Once this habitual plodding happens, business leaders miss good opportunities because their minds are more focused on just getting through one more month instead of looking for big jump opportunities.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Is your budget for this year set with expectation of improvement or with the fear of repeating 2009?
• Do you have wiggle room to capitalize on a fresh opportunity or do you feel overwhelmed in time and financial resources; therefore, you only hope to make it through the year?
• Are you on high energy rush and expecting to have a record performance year, or are you using the same mindset you used to survive 2008 and 2009?

Opportunities for every business will be available this year. Those leaders who are looking for them will find a way to take those opportunities and turn them into long-term success. Others will be waiting on the right time to take on such new ideas, which means those business executives will go lacking while the aggressors take more market share.

Use this month to awaken your senses, get your people vibrant in their attitudes once again and grab your share of opportunities that are ripe with potential. In talking with a gentleman who owns 600 rental properties, someone asked him if he was feeling the pinch of the economy where people were not paying or he was left with open properties. He didn’t even respond to the question, he just offered a different perspective.

He said, “I’m not worried about how many open properties I have because now is the time to focus on the great opportunity to buy more properties, so I’ve been on a buying spree getting some great deals.”

Think of your perspective. Are you more focused on the negative impact the economy has had on your business, or are you focusing on the opportunities that can be grabbed while everyone is looking the other way? This is your wake up call.

He asks me to close the door and have a seat. The tone was stern and unemotional. His first question to me was, “Russell do you want to be a success in this business?” Of course! There was never a doubt. How could he question this? I answered immediately, “I’ll do what ever it takes to be the best manager I can be.” He smiled, sat forward in his seat and said, “I knew you’d see it my way.”

He continued, “The first thing you need to do is get rid of the boots.  (There were plain black not the red ones) I don’t care how polished you keep them and how nice they are, they’ll always be sh*tkickers in my book and no one in management in this company wears those things to work. Second, you have a personalized license tag on your car and your car is a Cadillac. That just won’t fly here. No one needs to be calling attention to themselves with anything other than a regular license plate and let your wife drive the caddy and you get a pick up or smaller car – like mine.

Now, what’s this I hear you have a solid gold monogrammed chewing gum case?” I laughed at that and showed him the brass gum case my wife found in a newspaper supplement for 88 cents. I tell him it keeps my gum from getting wet in my pocket and… He cuts me off in mid-sentence and tells me to get rid of it and that is all he had to say and I am excused.

When I get back to my office I am a different person than the one that left there fifteen minutes ago. I’m stunned. My success is predicated on my footwear? For the next two years I tried to fit in. I complied with all the requests except the car – and I quit being who I really was.

Finally, I took a stand when I was asked to “quit being me” when it came to an ethics issue. Enough was enough. After ten years with the company I walked away and the biggest mistake I made in my career happened the day I quit being me and tried to be what someone wanted me to be.

1. Be who you are and find the right fit

Have you ever been forced into a mold you didn’t really fit? How did it make you feel? How much did it carry over to your personal life? How did it impact your self respect and confidence? How fast did you want to get out of that situation?I see many people wedging themselves into jobs they fit into about as well as I would into a Speedo.

Why do you do this? For the paycheck? For the sake of your careers? To get ahead? If you aren’t being true to yourself you are being a fraud and deep down inside your spirit knows it. You hear it in your mind no matter how hard you try to ignore that inner voice. Have you ever laid off a worker and knew the reason this worker was being laid off was because the president of the company was making bad decisions and the worker just happened to be an employee someone thought expendable? How did that make you feel? How many times have you taken actions at work under the title of “That’s just business” and felt a bit guilty about it later? These are all signs of how we are compromising ourselves as managers, and not being leaders as a result. If you find yourself making more and more decisions deep inside you don’t feel right about, then you are being given direction to find a better fit.

