The Net Worth Tip of the Day: Recent Episodes

tourdeprofit

Daily Profit Tips to Grow Your Business

What grade would you give yourself on leadership?

If you’re leading a business, that question might reveal more about your future success than your latest sales numbers. Strong leadership is the cornerstone of business success—and without it, even the best product or strategy can fall flat.

In this episode, your host unpacks the 4 F’s of leadership—Fair, Firm, Factual, and Friendly—learned during a powerful conversation with Jeff McManus, a leader who knows how to grow high-performance teams from the ground up.

You'll discover:

how enhancing leadership skills impacts hiring great employees,
why consistent leadership drives organization-wide strategy, and
what it really takes to build a successful business that lasts.

This isn't theory—it's a proven roadmap to developing strong leadership and unlocking true business growth. Tune in to hear an episode that could be the turning point for your leadership and your business.

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Are you losing your best employees without knowing why?

In this episode, we challenge the myth that better pay and benefits are the main reasons high performers leave your organization. If you’re striving for business success, strong leadership, and hiring great employees, it’s time to look beyond exit interviews and into your company culture.

Discover how enhancing leadership skills and developing high-performance teams can prevent top talent from walking out the door. Learn why measuring engagement beats reactive compensation strategies, and how culture—not cash—drives business growth and team loyalty.

By listening to this episode, you’ll:

gain tools for building a successful business,
align your leadership strategy, and
create a thriving, winning organization.

Don’t miss this episode that’s helped hundreds of leaders rethink how they grow and retain exceptional teams.

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

How often do you stop to document the real wins and lessons shaping your business journey?

Too many leaders are so focused on putting out fires that they miss the opportunity to capture and reflect on the moments that truly drive business growth and success.

In this episode, you’ll discover how a simple metaphor—and a leadership strategy involving a bicycle—sparked a powerful shift in organizational culture, team performance, and long-term business success.

You’ll learn how documenting your journey can:

Help you grow strong leadership and develop high-performance teams.
Give clarity and confidence in your strategy and direction.
Inspire your team and elevate your hiring of great employees through shared purpose.

Tune in to hear how one leader’s creative approach transformed a stagnant organization—and why capturing your business journey is a secret weapon for enhancing leadership skills and building a successful business.

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

How confident are you when it comes to selling your product or service?

If you've ever hesitated before pitching a prospect or felt unsure about your offer, you're not alone—and this episode is your turning point.

This episode breaks down the 3 core elements behind true sales confidence—crucial for leaders serious about building a thriving, well-organized business. Whether you're leading a team or building a successful business solo, strong leadership in sales starts with clarity, not charisma.

Discover how enhancing leadership skills in your sales process directly drives business success by:

Uncovering why hiring great employees means nothing without a confident sales foundation.
Learning how to identify and connect with your ideal customer to spark real business growth.
Developing high-performance teams by instilling certainty around your strategy and solution.

Tune in to hear this episode and finally gain the clarity and confidence your business needs to grow.

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

What’s Holding You Back From Even MORE Business Success?

Are your daily habits silently sabotaging your leadership potential?

In this episode, we unpack insights from executive coach Marshall Goldsmith’s best-selling book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, to help you recognize the leadership behaviors that may be limiting your organization’s growth.

Whether you're striving to enhance leadership skills, build a high-performance team, or develop a stronger business strategy, this episode is a must-listen.

You'll discover how:

Eliminating toxic habits can unlock new levels of strong leadership and business growth
Recognizing and shifting subtle behaviors can help in hiring great employees and building a successful business
Simple changes in mindset can foster better communication and a thriving organizational culture

If you're ready to stop what’s holding you back and start leading with intention, tune in now to hear a fan-favorite episode that’s helped countless leaders transform their approach.

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Is your team your business’s greatest competitive weapon — or your biggest liability?

If you’re striving for business success but struggling with hiring great employees, enhancing leadership skills, or developing high-performance teams, this episode is for you.

Rich draws a powerful connection between military transformation and what your organization must do to achieve explosive business growth.

You’ll learn:

how strong leadership drives better results,
why structure beats chaos every time, and
how a positive mindset fuels business success.

Plus, you'll discover the four proven strategies for building a successful business through a powerhouse team.

Don’t miss this episode that shows exactly how discipline, structure, simplicity, and mindset can transform your organization’s strategy and set you on a path to unstoppable growth.

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Do you have written goals for your business, your team, and your life—or are you just winging it?

If you’re chasing business success, developing high-performance teams, or enhancing leadership skills, this episode will change how you think about goal-setting.

With real stories and data-driven insights, the host breaks down why written goals are the secret weapon of strong leadership and a major catalyst for business growth and strategic clarity.

You’ll discover:

Why only a small percentage of people achieve real success—and what sets them apart
How written goals drive business success and hiring great employees
Two practical frameworks (SMART and SPAM) to build a successful business and lead with confidence

Join the 12% who control 85% of the world’s wealth by learning how to turn vague dreams into actionable strategies.

Hit play on this episode and take the first step toward developing strong leadership and a more successful organization!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Are you gaining new customers fast enough to achieve your big business goals?

If not, you might be missing critical pieces of your leadership strategy. In this episode, discover how the front wheel of a bicycle holds the secret to building a successful business—from hiring great employees to developing high-performance teams.

Using a powerful metaphor and proven experience, our host helps you visualize how strong leadership and the right strategy can unlock business growth and sustainable success.

You’ll walk away knowing:

How to define your ideal customer and why it fuels every part of your organization.
Why 6–8 spokes—aka marketing strategies—are the sweet spot for consistent lead generation.
How a well-tuned sales process creates traction and momentum toward business success.

Want a simple, visual way to enhance your leadership skills and grow your business fast? Press play on this powerful episode now!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Are you unintentionally sabotaging your business success by overcomplicating everything?

