,

Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live.

Outta My Hands…

“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.” – Tony Robbins

You have to remember that some things are just out of our hands. We can’t control everything and we definitely can’t control the outcomes. It is important to keep this in mind and avoid becoming attached to outcomes. We have to be open and accept that what is supposed to happen will happen. If it’s not meant to be, it won’t. We can either accept it or fight it.

All you can do is put forth your best effort and wait and see, try not to get bent out of shape or too focused on what you want to happen. That is a recipe for disappointment. It is important to understand what you can and can’t control and that the outcome is not something you can control.

2020 is a clear example of this. The pandemic and the resulting policies were something I would have never foreseen or imagined just six months prior when we purchased the restaurant. Obviously, we would have never done so if we could have known that we would have to shut down our dining room. Are you kidding? How will we stay in business?

There are so many external factors that are beyond our control and out of our hands. A business cannot plan for them all. Of course, you want to build in some protective mechanisms and processes during your business planning, but planning for a global pandemic just wasn’t on the table during our planning.

Well then, do we just quit? Throw in the towel and call it? Absolutely not. There will always be things that threaten your business from competition to down economies that are beyond your control. Nobody said starting a business would be easy; it is definitely not for the weak. You can’t work in a plan of action for every “if this then that” scenario, but you can plan to be flexible. Flexibility should be woven into the fabric of your business plan and operations. If it isn’t, when anything of any magnitude knocks on your door, you’re through.

I could have easily whined and cried about the pandemic and called it quits. But, I’m not built that way. I have learned over the years that a business needs to be able to quickly adapt and change course. In a small business that means the owners, leaders, and managers have to be flexible and able to adapt. That could be as simple as changing some products or tweaking the entire model. Neither can be done if there is no room for built in to your business in the first place. If you are too rigid, you’ll break.

I am happy to say that we were able to adapt and have made it through 2020 and are still in business. We are not free and clear yet as the pandemic isn’t over but the situation made us stronger and we hope come out better on the other side. The experience has fueled many discussions and ignited the creativity to consider some new directions for the business.

Only time will tell. We will continue to operate as our local authorities allow us too while simultaneously building out the “adapted” side of our business so we will have choices moving forward. Who knows, maybe we will move away completely from in-store dining and focus on a different side of the food service business. Another great lesson I have learned from starting and running businesses in addition to being flexible is to know when to say when. There are times when you can do everything in your power to be flexible and adapt but all efforts prove futile. I have learned this the hard way more times than I care to admit and it cost a lot of time and money. But it takes what it takes and has made me stronger as a result.

The lesson? Make sure to build flexibility into your business plan, as well as an exit strategy. Make certain to hop a road with an off ramp because some things are just out your hands; make sure the steering wheel isn’t one of them. 

Talk Soon,

Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live.

AIM TO PLEASE…Everyone???

“Everyone is not your customer.” – Seth Godin

If you cast your net wide enough you are surely to catch something, right? Probably a lot something. Sounds good, but is that “something” what you really want?

There is a saying in sales and marketing that “if everyone is your customer, then no one is your customer.” Another variation is “when you speak to everyone, you speak to no one.” I have heard several other variations and I am not quite sure to whom it is originally attributed to. The gist is the same for each; be deliberate in your targeting.

Using the shotgun or wide net approach might deliver your message to more people and create the illusion that you market is larger than it is. However, is your message being heard? That is the key question. To be effective, your message must be heard and consumed by your intended audience. The message is useless if it fall on deaf ears. Think of mass mailers and junk mail. Little marketing postcards are sent to every household for product x. The majority of these postcards are most likely tossed in the trash because most people do not need or want product x.

Who didn’t throw out the postcard? Those are the ones that are important. How can a marketer distill their message to reach those people and others like them? How can one define that group of people that read the postcard? What is it about product x that resonated with those people? How are they similar? These are just a few questions to ask. There are hundreds.

If you aim to please everyone you will end up pleasing no one. Or at least not enough to call a viable market that can sustain a business. It is important to know and understand your market as best you can. Create avatars for you ideal customer so you know as much as you can about them. That way you can create messages that will actually be read by them about products and services they actually want and need and are willing to exchange their money for.

At the end of the day, it is better to have a small market that you can serve well with a high rate of conversion than a large market with low conversion. When you create that market and truly understand them you will chow how to please them. That will create a market of loyal customers that will continue to buy from you.