2. Hold Your Ground

In the 1960s, Stanley Milgram conducted a now-famous laboratory experiment in order to study obedience. After recruiting male volunteers, he set up a task in which someone called a “teacher” would administer electric shocks to a “learner” in order, ostensibly, to help them learn a list of words. When a “learner” missed a word, the “teacher” would administer an electric shock. An experimenter was in the booth with the “teacher,” and would encourage the “teacher” to push the volt-delivering button when the “teacher” expressed reluctance.

In fact, the experimenters would tell the “teachers” that they had no choice but to deliver the shocks. In Milgram’s experiment, no shocks were actually delivered. The “learners” hidden from sight from the “teachers” were confederates of the experimenter. But the “teachers” thought that they were delivering shocks. And more than 65 % of the teachers were willing to administer the maximum voltage to the point of death, in spite of the cries of pain and screams for mercy. I’m sure you are thinking I’d never do that.

Really?

Middle managers are being asked to do a lot of dirty work they don’t agree with and doesn’t benefit the greater good. As demonstrated in the Milgram experiments we will do things against our better judgment in order to please. Any idea how many times do we do exactly that in the workplace? We use excuses to justify our decisions to ourselves, such as, “I have to take care of my family,” and “I’m only doing what I was told to do,” and my personal favorite “Hey, what are you gonna do?” Eliminate these “reasons” for making decisions that just don’t serve a greater purpose and don’t fit you.

3. Leaders don’t sell out

Leadership is about doing the right things and holding firm in that approach. Why is this so hard to do? Maybe you are worried about losing your job. Or, worried about not having enough money to feed your family? Or, worried about being the rebel. Maybe we should worry less about these things and worry more about how willingly we give up on being ourselves. Standing your ground doesn’t mean you have to give up on success. It may mean you find even great success, just in a different place than you have been looking.I used to look for success in the manufacturing management world.

My experiences told me I wasn’t in the right place and it surely wasn’t the right fit. Once I listened to that inner voice, I found the job I was created for and have experienced success I never knew I could reach.Three speaker colleagues I admire tremendously have abandoned the molds of the world and decided to just be themselves. It doesn’t mean they don’t work hard at what they do, it doesn’t mean they don’t sharpen their skills and make efforts to constantly improve.

It means they don’t compromise themselves for anyone or anything, and their success is the proof of how effective this way of living can be. Think about it. You know which decisions during the day are the ones that ring true to you and which ones are going against your grain. Leaders make the right choices because they can feel it within themselves. Be who you are and care enough about yourself to be the best you, you can become.

The Beatles White album has a message recorded backwards under the song Revolution Number 9. I had access to a radio studio turntable, so I could play the album backwards and hear what the words really said. These were the surprise prizes that were shared from person to person; the “inside” information made us feel in the know, clever for having figured it out, and part of a special crowd.

DVDs now do the same thing with Easter Eggs. They are exciting to discover, and the customer feels special and rewarded. And the best part for the customer — sharing the “secret” with someone else! For example, the Cars DVD has hidden treasures aficionados enjoy. If you’ve seen “Boundin’ with Mater,” you are an Insider!

Even TV shows. The little icons prior to commercials on Fringe spell words in code.

What are you doing to create the buzz of word of mouth marketing for your surprise prizes?

Do you know about the “secret menu” at In and Out Burger? Have it “Animal Style!” Are you a Maker’s Mark Ambassador with your own barrel of private stock bourbon? Now you want to be an Insider don’t you?

Define the “Insider”

Insider: A customer who feels special. A customer possessing special knowledge. A customer who has been given a unique and remarkable gift. A person who resists the invasion of the masses.

Insiders are going to be the best salespeople you have — and they will sell your company and products for free, and with greater enthusiasm than many in your paid sales force. With the speed information now travels across the Internet, a single person can create a tidal wave of information and buzz!

Create the “Insider”

Resist the temptation to overexpose an Insider opportunity. Let your customers do it for you! Avoid publicity. This flies in the face of conventional marketing wisdom, which is, in fact, its special power. It is non-conventional. It creates selectivity. Here are steps to consider in creating your Insider:

1. Define who you want to “qualify”

Who you want to qualify establishes your parameters. Are you looking to create buzz through a “membership” program? Correct mistakes overwhelmingly? Let your customers create the “inside” information? Have customers occasionally have discoveries and tell others where to find them? Your Insiders need to reflect the culture you are creating with your organization and products.

