Tag: small bussiness

The End Part 9: Race Against Time

“Lost time is never found again.” – Benjamin Franklin.

I thought that things usually slow down as they come to an end. Why do I feel like everything is speeding back up? Is this a final push? Are we all just racing against time to get everything in before we get to the finish line?

Whatever the case might be, things have really picked up. So much for a soft, easy landing. I can’t complain, though. I want to sell through as much inventory as possible while finding a buyer for the business. To be honest, I have been a bit busy the past two weeks to do much searching. I need to carve out some time and really search for the right buyer.

As I search I hope this burst of business is a sign that people are starting to travel again. When families travel sales go up for us. Rising sales always look good to potential buyers so keep traveling with your kids people.

Back to the title, everything is a race against time. Life in general is all about time. Every single thing we do can be broken down into little increments of time. Business is no different. If there is one thing I have learned running multiple businesses it is that time is the most precious and valuable resource. Cash reserves are great. Smart, productive employees are great. Efficient equipment and technology are great. But nothing is as great as well spent time. All your resources, assets, plans, processes, etc, operate in time and you can use it wisely or poorly but once it’s used it’s gone for good.

Time is everything and is non-renewable. When it’s gone, it’s gone. You can always hire more people, buy more equipment, adopt better technology but you can never buy more time, regardless of the silly saying. What buying more time really means is extending your runway further into the future. For example, this burst of sales extends the cash burn rate so I don’t have to pump any more money into the business right away while I wait. Even though we are closing shop, no one wants to buy a dead horse so I have to keep it breathing and cash is the life blood of any business.

Time is the great equalizer. It doesn’t matter how much money we have in the bank, everyone has the same twenty four hours in a day. The best we can do with our time is to use it wisely and do our best to be productive and efficient. The next couple weeks I plan to do a quick assessment of where the business is and dedicate some time to move towards closing this door because I am so ready for the next to open fully.

Talk Soon,

Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

The End Part 8: What Am I Waiting For?

“And I need something more
To keep on breathing for
So give me something to believe”
 – Samuel Bingham Endicott, The Bravery

What am I waiting for? That is the question. The other is “what do I believe?” Our three neighbors up north say I am waiting for an open door. That I am, but what am I doing to help close this door and open another?

If you have been following this series you know that the selling process has been a bit slow going. That is most likely due to the fact that I have not been doing much. After some deep thinking and soul searching, the reality is that I am holding on a bit. I am keeping one foot in the door to prevent it from closing completely.

Why? Why would I do that? Well, this business has been part of my life for nearly twenty years. It’s hard to let go. As much as I want to let go and move on, it is hard. All the good times and bad times have been an integral part in my development personally and professionally. I learned more running this business than all my years earning a degree in college. It has brought happiness, joy, fulfillment, and pride. It has fostered confidence, skill development, and wealth creation. It has also ignited fear, a sense of failure, and deep financial losses. This business has guided my family through the entire range of success and failure. This business has truly become a part of me.

The time has come, however to move on. One of the greatest lessons I have learned is that nothing happens if I do not take action. I have to be responsible. I can’t just sit and wait for things to happen or wait for others to them for me. As an owner/operator the first thing one should understand is that no one will have the drive or passion that you do. You and only you can be the driver.

That is what I believe. I also believe that when one door closes another will open. It is time for me to get off my butt and start working to close this door. What am I waiting for? Simply to get in the right mindset to do what needs to be done. I believe that thinking this through before I wrote this little ditty has prepared me to trudge forward and drive this to the exchange station to find a new driver.

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

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

BRAIN EATERS Part 7: What’s The Score?

“At the center of your being
you have the answer;
you know who you are
and you know what you want.”

― Lao Tzu

Do you know who you are? Do I even know who I am? This entire series has danced around that topic. At least part it. That topic is really just an invitation to discover the greater part of the iceberg below the surface. In this series I focused on the things that occupy most of the space in my brain.

What occupies my brain is really a surface level topic, not the center of my being. However, the journey to the center must start somewhere. I feel the brain is as good a place as any. Looking deeply at what occupies my brain and really seeking to understand and answer the questions the brain eaters conjure will lead me to the center. The real questions and answers are there.