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, anxious, or stuck in the daily grind, this episode is for you. Discover how strong leadership and a simple shift in focus can transform your business and your mindset.

Your host breaks down the four “C’s” of Leverage—Content, Capital, Code, and Collaboration—offering a clear path to business growth and sustainable success.

Learn how to:

document strategy through SOPs that streamline operations,
how to plan capital needs to avoid financial stress, and
how leveraging technology and team collaboration leads to developing high-performance teams.

You’ll walk away with practical steps to enhance leadership skills, hire great employees, and start building a successful business with clarity and confidence.

Ready to trade burnout for clarity? Listen to this episode and uncover the hidden Leverage in your organization today.

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Are you intentionally shaping your customers’ experiences for long-term business success?

In today’s fast-paced world, strong leadership is the key to building a successful business. Join us as we dive into the game-changing “Peak-End Rule” and uncover how it can transform your customer interactions.

Whether you're focused on hiring great employees, enhancing leadership skills, or developing high-performance teams, this episode will give you the strategies you need.

You'll discover:

The secret psychological principle that drives customer satisfaction.
How to create lasting impressions that boost business growth.
Actionable techniques to optimize every customer interaction for success.

Don’t leave your customer experience to chance—master the art of strategic engagement today! Tune in now to hear how countless leaders take their business to the next level.

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Are You Clearly Communicating Expectations to Your Team?

Have you ever felt like your employees just don’t “get it”? Strong leadership is essential for business success, yet so many leaders struggle with ensuring their teams understand expectations.

In this episode, we dive into a real-world leadership challenge that highlights the common disconnect between managers and employees.

You’ll discover how to enhance leadership skills by:

Defining clear responsibilities to build high-performance teams.
Using strategic communication to align expectations and prevent frustration.
Structuring your organization for sustainable business growth.

Great leadership isn’t just about hiring great employees—it’s about giving them the clarity they need to succeed. Don’t let miscommunication hold your organization back.

Listen now to this episode and take the first step toward building a successful business!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

What truly sets your business apart from the competition?

In this episode, you'll discover how strong leadership and strategic thinking can unlock business growth. Learn why defining your unique value proposition is essential for hiring great employees, developing high-performance teams, and building a successful business.

Discover three powerful insights:

first, that clarity on your value proposition strengthens your position in the market;
second, that teams thrive when they know they’re contributing to a business that is better, faster, and stronger; and
third, that understanding customer problems deeply drives better sales and long-term loyalty.

By applying these insights, you'll enhance your leadership skills, improve your organization’s strategy, and gain practical tools to achieve lasting business success.

Don’t miss this episode—tune in now and start defining what makes your business truly stand out!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Do you hesitate to share financial details with your employees? Could transparency actually make your business more profitable?

Many business owners fear that sharing financials will confuse, overwhelm, or even scare their employees. But what if the opposite is true? What if keeping them in the dark is actually limiting your business growth?

In this episode, we uncover the power of financial transparency and how it can lead to a more engaged, motivated, and high-performing team.

Learn why sharing key financial metrics can drive company-wide accountability and efficiency.
Discover the four essential financial numbers you should be discussing with your team.
Find out how a profit-sharing model can align your employees’ efforts with your business goals.

Press play now to learn how opening up about your financials could be the game-changing strategy your business needs!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Thinking About Selling Your Business? Think Again!

If you were to sell your business today, what would the new owner change immediately? Chances are, they’d make bold moves—ones you might be overlooking right now.

In this episode, we dive into a game-changing mindset shift that can reignite your passion and transform your business.

You’ll learn:

How to uncover hidden inefficiencies by asking the right questions.
The power of a “Fix It Quickly” list to tackle recurring issues.
Why talking to your team, vendors, and customers can reveal breakthrough opportunities.

Before throwing in the towel, take a step back—because the answers to your biggest challenges might be right in front of you!

Tune in now and discover the practical steps a new owner would take to make your business stronger than ever!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

What Would Your Business Be Like if EVERY Team Member Made a Personal Commitment to Meet or Exceed Their Goals?

Imagine the impact on your business—higher performance, less stress, and more personal time. But for this to happen, you must first build a Culture of Accountability.

In this episode, we break down how to move beyond just assigning responsibilities and instead foster a work environment where accountability is a choice—not just an expectation.

You’ll discover:

✅ The key shift business owners must make to inspire real accountability
✅ Five essential steps to create a culture where employees take ownership
✅ How to challenge the status quo and encourage innovative thinking

If you're ready to transform your team and build a workplace where everyone is committed to success, listen to this episode now!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

How do you prevent toxic talk and gossip from polluting your workplace?

If you’ve ever felt frustrated by negativity and division in your team, you’re not alone. Workplace gossip can quietly undermine morale, productivity, and leadership effectiveness.

In this episode, we explore why toxic talk spreads so easily and how you can shut it down. You’ll discover:

How to create a culture of positivity that naturally discourages gossip.
The power of setting clear boundaries to align your team.
Why direct communication is the key to eliminating workplace negativity.

Ready to build a stronger, more supportive workplace? Listen now and take control of your company culture today!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

What’s Holding Your Business Back From Being More Efficient and Growing Faster?

If your operations feel bloated or inefficient, now is the perfect time to cut back and streamline for stronger growth.

In this episode, we dive into four key areas every business should regularly evaluate:

Trimming outdated products and services to boost efficiency.
Streamlining processes to stay ahead of the competition.
Reassessing customers and employees to create a more productive environment.

Just like a tree grows stronger after pruning, your business can thrive by letting go of what’s no longer serving it.

Tune in now and learn how to sharpen your focus for maximum success!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

What Leadership Position Are You Filling in Your Business – and Is It the RIGHT One?