Maker’s Mark is a small distributor of high quality bourbon that is worth the extra expense to their clientele. Maker’s Mark’s “Ambassador” program is focused on those loyalists who want to be part of the Maker’s Mark family. Both the company and the loyal customer like the family feel and status identification of their product.

2. The discovery

Insiders love the discovery. It’s the surprise prize. The discovery has to be exciting, remarkable, and of value. In the early days of HBO, the movie channel used to offer a gift movie at midnight one night during the end of year holidays. In the listing it simply listed it as “movie” with no fanfare or promotion. One year, it was the movie Ghostbusters, which was a real surprise because it hadn’t been released on videotape and was barely out of the theaters. The unexpected discovery was exciting! I got to tell everyone the next day what they missed. I was an Insider who got a treat others missed out on! The discovery creates buzz, creates scarcity and makes the Insider feel special.

3. The gift

Maker’s Mark sends gifts unannounced. They just appear in my mailbox. Surprise! They are always gifts of quality that I can display, use and share with friends and are linked to the use of their product.

Some are gifts of immediate practical value such as engraved glasses and stirrers, and some are gifts of prestige. I’m proud to say there is a barrel of Maker’s Mark in their warehouse with my name on it. It’s a gift of recognition that my “Ambassador” status has significance.

I received a certificate announcing the birth of my barrel. I receive updates on its progress. My barrel will not be ready to be tapped for 7 years (how’s that for anticipation marketing!) — and notice how I say it is “MY” barrel. Roughly 18 names are on the 50-gallon barrel, but it’s mine! I can even have special engraved bottles made to share with friends. The extra expense for these VIP bottles? Who cares — I look like I am “The Man!” giving those away. This is what most Insiders value: the peer recognition of owning such a gift. I have given some of my Insiders golf towels from Augusta National, home of the Masters. It’s not the towel — it’s the comments from their friends that are the gifts.

4. The access pass

Insiders like special access. Whether it’s the password to a special website page or access to a “forbidden zone,” Insiders like the special treatment. On a distillery tour, the tour guide decided to take the small group where “we really shouldn’t go” through a door that read “No Unauthorized Admittance.” The buzz of the group at the end of the tour was being able to see behind the scenes.

It was doing the forbidden that made us feel special. It’s the backstage pass. It’s the press credential to get onto the field. All insiders want to feel special. It’s what we tell our friends about.

5. Keep it fresh

McDonald’s Happy Meals regularly change the toy inside with savvy movie tie-ins. The kids may not be in the driver’s seat but they make the fast food selection. They are the Insiders who were able to get the “limited edition” Mater toy.

You need to keep your Insider’s attention fresh. Your Insiders want to be intrigued. If every year you send out pocket knives (as one of my vendors still does), they lose their appeal. Since I fly so much, a pocket knife is now actually undesirable because if I forget it’s part of my normal pocket contents, not only will I lose it at airport security but I now have the inconvenience of getting pulled for a special security check. I no longer feel special. The vendor is no longer in touch with my needs, therefore I no longer feel like an Insider.

Insiders want to be appreciated, pampered and know the company is in tune with them. The minute you lose freshness with your Insiders they will feel less appreciated.

6. Listen to the Insiders for what they create

If your organization is lucky enough, your customers will create their own Insider information (I mean the good kind.) Nothing is better than word of mouth you never had to initiate. It’s information that takes on a life of its own. Be familiar with the buzz, enjoy it, and work to keep it for Insiders only without trying to overly capitalize on it. Why?

7. How to lose Insider buzz

A. Allowing the masses in.

Waffle House once had its Insider lingo: Scattered, Smothered, and Covered. It was the inside way to get special treatment to your hash browns for the after-midnight crowd. Word traveled fast about the lingo, and people knew there were options but not sure what they meant. Sadly, now some menus actually explain the words’ meaning and promote those options. Insiders no longer feel part of the inside few because now everyone is an Insider.