Have I found the right questions to ask? Have I found the answers? Have I listened to the answers? Do I know who I am? Do I know what I want? How does my scorecard look today?

I believe self discovery and growth is a life long journey. I have felt many times throughout my life that I had discovered who I am and what I want, later to discover I was wrong or that there was more to it than I thought at the time. Looking back I have realized that early on I might have been wrong some of the time but as I have moved forward and honestly sought the truth, it was more a matter of peeling layers. We are a complex species and it seems that more will always be revealed as we progress through life.

At this point in my life I do believe I know who I am. Will I learn more? Absolutely, I am a firm believer that once we stop learning our purpose in this life is done. Even after we become the teacher there is more to learn.

So where do I stand today? What is the score? How am I doing? This really could be a long and deep conversation which is better left for another time. Instead I will focus on how I am doing within the context of what I have discussed throughout this series.

The questions then become:
Am I keeping the brain eaters contained?
Am I staying focused, present, and calm amidst the chaos in my brain?
Am I doing the things that are good for me that help manage the brain eaters?
Am I…? See, there the brain eaters go getting carries away.

The most important lesson I have learned about self awareness, self discovery, and self evaluation is that there are no wrong answers if answered honestly. Nothing counts but honesty as you are only lying to yourself.

I am doing better about managing the chaos in my brain. I am not taking it out on others and I am not trying to do everything. I am focusing on just a few things and trying to do better at each.

I would love to say that I am doing great with the four things that help me most; writing, talking, exercising, and meditating. I do them all but the truth is, the quantity of each has dropped off a bit since taking over the pie shop a year ago. I need to find a way to put more time and effort in to each because they really do make a huge difference in the quality of my life.

The two that I have been able to do the most are writing and talking. Journal writing, not creative writing is what I have been able to do every day. Just writing things out helps to get them out my head. It takes some of the food away from the bran eaters and takes some of the power away from the thoughts. I do hope to create more time for the creative writing as it produces a very similar result. Talking things out with another person has really increased over the last six to nine months and has been very helpful. Sharing with another person helps get different, unbiased perspective on everything. It is very hard to calm the chaos with the same mind that created it.

In conclusion, I have been able to mitigate the damage caused by my bran eaters but I definitely need to put a few more points on the board for Kevin. My goal is to carve a bit more time for all of these things but focus more on quality instead of quantity since my time is limited.

How’s your scorecard looking? 

Talk Soon,
Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner – Operator

You have to leap if you want to live.

BRAIN EATERS Part 6: Coronas On The Beach

“‘Cause I feel our time has come
And we can walk down to the ocean,
And sit with the rising sun”

– Dustin Bushnell / Jared Watson / Roman Rene Ramirez -The Dirty Heads

Coronas on the beach anyone? Not for me, despite all this Covid business. However, a walk down to the ocean would be nice.

I know I said the last part was the conclusion but I have to add this another part because I started writing this series before the ‘rona hit and there are brain eaters as a result. I thought I would share on some of my covid brain eaters.

Of course, during a time like this there fear. The uncertainty of what will happen today. Will we make enough today to stay open another day? Will we even survive this pandemic? Will we still be around when this passes and things return to normal? Will there ever be a normal again? What will I do if this doesn’t work out?

Fear; it consumes and eats me away from the inside out. Fear pushes me to the edge and for some, over. As you can see if you look closely at all the fear based questions, they all have to do with the future. How can I combat that fear? The first thing is get back in the moment. Fear is never present-based, unless one is in eminent danger, of course. Most of the time, the fear is about something in the future that I think might happen. To mitigate that and weaken the fear I need to realize that I am good right now. Any of the three things I discussed in the previous part, writing, meditation, or exercise, help me to do this. Once I bring myself back to the present and understand that in this moment I am good, the fear begins to subside. It is important to realize that fear can only feed on what offer it.

Another big one during this pandemic is resentment. When fear has a thorn in me I am already off balance and sensitive to my environment. People have been acting much different during all this. Some have been a great example of what a good neighbor really is and has restored some of my faith in humanity. Others, however, have demonstrated the darker side of the human race. So I judge and get resentful.