Too many business owners spend their days caught up in the wrong tasks, leaving them exhausted and directionless. But here’s the truth: Your job is to guide the boat, not to row it.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

Why many business owners take on roles that slow down their growth instead of accelerating it.
How to empower your team to take the oars while you focus on steering the business in the right direction.
The key leadership activities that will create long-term success and free you from daily operational tasks.

If you’re ready to stop rowing and start leading, don’t miss this episode. Tune in now and take control of your business with confidence!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

What Lessons Are You Learning As You Watch Donald Trump Assume His New Position?

Leadership isn’t about politics—it’s about observing, adapting, and applying valuable insights. This week, we’ll explore six actionable leadership lessons inspired by President Trump’s approach during his transition into office.

Whether you’re a business owner, team leader, or aspiring entrepreneur, these lessons can help you

navigate transitions,
communicate your vision effectively, and
build a stronger team.

Ready to elevate your leadership game? Tune in and take your first step toward becoming a more impactful leader.

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

How Robust is Your Current Hiring Process?

In today’s episode, we dive into the challenges business owners face in recruiting and retaining top talent in an unpredictable job market. From the aftermath of the pandemic to “Exodus 2025,” it’s clear that refining your hiring process is more critical than ever.

You’ll learn:

The costly mistakes most business owners make in hiring—and how to avoid them.
Proven strategies to attract top talent using creative job postings and cutting-edge interview techniques.
How to involve your team in hiring decisions to build a stronger, more cohesive workforce.

Ready to transform your hiring process? Don’t miss this episode.

Tune in now to prepare your business for success in 2025 and beyond!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

It might not be what you think. In today’s episode, we dive into a major issue many leaders overlook: the habit of focusing more on what's going wrong in their business than on what's going right.

Most employees are starving for positive feedback, and if you’re constantly catching them doing things wrong, it might cost you big time.

Tune in as we discuss simple but effective strategies to change this dynamic. Learn why focusing on the good could skyrocket your team’s morale and productivity.

By the end of this episode, you’ll discover how to:

Shift your focus from problems to progress.
Boost employee morale with encouragement and recognition.
Create an atmosphere of positivity that drives performance.

Ready to elevate your leadership game? Listen now and start catching your team doing things right!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Does each of your Team Members know EXACTLY what is Expected of Them in their Current Position?

Many business owners assume their team knows exactly what’s required—but in reality, unclear expectations can lead to frustration, mistakes, and low morale.

In this episode, we dive into why business owners often fail to set clear expectations and how it impacts both team performance and satisfaction.

By listening, you'll learn three essential strategies:

how to create clear, measurable expectations for every position,
the importance of behaviors in shaping success, and
how to build a culture of accountability with simple, effective Position Agreements.

Plus, discover how aligning your team with these expectations can drastically improve productivity and morale.

Ready to transform your team’s clarity and performance? Tune in to help set your expectations—and watch your business thrive!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

How satisfied are you with your progress toward Building a Winning Team?

If so, you’re not alone. Many business owners find themselves stuck in the daily grind, unable to delegate effectively because they haven't unlocked the secret to assembling a winning team.

In this episode, we dive into the 7 essential keys that every business owner needs to know to build a successful team. You’ll discover how to create strong leadership, align goals, define rules, and foster a culture of risk-taking—all while keeping your team fully engaged and motivated.

By the end of this episode, you’ll have actionable insights to:

Inspire your team with a clear vision.
Align everyone toward a shared goal.
Cultivate a culture where risk-taking and collaboration thrive.

Want to see these strategies in action? Tune in now and get started right away!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Are you truly empowering your team to take responsibility for their personal growth?

In this week’s episode, we explore a vital topic for business owners: encouraging your team members to take ownership of their own development.

Too often, leaders feel obligated to "make" their employees successful. But what if your role was simply to support and inspire them to grow on their own terms?

You will learn how to:

Set the right environment that fosters personal development.
Guide team members in clarifying their goals and focusing their attention on growth.
Maintain a positive, supportive attitude while holding them accountable for their actions.

Ready to learn how to help your team thrive? Tune in now and transform your leadership style!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

How much are you REALLY listening to your team, versus just talking?

If you think your Talk-to-Listen ratio is in balance, think again! In this episode, we dive deep into why the more you talk, the less trusted and admired you might be—especially as a leader.

The best leaders know that listening is the key to building trust and respect within their teams, but why is this such a challenge for so many?

In this episode, you’ll learn:

The importance of having a high listening ratio for better relationships and leadership.
A simple acrostic, RASA (Receive, Appreciate, Summarize, Ask), to help you listen more effectively.
Quick tips on how to improve your listening skills and become the leader everyone respects.

Don’t miss out on the chance to become a more effective, respected leader! Listen to this episode now.

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Are you truly leading your team, or are you unknowingly micro-managing them?

If you’ve found yourself stepping in to fix every problem, you may be falling into the trap of micromanagement, and it could be hurting your business.

In this episode, we explore why micro-managing can be detrimental to a team's morale and performance, and how to adopt a leadership style that fosters trust and autonomy.

You’ll learn how to:

Empower your team by providing what they need to succeed.
Implement more effective performance metrics that don’t require constant oversight.
Avoid punishing top performers with policies meant for underachievers.

If you’re ready to step back, trust your team, and build a high-performance culture, don’t miss this episode.

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Do your team meetings leave your team motivated, aligned, and ready to tackle the week ahead?

In this episode, we dive into the critical role weekly team meetings play in transforming business performance. Drawing from a real-life story of a frustrated business owner, you'll discover how a simple yet structured approach to meetings can resolve chaos and restore momentum.

Learn five actionable strategies to:

Make every meeting engaging, effective, and meaningful.
Use metrics and goals to align your team toward success.
Build momentum and foster collaboration while tackling challenges head-on.

Don’t let disorganized or non-existent meetings hold you back! Play this fan-favorite episode now to revamp your meetings and drive real results.