You will lose your Insider once the masses become the Insiders and the buzz will be lost.

B. Easy entry premium clubs

Airlines have their premium clubs trying to make frequent flyers feel special but the clubs have lost much of their meaning. What good is early boarding for premium club members if 85 percent of the passengers are in the club? What good are upgrades to first class seating if, as a flight attendant told me, the bean counters are removing 25 percent of the first class seats and replacing them with coach seats to make more money once they realized 25 percent of first class seats were being filled with premium upgrades? Thanks, USAirways! Now I feel so special!

A premium club has no meaning unless it has scarcity.

What are your scarcity items Insiders crave? What is the Top Secret information only given to Insiders? How are your customers creating buzz about your company or products? What are you allowing Insiders to discover? It’s the multi-million dollar marketing advantage you need to get in on.

When I bought this house I live in on the lake I was looking for not just a nice house but a good deal and great investment opportunity. That fact that we found a house underpriced because of an acrimonious divorce just wanting to get rid of the last connection they had was my good fortune! Had we not signed the papers the day we did the opportunity would’ve been lost because literally there was a couple flying across the country from Seattle to come put a contract on it. They were in the air when we inked the deal! Oh yea! That’s opportunistic!

Those reading this can scoff but winners take control and grab opportunity when it presents itself. I got to watch the Panthers beat the Packers at Lambeau Field because I grabbed opportunity. I got to see a Styx concert in Vegas for free because I grabbed opportunity. I met my breakeven figure for the year before the year started because I grabbed opportunity.

Opportunistic seems to have a negative connotation to it, I figure that’s because there are more people who miss out on opportunities than those who grab it. Be the one to grab opportunity and elevate your optimism to opportunism.

These are questions that I work on daily with small business owners.  Most business owner’s think in terms of one line item when they try to grow their business – revenue.  This is logical choice.  After all, if revenue is higher, you must be making more money, right?  Wrong.  While this may be the case in a perfect world, it often leads to business owners struggling for years to make ends meet when the mathematics of the business just do not work.  What can be done to fix the problem?  It’s simple.  We just have to change the number so that the math works.

We recently helped a client who had been consistently loosing money for seven years – at a rate over of about $175,000 per year.   When talking with the client, his solution was that he needed more sales.  If he could just get more sales, he would be profitable.    We sat down with him and did a thorough break-even analysis.  Using his current cost structures, it was going to take nearly $3 million in sales for him to breakeven.  He was currently sitting at $700,000.   The answer to his problem was not sales, it was his cost structure.

We looked at his cost structure and compared it with his industry peers and were able to pinpoint a few key area where his cost were out of line.  We then implemented a strategy to fix those key areas.  Within nine months, his business was profitable.

The logical answer to growth is on the revenue line as the ultimate goal in a business is usually to make a profit.  No matter how much you have in revenue though, that does not mean you are profitable.  Make sure you know what your breakeven point is and how your cost compare with your competitors.  Start your goal setting from the bottom line profit and then move upwards to look at what you need to do to reach your target goal.

The next step after getting to or increasing profitability can then be moved toward reinvesting the profit into your business to grow it even further and compound the positive effects.  Stand back, monitor the progress, and let it grow!

Chad is a Charlotte CPA who works with small business owners and individuals on a monthly basis to provide them with proactive guidance and advice on how to grow their business, minimize their tax liabilities and grow their bottom line. Chad is also a primary contributor to his firms blog – Beancounter Ramblings You can find our more about Chad by visiting his profile here: Chad Bordeaux

We are well versed in people and companies who struggle in bad times. It’s almost become sport in this county to see who falls on their face next. The falls make the headlines but what about the rest of the story after the fall? Those stories rarely make the headlines and that is actually where the greatest lessons exist in how well people and companies recover from their falls. Whether it’s personal or corporate there is going to be adversity in our journeys and how we respond and how quickly we respond demonstrated out bounce. You have options in your bounce ability.