Fear and resentment is a dangerous cocktail so I have to do something to rid myself of them otherwise I usually end doing something that I regret. Again, the three things above help a lot. I also talk to others and share what I am thinking and feeling and that takes much of the power out of whatever I am tripping on. Just like fear, resentment can only survive if I feed it.

Enough of the bad brain eaters, how about some good ones? Ideas! The entrepreneurial tendencies never subside, even during a pandemic. The ideas have been flowing because those squirrels have been working overtime. Part of it is definitely the survival instinct kicking in because the reality is this is life or death for my two main businesses right now.

I need to be focusing on ideas that will help them survive. Change is always part of business. The ability to adapt and change course is imperative to survival. I have made it this far in business because of I have been able to make tweaks to adapt to the changes that happen beyond my control. There are so many external factors like regulations, administrations, competitors, disruptive technology, just to name a few.

I would definitely put pandemic on that list as well. The ones I listed about are very common, a pandemic is not. A business often has things in place to respond to the common changes but not pandemics. Fortunately, they do not happen that often. This current coronavirus pandemic, however, is definitely proving to be a major force to reckon with for businesses. Especially when one business is a restaurant and the other is travel dependant.

Currently, the ideas are winning the brain eating battle in my head. The fear and resentments has subsided and only make rare cameo appearances. When they do I quickly take their food away. This pandemic has really opened my eyes to the reality that it can really change the way we do things moving forward after the threat of the virus passes. As a result, I am focusing on both present and future ideas. I need to first focus on ideas that are going to keep the businesses alive through the day, and then I need to look at ideas that focus on our long term survival.

That’s what is currently eating my brain.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner – Operator

You have to leap if you want to live.

BRAIN EATERS Part 2: The Mind Killers

” We’ve got nothing to fear but fear itself.” – Neil Peart / Gary Lee / Alex Zivojinovich, RUSH

There are all different kinds of brain eaters; some are negative and some are positive. Life is full of the good, the bad, and the ugly and so is my head. I prefer to get the bad and the ugly out of the way first. I call these the mind killers; fear, judgment, and resentment. As you read those three words I am sure you can think of more that you can add to the list. Of course, I can too, but I am distilling them all down to the core or root of each one. We can often put different labels on our thoughts and actions but if we really peel the layers and get to the core, many of them belong in the same bucket.

Are any of these words worse than the other? I think that really depends on who you ask, and probably when you ask them. Some people might have stronger opinions on one than the other. Others might be impacted themselves by one more than the other, and yet another person’s mind might be more consumed by one than another. In my experience they all seem to feed the other but throughout my life, fear and resentment have been in a constant title match for the belt. I think fear might have squeezed by and pulled out the victory.

That said, I will start at the bottom of my mind with judgment. Judgment used to occupy a large part of my mind.  Every time I entered a new environment or someone entered mine I started judging. I would start picking them apart, sizing them up, and assassinating their character. I would do this for both people I knew and didn’t know.  As I have grown older and, hopefully wiser, I no longer practice judgment like I used to. I have learned to accept people for who they are; including myself whom is often the hardest person to be non-judgmental about. When I assess my own judgments of others, they are usually based on my pride or ego. I am feeling insecure, less than, or judged myself so I judge others to bring myself up. I think it is human nature and our natural instinct for survival and security to assess and evaluate our environments. I believe judgment is simply taking that natural instinct to an extreme.

Resentment rears its ugliness in so many ways, disguised with so many masks. Sometimes subtle and sometimes intense, but always negative. Outward anger or rage is obviously negative, but the quiet, subtle bitterness, indignation, animosity, hatred and the like are often hard to detect and see their full scope of damage. It is often that quiet festering that leads to the loud or violent outbursts. That has been my experience with resentment. In the past I have allowed it to fester, almost receiving a twisted satisfaction from the silent scorn. In the end if not dealt with and erased those outbursts would come and were never fun. But my mind is the great manipulator. As resentment eats my brain I allow it to grow and fester and I find a way to justify it all.