Visit TourDeProfit.com for free tools and resources!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Does your Organization Structure inspire your team to grow with you for the long haul?

You might think your current organizational chart is just a formality, but what if it could become a powerful tool to energize and retain your team? In today’s episode, we’ll dive into how to rethink your organizational structure to better motivate your people and create clear growth paths.

You’ll learn how to design your org chart by function instead of by name, how to envision the business you want in 3 years, and how to plan your hiring process to free up your time for high-value work.

These simple but game-changing strategies will help you build a business that’s not only scalable but also attractive to your team, helping them see a future with you.

Want to get started today? Listen now and begin transforming your team’s future.

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Is your compensation structure building teamwork and driving business success?

Many business owners follow industry norms, but what if the key to unlocking your company’s potential lies in rethinking how you reward your team?

In this episode, we’ll explore why traditional compensation models often fail to align with company goals and how you can create a structure that promotes unity, focus, and growth.

The host, with years of experience designing compensation programs, shares insights from working with top companies like Texas Instruments and Pella Corporation.

You’ll learn how to:

Align your team with company objectives by rethinking how everyone is rewarded
Create a compensation system that promotes teamwork across departments
Inspire radical engagement that accelerates business growth

Ready to rethink your compensation strategy? Listen to discover how a reimagined rewards program could be the catalyst for your business success!

This podcast aims to help business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Are your new hires set up for success from day one?

Last week, we covered how to avoid desperation hires—now let’s talk about what happens after they join the team.

Many business owners struggle to build an effective onboarding process, leaving new employees unprepared and frustrated.

In this episode, we break down five essential steps to help you create an onboarding experience that boosts retention, builds confidence, and strengthens team bonds.

You’ll learn how to establish orientation, provide training, set clear 90-day goals, assign a workplace buddy, and schedule ongoing check-ins.

Want to make sure your onboarding process turns new hires into long-term team players? Listen to this episode and transform your approach today!

A podcast that helps business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Are you prepared to avoid the desperation hiring trap when your team starts to outgrow its capacity?

With the economy stabilizing after years of uncertainty, business owners are feeling more confident about hiring—but many are also rushing into decisions that can backfire.

In this episode, we’ll explore how to make smarter hiring decisions and avoid the panic of desperation hiring.

You’ll learn how to:

Rethink your organization structure to spot future hiring needs early.
Prioritize roles based on the real needs of your business, rather than reacting to crises.
Set up a clear, step-by-step hiring process that keeps you from rushing into poor decisions.

Ready to stop hiring out of desperation? Listen to this episode for practical steps and actionable advice that will ensure your next hire is a great one!

And if you want a deeper dive, grab your free copy of our whitepaper, “A Guide to Hiring the Best”—just drop me an email today!

A podcast that helps business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Are your team members truly aware of what you consider non-negotiable in your business?

This week, we dive deep into a crucial aspect of leadership that can define your company’s culture and performance standards.

Many business owners overlook the importance of setting clear expectations, but without them, you may be tolerating behaviors that undermine your success.

In this episode, you’ll discover how to identify your non-negotiables, enhance team accountability, and create a positive work environment.

You'll gain a clear 5-step process for establishing performance standards that uplift your team and improve customer experiences.

Ready to transform your business? Tune in to our fan-favorite episode to learn how you can implement these strategies today and start making a meaningful impact!

A podcast that helps business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Are you truly leading your team, or just managing them?

Strong leadership can be elusive, but it’s vital for fostering a thriving workplace.

In this episode, we delve into the essence of strong leadership, drawing insights from years of experience with small business teams. You’ll discover how to create an inspiring vision, surround yourself with top talent, and cultivate an environment where team members feel valued and motivated.

By tuning in, you’ll learn how to set high standards that elevate performance, the importance of listening over directing, and techniques for praising your team effectively.

Ready to transform your leadership approach? Don’t miss our fan-favorite episode, where we break down actionable strategies to elevate your team and your business. Click play and start your journey toward becoming a strong leader today!

A podcast that helps business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

How clear is your vision for the future of your business?

In this week’s episode, we dive into a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of leadership: crafting a compelling vision that inspires your team.

As a business owner, steering your company toward success is paramount, and having a strong vision acts as your guiding handlebars.

By tuning in, you’ll discover how a well-defined vision can energize your team, combat challenges, and reduce turnover. You’ll also learn practical strategies to articulate your dream for the future, ensuring everyone is on board and motivated.

Ready to transform your leadership approach? Don’t miss our fan-favorite episode that reveals actionable steps to create a vision that not only excites you but also inspires your team.

Click to listen now and take the first step toward a thriving future!

A podcast that helps business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Have you ever wondered if your team could fully operate your business without your daily involvement? This week’s episode of The Ultimate Business Tune-Up Podcast dives into this crucial question for small business owners like you.

Host Rich shares a significant pivot in his podcast’s focus, based on over two decades of experience, now zeroing in on the #1 pain point: Your Team.

Listeners will learn how to build a capable and committed team, how team engagement directly impacts business growth, and what steps you can take to ensure your business can thrive without you.

Start listening today and discover how to transform your business team into a high-performance, self-sustaining machine!

How confident are you in your business math skills?

In this episode of The Ultimate Business Tune-Up Podcast, we revisit a critical lesson on growing a profitable, sustainable business.

Host Rich Allen brings back the fundamentals of business math, reminding us how simple equations can lead to substantial growth. You may have heard it before, but like the wisdom from Chuck Swindall, it's worth repeating.

Tune in to discover the five key metrics every business owner should track, and learn how even small improvements in these areas can lead to exponential gains in profit.

Ready to transform your business? Listen now and unlock the strategies that have already made this episode a fan favorite!

A podcast that helps business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

How would you rate your personal development journey?

In a world where business success often feels just out of reach, many entrepreneurs struggle to break free from habits that hold them back. Our podcast is here to help you identify and overcome those obstacles.