What about the people who fall, fail or flounder only to bounce back stronger than ever? Robert Downey Jr. has good bounce. Vanessa Williams has good bounce. Starbucks has good bounce. How about you?

The Deflated Basketball Bounce

For some people and companies they get hit with adversity and it knocks them down and their response is that of a deflated basketball – no bounce at all. You know these people and companies. They get hit with tough times and they turn bitter and angry and collapse under the weight of the world. These people and corporations are waiting for someone else to bail them out and set them back up because they feel unable to on their own. When in fact, they are only being propped up for another fall they’ve never learned to recover from. Boomerang children, government bailouts, and dependent employees are the result of a lack of ability to bounce.

The Super Ball Bounce

Most highly successful entrepreneurs have gone through at least one previous company failure. Many successful leaders have had to overcome adversity that was either physical, financial or occupational. In fact, success is more predicated on your bounce ability than in your raw intelligence and skills. Persistence through challenges, focus through distractions and confidence in your ability to overcome adversity are the core foundation to success! As I’ve heard it said many times before, failure is only failure if you stop at that point and stay defeated. Without bounce we’d have no innovation, we’d have no experience (since we gain that from our failures) and we’d have no joy. Our greatest joy comes when we’ve accomplished a task that was in overcoming on obstacle. It’s why we love to see the underdog win! We love that they can overcome the odds and bounce back from a defeat and are spectacular.

This new generation of workers is more intelligent, more technologically savvy, and better able to accomplish a multitude of tasks than generations prior. They are not stupid.

They also will not tolerate boorish managers, incomplete information and lack of proper training. There is where the stupid lies – in how managers are treating this generation that have the potential to make your organization soar!

What the older workers tolerated and grumbled about (still do) are things the younger generation just won’t tolerate. The older generation felt that if they made a mistake even though they never received proper training it was somehow their fault and they would accept the dressing down mangers gave out.

The younger generation feels if you don’t take the time to properly train them and teach them the job then the mistake is the company’s fault and no need to sweat it. If the company doesn’t care enough to take the time and make the effort to train, why should I bust my hump to learn it on my own, is an attitude that honestly is hard to argue with.

Stupidity rarely lives in the workforce. If you feel you have stupid employees, check the following areas for where stupid really lurks.

Training

Because of the current economic times companies are eliminating training positions, shortening training times and generally hoping employees learn new tasks by speed osmosis. Then they wonder why there is no buy in and mistake happen? An old computer term was “Garbage in and garbage out” It still applies to training. Saving money in training is like saving car expenses by not changing your oil or rotating your tires. You have to invest in the important areas of your business. Skill, talent and knowledge are the most important areas of business that bring growth. Technology is worthless of you don’t have the right people to use it and know what they are doing.

Hiring process

Are you attracting the right people? Do you know the makeup of what the right person is? Do you know how to get in front of the right person? Does your company deserve the talent you desire? What do you offer that keeps the right talent excited about what they are doing for you?

Most organizations are begging for help, expecting disappointment and failing to hire exactly what they need as well as preparing the workplace to maintain the interest of the talent you want. If you are simply filling positions and hoping the new hire lasts 90 days then look in the mirror and you will see stupid. Any manager that sets that low of expectations is never going to get the right employees to fill the right jobs and it has nothing to do with the Next generation of employees.

Managers

In the food service industry the greatest problem is keeping good employees. The average annual turnover in this industry is 300%. That means for every 50 jobs you have to fill you have to hire 150 people just to keep the jobs full, and that’s the average! In light of this I’ve been asking every good waitstaff I encounter if anyone thanked them for coming to work today. It has been five years and hundreds of waitstaff asked and I have yet to find one, just one tell me their manager thanked them for coming to work today.

Do you thank your customers? What about your regulars who do business with you over and over, do you show appreciation to them? Your employees expect a daily appreciation of some sort for working. Not because they are needy, not because they are insecure and want to be loved, but because they are giving you their time, talents and efforts and they could be giving it to anyone they want to. Calling them stupid is NOT how you earn their loyalty, respect and best efforts.