The root of it all in my own mind is fear. Fear is the one with many names and faces. Whether we call it worry, doubt, fright, terror, panic, dread, to name a few, it grips us and takes control. Brain eaters feed on fear and fear feeds resentment and judgment. Once fear takes control the vicious cycle begins.  When I am resentful or judgmental, I usually discover that it is really fear masquerading about. Something externally has tapped an internal fear and has been projected outward as anger or judgment. This is after the fact, of course, as I analyze and process everything.  Have you ever walked into a strange room, afraid of what the people might think? Afraid they will judge you, so you instantly go on the defense and start judging them? That judgment is justified because your fear has convinced you they are judging you, and thus you become resentful; a big, ugly cycle.

The voices of fear, resentment, and judgment feed my mind like the devil on my shoulder; these are the three negative brain eaters that occupy my mind.  Not as much as they used to because I have found ways to deal with them as they crop up (stick around for the entire series to learn how I do so). I no longer allow fear to consume me to the point that it takes my mind and body hostage. I no longer allow resentment to fester and dictate my behavior. I no longer allow judgment to be my first line of defense. Do I still fear, resent, and judge? Absolutely, I am human.

Today I try not to allow them to eat my brain and control my thoughts and actions. Nor do I deny or justify them, I simply acknowledge them and do what is necessary to clear my mind and work through them.

And, when the brain eaters start to gain control, I stop feeding them and I write it out or I grab a coffee with a friend, mentor, or coach and share the secret and sort it out because the brain eaters’ biggest weapon is isolation.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner – Operator

You have to leap if you want to live.

COME TO REALIZE Part 3: Hope For The Best, Plan For The Worst

“I love it when a plan comes together.” – John “Hannibal” Smith, The A-Team

I share that sentiment. It feels great when a plan works and I can place another check mark in the success column. I love to plan for the best, who doesn’t? Isn’t that what we are all shooting for? I expect to hit my mark, every time. That is the expectation when I give it my all. Otherwise, aren’t I just copping out and selling myself short? Why wouldn’t I expect the best outcome when I put forth my best effort?

Because a business doesn’t operate in a vacuum and I am not perfect. Things do not always turn out as planned for a variety of reasons despite my best effort. There are so many variables at play that can impact the results no matter how good I am or how well I plan. I can compose the perfect plan and orchestrate the strategy of the century. I know it’s good so I host visions of grandeur in my overactive, Pisces brain. I plan for the future and what will come next because I know the best is coming. Until it doesn’t and I find myself racking that same hopeful brain trying to eek my way out of another worst case scenario I left out of the plan.

The reality is simple; we do not plan for the best, we hope for it. We aim for it but we do not plan for it. We plan for the worst, that is why there are contracts, contingency plans, and exit strategies. Besides setting the basic terms of an agreement, the meat of any contract is basically what happens in the event of disagreements or worst the case scenarios. It seldom matters what type of contract it is, 80% or more of the heady legalese that should be considered a second language, deals only with what will happen in the event of…fill in the blank with anything negative.

Hope is a wonderful thing but it becomes dangerous when it is commingled with expectation. We should always hope for the best. If we didn’t we would become pessimists and that is no way to live. The danger lies in the attachment to any desired outcome.  Once we place an attachment on to the outcome we hope for, we are set the dial to failure, or at the very least, disappointment. The attachment narrows our vision in a negative manner that restricts and eliminates the possibly in our mind for any deviation of what we expect as the final result.  We must free our mind from that bondage of attachment and be open to alternate outcomes.

The lessons that I have come to realize in this context from my personal experience in business and life in general are two-fold; one, as I eluded to before, it is rare that things turn out exactly as planned, and two, when they do, revel in it. Take the victory, enjoy it, and then move on without expectation of what will come next.

A bonus lesson; be flexible and enjoy the success whenever a plan comes together. The means and the end might be different than how you envisioned or planned it but if the end result is what you wanted then there’s nothing to complain about. Don’t let the things that don’t matter prevent you from appreciating what does matter. If the plan comes together in one way or another it is a victory.