This week, we’ll dive into the final ten habits from Marshall Goldsmith’s insightful book, unpacking how these behaviors can hinder your growth. By listening, you’ll learn to recognize detrimental patterns, enhance your leadership skills, and foster stronger team dynamics.

Gain clarity on which habits may be impeding your success, discover actionable strategies for improvement, and reignite your passion for personal development.

Curious to see how you measure up? Tune into our fan-favorite episode to transform your approach and unlock your true potential today!

Are You Truly Aware of Your Personal Development Blind Spots?

On this week's episode of the Ultimate Business Tune-Up Podcast, we’re diving into a critical self-assessment exercise that could unlock your next level of success.

As a business owner, taking a hard look at your personal habits is crucial to moving beyond your current achievements and avoiding common pitfalls.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

How to identify and overcome ten habits that might be hindering your growth.
Techniques for enhancing your self-awareness and leadership effectiveness.
Practical steps to transform your daily behaviors for sustained business success.

Curious about how your habits stack up? Listen to our fan-favorite episode now for actionable insights and a self-assessment checklist that can help you pinpoint and address these critical areas for improvement.

A podcast that helps business owners master business management, hiring employees, and employee management by refining their hiring process, enhancing leadership skills, and developing high-performance teams, all while addressing employee needs, business growth, organization, strategy, and the stress that comes with building a successful business.

Are you struggling to get your long-tenured employees to embrace new training methods?

Training team members, especially those who’ve been with you for years, is crucial yet often neglected. If you're only focusing on onboarding new hires, you're missing out on improving the skills and engagement of your seasoned staff, which can impact your business's overall performance and culture.

In this episode, you'll discover how to:

Clearly articulate the purpose of your training to motivate and engage all team members.
Set specific, measurable expectations to align your team's efforts with your business goals.
Provide detailed, actionable steps to ensure effective implementation and follow-up.

Tune into this episode now to transform your training approach and unlock your team's full potential—implement these strategies and see immediate improvements in performance!

How Efficiently Does Work Get Done in Your Organization?

This week I want to explore with you the different ways that work gets done in an organization. And more importantly, I want to encourage and inspire you to perhaps re-think how work is getting done in YOUR business.

I believe that work gets done in any business or organization of any kind in one of three different ways. Let me define these three methods or approach to getting work done – then I’ll ask you which applies most directly to YOUR business.

How Clearly and Precisely have you Defined Your Ideal Customer?

This week I want to help you resolve one of the most frustrating challenges that face most business owners – having to deal with customers who are NOT their “ideal” customer. If you’re like most business owners I’ve met, you have a handful of customers who you would GLADLY see go away – except for the fact that you need the revenue that comes from them doing business with you!

Am I right on this? Let's discuss how to resolve this big problem.

What Promises Should You Be Making To Each and Every Customer?

This week I want to challenge you about the promises you make – or should be making – to those who use your products or services.

You see, I believe each of us, as business owners, owe it to our customers to make them a promise – or even several promises – of how we will conduct business with them each and every time they need our products or services.

Does Your Customer Service Make Your Customers Tell Everyone About It?

This week I want to challenge you to “up your game” when it comes to your Customer Service.

You don’t have to be a Sewell Cadillac or a Nordstroms to blow the socks off your customers. Just focus on them with your complete attention, make their issues bigger than your issues, and don’t be afraid to recommend others if they truly have a superior solution.

Does your Team Culture nurture Individual Winners or Team Winners?

This week I want to “geek out” on the Olympics for a bit – I hope that’s ok with you! If you’ve got a pulse you are probably aware that the 2024 Paris Olympics just finished up a week ago after 16 days of some of the most exciting sports competition you could ask for.

Whether it’s in cycling or track and field, or tennis or gymnastics or some other sport, we can learn a lot by watching those who aren’t any more gifted than someone else compete.

How Do You Welcome New Team Members Who Join Your Team?

This week our topic is one that will have a long-lasting impact on your team and your culture – the Process You Use to ON-BOARD NEW TEAM MEMBERS.

We all know that when we first meet someone, our first impression lasts the longest. It’s why when we first meet a prospective customer, we put our best-foot forward. We want to make a positive first impression – because it makes it much easier to build a solid relationship when we start with a positive impression.

Do Your Team Members Play The “I’m Right – You’re Wrong” Game?

This week I want to address a situation that seems to come up far too frequently. This one has to do with how your team members react and respond to others on your team.

This is the game where when two people disagree on how to handle a situation or they have different opinions on what the focus or priority should be, they begin to take sides on the issue.

So how do you get rid of the “I’m Right – You’re Wrong” attitude in your business? My preferred approach is to change the game we are playing. Rather than allowing team members to play the “I’m Right – You’re Wrong” game, I want you to introduce them to the “Yes- And…” Game.

How Do You Respond When Your Customer is Dissatisfied?

This week I want to talk about something that came up for a few of my clients over this past month that I thought was worth your time and attention. It has to do with how well we serve and support our customers – something that we are all very interested in – or SHOULD be very interested in.

If you’re like most business owners I know, there are always a handful of customers who have been disappointed in how they have been treated, the speed of their service or delivery, or the quality of the product or support they recently received.

What’s your typical response when this happens?

How Solid are Your Financials and How Strong is Your Team?

This week is the third and final week of the three-week Business Tune Up we launched in honor of the 2024 Tour de France bike race.

This week, we’re going deep into the engine and fuel for your business – your Financials and the Team you have assembled to execute your strategy and serve your customers.

If you want to be among the ELITE business owners, these MUST be a priority for you!

Are Your Bike Tires Getting Good Traction On the Road?

Today we’re covering your Business Tune Up – Part 2. We’re going to focus on the part of your business where the rubber LITERALLY meets the road – the front wheel and back wheel of your bike – your business. The front wheel of your bike represents your ABILITY TO WIN NEW CUSTOMERS. The back wheel of your bike represents SERVING YOUR CUSTOMERS.