Once you lose sight of your market and how to serve them you lose your ability to please them. That will be the beginning of the end of your business.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

THE THREE KINGS: #1 Three Business Universals

Here I go, back to the front. A few weeks ago I posted a Three Kings piece out of order. Today I pulled out the first one because it reiterates the cash is king idea I recently posted about. I originally wrote this about three years ago when I couldn’t go anywhere on the internet without seeing something about “making it” without any cash. There were a lot of internet marketers advertising their “secrets” to success. Five steps to this and three steps to that which will turn on a limitless income stream overnight without spending any money. Well, except for the cost of their $2997 class ($997 if you reserve now) that will teach you exactly how to do it. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great, legit internet marketers out there that I really respect and follow, but it seems to me that for every one legit marketer there are ten snake oil marketers playing with smoke and mirrors.

But I digress…

I like the number three – so does the human mind. So, this micro series will focus on three things, topics, issues, principles, skills, etc that I have learned in my career.

This first one is on three business universals. Of course, there are more than three, but what did I just say? Right…Since cash truly is king, let’s stick to three cash universals.

1. Cash is King – cash is your oxygen – cash is more important than your mother – well that is what my father-in-law says. If you can’t bring in more cash than you put out – you won’t be in business for very long. So, treat cash like royalty.

2. Dollars and cents are the only things you can deposit. The bank doesn’t accept margins or percentages. They might sound great in a presentation and look good on a spreadsheet but they mean nothing on a bank statement. Know what the numbers mean and how they translate into real cash values.

3. It takes cash to make cash. I don’t know why so many people want to argue this. Let me just look at a sales lead funnel that has an ad driving traffic to it as an example. I hear some people say they spent $10 on an ad and average $100 in sales. Followed by, “it costs nothing”…

How does that cost nothing? I guess to me the key word is “spent”. It cost $10 to earn $100. Therefore, you need $10 cash to net $90 profit in this scenario (probably less when you net out the real expenses). It is profitable, it is not losing money, but it does take money – that is a big distinction.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

Cash Is King

Cash is more important than your mother! That seems pretty harsh right, unless you don’t like your mom. That is what my father in law used to say when business was tough and cash was tight.

In business it is true, for profit, non-profit, not-for-profit – doesn’t matter you can’t run a business without it. It’s the life blood, the oxygen of your operation. No business can survive without it.

Cash is king and cash is green so when times are tough you have to do whatever you can to generate it and conserve it. Remember, sales solve all problems. Collect cash, not debt – don’t over leverage.

Trust me; I have learned this the hard way. To be honest, more times than I would like to admit. What can I say; sometimes I’m a slow learner. When things start getting good it’s hard not to ride that wave longer than feasible. The reality is a few crashes are good for you. That is my opinion. You have to fail and lose to really learn. In business, some people call this cycling; you cycle through the entire process of making it to the top and crashing all the way to bottom, maybe even losing it all.

Just remember, you made it to the top before, you can do it again. Focus on how you can generate cash. Cutting costs and reducing expenses is great, but spend more time on generating revenue. Your business needs that oxygen to survive…

Cash is king, treat it as such.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

THE THREE KINGS #19: OPEN – PRESENT – PATIENT

The Three Kings are simply three things, assets, skills, characteristics, principles, and so forth that I find important on some level. The series or feature is meant to be a short read of easily digestible information that can provide some value and actionable concepts that you can apply to some aspect of your life or business.

The content is inspired and influenced by my own personal experience in life and my career as a business owner. They are three things that have helped or hindered me through my life and career. I have written many of these but I am posting this one first, out of order because of the unprecedented times we are in right now. These pieces are not necessarily meant to be sequential by any means anyway.

Without further ado, here is the first, non-sequential installment of The Three Kings.

Here are the three things that have been coming up for me during the Covid-19 crisis. They have been consistent and relevant from the onset and continue right into the New Year as I thoughtfully reflect on the previous year and the one that lies ahead.

OPEN-MINDED:

When this crisis first hit and Idaho was advised to stay at home I was immediately consumed by fear. Optimism, trust, faith, and other things needed to make it through tough times cannot co-exist with fear. When fear takes over the others are absent, or at least undetectable. I have experienced this over and over in my life and thought that I had learned my lesson, but apparently I have more to learn. I’ll give myself a break as this is an unprecedented situation for me.

Regardless, I have found that I have to be open to new ideas and different ways to run my life and businesses. If I choose to stay in fear and let it dictate my thoughts and actions I will be very unproductive and negative. There is no room for a solution without an open mind. For example, at the pie shop, we had to be open to a new way of doing business because the old way was no longer an option. We lost all of our dine-in lunch service which is a significant part of our revenue. We quickly began offering takeout and delivery of course, but we also began focusing on dinner by creating meal packages centering on our savory pies. That shift saved us and kept us in business during the shutdown and we were able to keep all our employees working.