The road is very narrow in a “my way or the highway” mindset, so do some road work and widen the road.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

Short Sale

“Most people overestimate what they can do in a year and they underestimate what they can do in two or three decades.” – Tony Robbins

Ready. Set. Go!…CRASH!

How often have I set out with great intentions to work toward my auspicious goals. Hour after hour, day after day burning the midnight oil well beyond the strike of midnight to accomplish the impossible. But don’t tell me that. Nothing is impossible. I can do whatever I set out to do. I can be whatever I want to be. I just need to apply myself and go for it. My mother told me so.

Well, how true is that? Would if I want to be a Nigerian prince, could I? There seems to be so many, it must not be that hard to become.

I am sure it is true, with limitations, however. I can be and do many things but I believe there are limitations beyond my control. Some things take more than hard work and dedication to accomplish. There are many factors that can legitimately fill that side of the column; genetics, government, laws, and living environment, to name few. I could continue the list but there is a fine line between the columns and an even finer line in our thinking and judgment of what we put on each side.

I have no desire to discuss what we claim to be holding us back and preventing us from attaining our goals. When I see a long list in the right side of the column, the holding me back side or the beyond my control side, I begin to believe that they are really just excuses.  I am more interested in discovering how we move beyond those and move them to the left side column where they are converted into assets that make us stronger.

The truth for me when I look back to reflect on my journey, the opening quote by Tony Robbins is so true. I totally overestimate what I can do in the short term. That can be a year, a month, a week, or even a day. Just placing this in the context of a to-do list holds true. No big life changing goals I’m trying to accomplish, just a simple daily task list. I never cross everything off.  When I look back five to ten years and compare where I am to where I thought I would be, I am often further. Yet when I look assess my six month goal I often find myself short of the mark.

Why is it? Am I too ambitious in the present and short term? Is the future just too far out and unknown to really imagine what can be accomplished? Are there too many daily obstacles that steer me off course in the short term? Am I just too lazy?

Maybe it’s a mix of all the above. What I have learned for me is that the more I leave uncrossed on my list, the more discouraged I become. As an owner and operator, there is always unfinished business. There are always things to do and as one thing is completed another to-do materializes. It’s just the nature of running a business. What I need to do is learn to not become discouraged or overwhelmed, and for me, the key is acceptance.

Acceptance that time is the scarcest asset. Acceptance that everything is never done. Acceptance that the quote above is true. Acceptance that I am good enough. Acceptance that I’ve sold myself short, again.

The really lesson for me is that I am good enough, it’s the goal that is not. Failure is part of the learning process. In the short term I am overzealous and in the long term I don’t give my ability enough respect. Time is a tricky thing. Ten years seems an eternity and a year seems like more than enough but appears in a blink of an eye. So, being good enough only matters in the present. I can’t be good enough ten years from now and what was good enough yesterday might not be today.

Regardless of where in time I place my checkpoint or finish line, the steps that get me there are taken today. Therefore, the essence of this lesson for me is to learn to live, and work, in the present because when I become too caught up with time, goals, and those never ending to-do lists,  I miss out on life and  sell myself short.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

LET IT OUT

Don’t keep it inside, it will eat you alive.
It doesn’t matter if it is a good thing or a bad thing.
A secret is a secret and they need to be shared.

As I sit to write this I am thinking more about ideas or something one wants to do. Maybe it is a major change in life. It could be a goal. It could be starting a business. It could be stopping something you do or starting something new.

Whatever it is, let it out and tell someone. Why? Because you are only keeping it in because you are afraid.

Afraid…
You’ll fail.
What people will think.
You won’t be any good.
It’s a stupid idea.
You can’t quit.
You can’t keep up.
Etc, etc, etc.

That’s just your internal defense mechanism keeping you safe. If you don’t do, you can’t fail. You can sugar coat it all you want or make any excuse you want. YOU ARE AFRAID. The reality is, you can’t play it safe if you want to break through. Letting it out is scary, but freeing. Once you let it out you can’t put back and you have to be accountable. Or, those fears just might come true!

So, let it out and discover the life you want to live.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live