OK? You ready to dive in? Let’s get started!

Could Your Business Use a Tune Up Right About Now?

This week and then for the next two consecutive weeks, I’ll walk you through the critical parts of your business that need to be looked at and “tuned up” from time to time to make sure your business – and YOU – stays in tip-top condition so you can RIDE HARD and RIDE FAST!

As we go through each part or component of your bike – your business – I’m going to share a statement and ask you to rate yourself on a scale of one to five – with one being a LOW score – meaning you’ve got lots of tuning up to do on this - and 5 being a HIGH score – meaning you’ve got this in pretty good shape already.

OK? You ready to dive in? Let’s get started!

What is it that is Holding You Back?

This week I want to share a book recommendation that I found to be a resource I wish I had found many years ago.

Each page of the book contained a single quotation and had lots of white space. He suggested it was a PERFECT book for a guy – someone who doesn’t really like to read novels or lengthy how-to books.

This book can be your “pick me up” boost whenever you’re stuck or frustrated with your progress.

Is Your Competition Using Your Business as the Benchmark Standard?

This week I want to explore the concept of benchmarking and how to best use it to make your business better. It’s a common practice that most seasoned business owners use to measure how well they are performing against their toughest competition. Today I want to give you a simple 5 step process that you can follow to set the standard for your industry.

Is Your Compensation Structure Promoting the Teamwork You Need in Your Business?

One conclusion I’ve come to – with little reservation – is that commission-based compensation structures don’t work all that well for creating a business that will be successful over the long term.

But you may be wondering – what SHOULD your compensation structure look like – to avoid these 4 negative effects? Glad you asked! That's what I will share with you in this episode.

Have You Built a Firm Foundation for Your Business?

Today I want to share with you the five (5) key elements that I believe go into creating the foundation for any business. You may want to grab a pen and paper so you can write these down – because when we’re done, you’re going to want to spend some time reflecting on your business and perhaps even adding some details to these 5 key elements in your business.

How effectively are you Qualifying your New Prospects?

It’s not uncommon for me to hear that the biggest issue or challenge a business owner is facing is the need to gain new customers. Many businesses have their team assembled, they have their product or service ready to go, and all they need to make the business work is to find and secure more customers. So this week I want to tackle one of the bigger challenges – Qualifying new prospects.

How are Your Employees Feeling About the Impact Your Business is Having on Those You Serve?

This week, I want to dive deeper into the LEVEL THREE – or as I call it GEAR THREE – statements that every employee is asking and assessing on a daily basis.

These Gear Three statements are related to whether the business is serving their customers well and if the business is making a difference in the community and world we all live in.

How are Your Employees Feeling About their Fellow Team Members and Their Future with Your Company?

This week, I want to dive deeper into the LEVEL TWO – or as I call it GEAR TWO – statements that every employee is asking and assessing on a daily basis.

These Gear Two statements are related to their supervisor and managers – the leadership of the business – and to their future with the business.

How Can You Keep Your Employees WITHOUT Requiring a Signed Non-Compete?

You’ve probably heard the reports that the Federal Trade Commission, better known as the FTC, has issued a ruling that is intended to promote competition by banning all non-compete clauses issued by companies to their employees.

I’m going to recommend that every business owner use this warning shot as a reason to double-down on creating a work environment that supports and builds a “radically-engaged” team.

How Good are You at Catching People Doing Things Right?

No matter how good they are at their job, the majority of employees feel that their immediate supervisor or direct line manager focus WAY MORE on the things they get wrong than those things they do well.

Great talent is hard to find. And when you have great talent, the LAST thing you want is for them to be discounted and disenfranchised from the business.

Why is it SO HARD to get your Team members to do things the way YOU want and need them to do it?

Truth be told, it’s not impossible at all. In fact, it’s simply a math equation! That’s right. Getting someone to do what you need or want them to do is ALL about getting the math right. You get the math right, and the other person will do what you want, without exception, every time – like magic!

How Good are You at Generating New Leads when Networking?

Over 91% of business owners surveyed said that Business Networking was a critical part of their marketing strategies and that Networking had been an integral part of how they grew their customer base.

Since everyone is using business networking to grow their business, shouldn’t you take some time to get GOOD at it?

How Effectively do you Clarify the Roles and Responsibilities in your Organization?

If you’re like most business owners I’ve met, one of the biggest challenges you’re facing is making sure everyone on your team knows, with certainty, what they are responsible for and what you expect from them in their position.

Today I want to share a method that you may find useful – or you may find the concepts worth modifying to fit into your new hire orientation program and into your communications when someone gets a well-deserved promotion in your company.

Would You Like to Avoid the Dumb Mistakes that Sabotage Growth, Profits, and Business Success?

Honestly, that’s what we’re doing together – trying to solve the biggest challenges in owning and running a business – and along the way, take the best path toward success – rather than getting stuck riding down the “stupid road” – the one full of potholes, dangers and pitfalls.

Have You Created a Brand That Speaks Clearly to Your Ideal Customers?

Today I want to work with you on a topic that probably gets very little of your daily attention but is perhaps the most valuable asset you have in your business.

This “most valuable asset” in your business is your BRAND! And today I’d like to spend a little time taking you through a little Brand-building exercise.

How Effectively are you using your Financial Metrics when Making Business Decisions?

Today I want to look behind the curtain and discuss how you are making important business decisions.

It seems that not a day goes by without you, the business owner, having to make at least one if not several important decisions related to your business.

When it comes to big decisions that impact the financial future of your business, the first step is to get crystal clear on this critical part of your Hedgehog Concept – your Economic Engine.

Who’s on Your Speed Dial List When Trying to Grow Your Business?

I think as business owners, we need to have a special list of people who are on our “speed dial” list when it comes to growing our business.