PRESENT:

Problems only exist in the present and solutions only work in the present. Of course problems can last for a long time and solutions can and should be created and implemented to address the future, but that is always unknown. Solutions can only be created and implemented today so that is where I must focus the majority of my efforts. Future tripping only perpetuates a state of fear so I try to practice being in the present moment as much as possible.

PATIENT:

If you know me or have read any of my content I am sure you know I am a naturally impatient person. I love instant gratification. Fortunately, I have learned that instant gratification is often short-lived. Real progress and sustainable growth takes time as does working through any crisis. The strategy to navigate through the current crisis does not instantly cure all the negative effects, it takes time.

Our dinner strategy we created for the pie shop took time to create and execute and it took time to start yielding results. Once we were able to reopen our dining room we decided to continue with our daily dinner program to grow our business. It is currently helping to keep our doors open and for that I am grateful, but I do not know what the future holds. We have had multiple spikes in Covid cases resulting in new, stricter health orders instituted so who really knows what things will look like in a month or two. If we have another extreme spike we might have to close our dining room again.

Whatever the future looks like, I am sure that a crisis like this will have long term effects so we will have to practice all three of today’s thoughts in the present to prepare for the unknown that lies ahead.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

2 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT: 2020

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis

What is your dream or goal for 2021? Do you even have one? Do you plan to make any resolutions?

I wrote a whole series on resolutions a while back. Do I like them? Do I make them? Go back a read the series to find out what I really think (you can find it by scrolling to the bottom of this page).

As I continue through the years it really comes down to the same old story for me or maybe I should say stories. At least multi part stories or parallel stories taking place at the same time. What are these stories? The basic one is that I force myself into a corner in my brain to think about the last year and the new year to come. I ask myself all those boring questions…

What did I do or accomplish this year?
Did I complete any of my goals?
Did I stop doing the things I said I would?
Did I start the things that I thought would make for a better life and a better me?
Did I add more value like I swore I would?
Did I do more of this and less if that?…

Over and over, year after year as I inch closer to midnight on 12/31 I wonder what will be different in the coming year. I can just ramble and make resolutions that sound grand but does any of that matter when I reflect on how I plundered along through another year? Simply putting things off for another day as I tend the “must dos” on my to do list that never ends.

You might think after all this time on this planet and starting and running businesses for nearly two decades that I would learn that tomorrow never comes and the to do list never goes away. Every three items that are crossed off produce five more “important” tasks.

The reality is the world will not stop if I choose to let that to do list go for a day, even a week or more. I have procrastinated and ignored “critical” tasks many times over the years and everything around me remained intact. I am not that important or powerful. My tasks are minuscule in the grand scheme of everything.

The other reality is, I exaggerate a bit. There was a time that I really believed in resolutions and thought I had to make them every year. What I realized for myself was that it was too rushed and insincere. I just went through the motions but it was pretty meaningless.

So, do I believe in resolutions and will I be making any? I do, but over the years I have to believe that it is more than just spouting off some things I plan to change about myself, dropping bad behavior and starting some new and improved good behaviors. It is more than saying this year I plan to do more of this and less of that. I believe in the essence of resolutions. I believe my life is exponentially better when I try to do and be better on a daily basis in all areas of my life

No more excuses for me, that is the parallel story. I am in control of my own life. If I want a better life I must do what is necessary to make that happen. The spoken words of resolutions may sound great and add a pleasant exclamation point on a nice gathering 2 minutes to midnight on 12/31, but if I don’t follow through with action everything I said is meaningless. What that means to me is that if I want my life to be better, I have to write a better story and play the lead role. If I want my businesses to do better, my relationships to be better, my health and wealth to be better than I have to get off my butt and the things necessary to make the change happen.

As I write this on 12/30/2020, with Jimi Hendrix in the background singing about cross town traffic I ask if 2021 be the year that I pick my guitar “Izabella” and start playing again? I don’t know. What I do know is that if I want to play guitar again and re-light the greatest passion from my past I will have to pick her up, dust her and play her. Thinking or writing about it will not make it happen.

To close this thought out for 2020, I do not know what my specific resolutions will be but at this moment I do know there are plenty of things I want to do better personally and professionally. To make any a reality I know that I have to make a conscious effort to do so and take daily action because nothing happens overnight. And most of all I need to be present because no change happens in the past or future. If I only take one thing from 2020 it is how important the present moment is. Life is precious and we never know when some crazy virus will come and uproot everything and possibly take one’s life away.