Let’s be honest, trying to grow your business without the help of other business owners can be VERY difficult and challenging.

Does Everyone On Your Team Know How Their Performance Will Be Measured?

I have found that most business owners find it difficult to start using position agreements in the beginning because it forces them to think through who should be responsible for what and how they should be measured – which is a different way to think about how work gets done in most businesses.

Is Your Value Proposition Driving the Behaviors You Require from Your Team?

I want to discuss how critically important it is for you and your team members, that there is alignment between what you have promised to your customers and what you expect from your team members.

I believe the BEST way to get your team members to follow your expectations or requirements is to demonstrate to them that your expectations are in ALIGNMENT with what the CUSTOMER needs and wants as they do business with you.

How Many of Your Team Members are IDEAL Team Players?

Today I want to introduce you to this resource – a book written by Patrick Lencioni. If you’re not familiar with Patrick Lencioni, and you’re a business owner, you absolutely MUST get his books and make it a priority to read and apply his principles.

I consider Patrick to be one of the foremost authorities on how to build a high-performing team. He’s written several that are MUST READS for any business owner.

Is The Rate of Your Business Growth Meeting Your Expectations?

Today I want to talk about SPEED. Not the kind where you get into a fast car and break the speed limit, but the kind where your business grows at a consistently exciting pace.

If your business is not growing, it means that the customers are not coming back to do business with you regularly and they are not telling their family and friends how much they enjoy doing business with you.

How is Your Business Going to be Better Today Than It Was Yesterday?

It’s a simple but powerful question to ask yourself – especially if you ask it and work on it each and every day! For many of you listening this may not be a question you’ve asked in a long time. For others of you, it may be a question you ask from time to time, but certainly not every day.

What Causes the Most Friction on Your Team?

This week I want to share a big lesson that I heard recently from a well-respected, winning coach. I’m not sure about you, but when someone gives me advice, the first thing I do is ask myself – Is this someone who I should be taking advice from?

When is the Right Time to Start Rewarding Your Team for Performance?

I’ve found that far too many business owners struggle to find the “right time” to set up a “pay for performance” type of compensation system for their business.

Are You Maximizing Your Opportunities to Generate Leads?

Most business owners I meet WISH they had more leads for their business. It’s one of the most frustrating struggles that many business owners deal with – not having enough leads to grow their business as fast as they had hoped.

But a quick peek behind the curtain often reveals that most businesses are not fully utilizing their maximum lead-generating capacity?

Do Your Habits Include those Followed by High Achievers?

We all have habits. It’s not something that you either have or don’t have. The more important question is WHAT are the habits that have become the control mechanism for your actions, decisions and behaviors?

Got a pen and paper handy? You may want to write these down and give yourself a thumbs up or thumbs down on each to see what work you have ahead of you.

What BELIEFS are Influencing your Actions, Behaviors and Results?

This podcast episode explores the impact of beliefs on actions, behaviors, and results in the context of achieving business success. It introduces seven key beliefs held by successful individuals, emphasizing the importance of mindset.

The host encourages listeners to reflect on these beliefs and consider their own perspectives for a successful new year. For the full details and insights, tune in to the podcast.

What single word will define your focus for this next year?

If you were to boil down your primary objective, your most important goal, and your singular focus for this new year ahead, what single word would best describe it for you?

What’s TRULY MOST Important in your Life?

My bet is it’s NOT your business. Nor is it your QuickBooks balance. Nor is it your office lease payment or your overhead burn rate. I’d bet that aside from your faith, what’s TRULY most important is probably a person or a group of people. Shouldn’t we prioritize what matters most over what seems most urgent at the moment?

What’s on your short list of changes to be made in the new year ahead?

Today I want to focus your attention on preparing for the upcoming new year. As we approach the end of this year, it’s time for you to share your plan for next year with your team and get them bought into your growth targets.

How well are you performing the 5 Critical Roles that a Business Owner should NEVER Delegate?

Far too often, business owners who are actively involved in the day-to-day operations of the business confuse their operational responsibilities with their ownership responsibilities.

Today I want to make sure you are thinking correctly about your own job description as the business owner.

Who Takes the Lead on Making Sure Your Team Lives Up to Your Performance Standards?

To be honest, it’s hard to both inspire and discipline. It’s hard to look at the big picture when you’re constantly being pulled into the daily details. It’s hard to be enthusiastic when you’re spending all your time filling the gaps in your execution or delivery.

But, this week I’m going to try to make your life as a business owner just a little bit better. I hope that’s ok with you!

What Kinds of Drugs are you Dealing to Those Around You?

This week I want to confront you on a serious offense – dealing drugs!

That’s right – you’re a drug dealer! I know it and you know it. So it’s time for you to come clean and confess that you’ve been dealing drugs to your team, your prospects and your customers!

Since you are a drug dealer by nature, be sure to deal the right drugs at the right time and in the right proportions. Do this and your business with thrive, grow and be fun to own.

What Grade Would You Give Yourself on Leadership?

Let’s face it – you can have a one-of-a-kind product, or you can have a service that is far superior to anyone else in your industry, but unless you become a best-in-class leader for your team, your business will struggle and you will be frustrated with your results.

In this episode, I want to share the 4 F's of Leadership – straight from the ground-up, proven landscape leader, Jeff McManus.

Is Your Plan to Make Improvements in Your Business Working?

In my years of working with business owners in many different types of businesses, I’ve come to recognize that there are actually 3 HIDDEN SECRETS that must be addressed in order for your production improvement strategy to be successful.

Today, I’d like to share these 3 hidden secrets with you and give you some practical ideas on how to easily implement these into your business.

Are You Among the Few Who Have WRITTEN Goals?

It can’t be just a coincidence that 85% of the wealth in the world just happens to be owned by 12% of the people on the planet AND those people ALSO happen to have taken time to write down their big goals.