To 2020 I say, good riddance, thank you for the lessons and here’s to something better to come…That I will actively help to create today.

Happy New Year!

Talk Soon,

Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

One Of These Days…I’m Going To…

Hopefully not cut you into little pieces as the Pink Floyd song suggests, but hopefully something. Anything at all that will get you started doing whatever it is that keeps you saying “one of these days…” about.

If you want to achieve anything in life, remove that phrase from the conversation; the conversation in your head, with your family, friends, and colleagues. Every conversation and instead say “today, I am going to…”

One of these days is like tomorrow; it never really comes and before you know it, it is 2020, you are married, inching closer to fifty and you’re full of regret because you’re doing the same old thing that you swore you were doing for the last time last year. Or, you are in the middle of a global pandemic, stuck at home in quarantine. If you are stuck at home isn’t that the best time to make one of these days today?  

What is holding you back? Why not make the change today? If 2020 has taught us nothing else, it has taught us that life itself is unpredictable. You just never know what is going to happen. Life is too short and precious to spend living in regret and ignoring the things you really want to do.

I have been stuck in that mode many times in my life but I am happy to report that the previous paragraph is not the story of my life. At least it is not the whole story. At some point in my life, I stopped waiting for the right time to show up and I stopped saying “one of these days I’ll…” and I took action. Instead of waiting, dreaming, and talking, I started doing. And, I am so glad I did.

Nothing changes if nothing changes. You will never know what might have been if you keep telling yourself “one of these days…”

Start doing today and find out what’s waiting on the other side.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

Do It Anyway.

“The cowards never started and the weak died along the way” – Phil Knight

Pacing, panicking, puking…
I can’t do it, I can’t do it, I can’t do it…
I can’t and I won’t, I can’t and I won’t…
I just can’t do it – would if I mess up?
Would if they hate me?
Would if I suck?
Would if I forget the songs?…

Lights out, curtains up, it’s show time…
My guitar intro starts…
Then stops…

If you think you can’t, do it anyway. Can you relate to that intro? I didn’t really puke but I sure felt like I was going to. I am recalling how I felt before the first real gig when I was in a band a long time ago. I was full of fear and anxiety consumed me as show time drew nearer. Then it was show time and I felt good until my guitar went silent. Actually, my amp. Apparently I had cracked a tube in my amp during warm up, transport, or sound check and it decided to go out three seconds into the show.

The anxiety and panic came back. All I wanted to do was run far away and hide. Fortunately, Sarah and Jeff took control of the crowd while I sorted out my technical issue. It was December so they started singing Christmas carols, while my friend got an amp from one of the other bands on the bill. All worked out and we went on to finish the show.

I share that story to illustrate that no matter what it is you want to do in your life, it will not always be easy getting there. You are going to be uncomfortable, you are going to feel sick, you are going to be scared, and you are going to feel like giving up. That is normal. You don’t find success at the end of a smooth road after a pleasant, leisurely Sunday drive. There are always bumps in the road, but you have to keep on that road if you want to get to the other side.

If you want to excel at what you do and accomplish your goals you have to be willing do the things you don’t want to do. These are the uncomfortable things that can make you anxious, afraid, and feel like you want to puke. That is normal, just do them anyway. Do them now. If you don’t do them now you will just have to do them tomorrow. There are always little things that pop up everyday that I don’t want to do. If I put them off today, tomorrow is harder because I have twice as many uncomfortable and undesirable things to do. Put it off a few weeks in a row and you can imagine what happens.

The good news is that the more you do the uncomfortable things the easier they become. So when you think you can’t or won’t, just do it anyway. That is how you push through and find the real you that will meet your goals.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

CAN YOU DELIVER?

It doesn’t matter what you do or what you sell, all businesses are in the delivery business – they have to deliver value.

Value is a funny thing, right? We all might have a different definition or PERCEPTION of what that means. A seller might think one thing and a buyer another. In any situation it’s the perceived value that matters most. If the buyer does not see the perceived value of what it being purchased to be higher than what it being paid, there is either no deal or a resentful buyer. Resentful buyers do not turn into repeat or loyal customers.

The best policy is to under promise and over deliver. Eliminate any question about the value of your offer. Who wants to be in the hard selling business? Not me. It all boils down to offer creation. How you create, position, and deliver your offer should leave your prospect with no questions, arguments, or resistance. Or should I say, customer? Create the irresistible offer and prospects quickly become customers.

How to do that? That is longer discussion for another time.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner – Operator

You have to leap if you want to live.