There must be something to it. At least that’s what I believe and what I’m going to help you with today.

How Solid is Your Marketing Plan?

I have found that one of the biggest issues facing most businesses today is that not enough people know that they even exist and as a result, they not only don’t know who you are, but they don’t know what makes you “special”.

Today I have an exercise for you - to build a one-page Marketing Plan. With your one-page plan in place, you can make marketing decisions with confidence knowing whether the opportunities that come your way fit into your plan or not.

What does Rock and Roll have to do with You and Your Business?

This week I want to take you back in time. I want you to go back to the 1970’s with me. To an era where Rock and Roll was king. And today, I want to explain how “Rock and Roll” applies to you and your business.

What’s Your Plan to Grow Your Business This Next Year?

I want to share with you a nine-category model that covers the critical areas of your business that must be in your game plan for next year.

These nine categories will help you structure your business plan and focus your strategic actions on the areas that matter most to your business growth and success.

Do Your Team Members Know That You WANT them to Take Risks?

This week I want to focus on one of the seven keys to building a winning team. That’s right – you DID know that there are seven very specific things you need to do well to build a “winning team” – didn’t you? If you weren’t aware, then I’m VERY glad you’ve tuned in today.

How well have you Mastered the Use of Your Time?

I’m sure you’ve heard it said that we can all make more money, but none of us can make more time! It’s a universal truth. We’re all given the same amount of time each day and what often sets us apart from one another is how well we use the time that we’ve been given.

Are You Satisfied with Your Level of Success?

Today I AM going to limit our discussion to a single topic – it just happens that this single topic is VERY BROAD and VERY HARD TO DEFINE. But it is exactly what we are all striving to achieve – SUCCESS.

How Good is Your Team at Converting Leads into New Customers?

This week I want to focus on the front wheel of your bike – your ability to Win New Customers. This is perhaps the biggest challenge that most business owners face in their business, I thought it might be worth addressing once again.

What Is Holding You Back from Your Ideal Future?

To be honest, we could all benefit by spending a bit more of our time thinking about what we want our ideal future to look like. Far too often, as a business owner, your focus is on the here and now.

The only thing that is holding you back from the Ideal Future you are dreaming about is determining what needs to be worked on, setting some priorities, focusing your actions and setting an aggressive deadline.

What Could we Learn from Watching Professional Cycling Teams Compete?

I’m not sure if you’ve ever paid attention to a professional cycling team, but I’ve spent MANY hours watching, observing and analyzing what they do and thinking about why they do it. The more I watch, the more I see things that I think EVERYONE in business should be doing – even if their business has NOTHING to do with cycling or any kind of sport.

Are You Using the Concepts of Profit First in Your Business?

Most business owners I meet run their businesses in the traditional way. And by “traditional” I mean they look at their business and think about their business from their CPA’s or bookkeeper’s point of view.

But there is a different way to think about your business finances. And I believe it’s a BETTER way for a business owner to think about their financials – and that’s the PROFIT FIRST way.

Are Your Rewards Programs Aligned with Your Performance Expectations?

Today I want to talk about ALIGNMENT as it relates to your business. Just like the wheels on your car or your spine, if your rewards programs aren’t in alignment with your performance expectations, you won’t get the kind of results and great performance that you need or should expect.

How Fired Up Are You about Your Business Right Now?

No matter your situation, we ALL find ourselves questioning our resolve from time to time. Somedays we ARE Fired Up and other days we couldn’t light a fire if our life depended on it!

So what should you do and how should you react? That's what we're going to address here today.

Are Your Team Members ENTHUSIASTIC about Serving Your Customers?

We decide every day whether we’re going to show up with a POSITIVE attitude or a NEGATIVE attitude. And how we show up sets the tone and the expectation for how our TEAM shows up.

Your job, as the business owner, is to inspire, display and demonstrate how a POSITIVE approach wins over a neutral or negative approach.

Do Your Vendors and Suppliers Know and Respect Your Performance Standards?

As more and more businesses narrow their focus to become “experts” in one specific thing, they often times make the decision to “outsource” some of their non-core activities. The idea is that by not having to do EVERYTHING, they can get REALLY GOOD at the one or two things that they can become EXPERTS in.

Anyone and everyone who engages with your prospects and customers should be living up to YOUR standards. It’s one of the big benefits of owning your own business. Don’t leave this to chance.

Do You Focus More Time and Attention Helping Your Team Get Better or Identifying Where They are Falling Short?

This week I want to focus on a pet peeve I have with many business owners and senior leaders – how we perceive our role in providing performance feedback.

What FEELINGS do your Customers have when they do business with you?

Most consumers chose where to shop or where to get service or where to eat based on their FEELINGS about the people, the place, and the setting they will be in. In fact, the statistics are that 85% of a buying decision is based on EMOTION (or feelings). This suggests that only 15% of a buying decision is based on LOGIC (or price).

We’ve got to think about this far more often, validate the feelings we are giving on a more frequent basis and share our intended feelings with our team on a regular basis.

Is Your Team Ready to Play in the Big Leagues?

Your team is an extension of you. How they show up, how they behave and how they execute says a lot about you, the business owner. So you need to be INTENTIONAL about how you put your team together and the expectations you set for your team.

Today I’m asking if you believe that your team has the behaviors and characteristics of an “A Team” – a team who can compete and win against ANY other team.

As a Leader, are you a Multiplier or a Diminisher?

There are fundamentally two kinds of leaders: Multipliers and Diminishers. Multipliers use their intelligence to bring out the intelligence and ability of everyone else around them. Diminishers rely on their own intelligence because they think intelligence is a rare trait and they are one of the few individuals who have it.

Which reflects YOUR leadership style?

What would it take to 10X your business growth?

The notion that growing your business size, your income level or your revenue stream by a multiple of 10 is EASIER than simply doubling the size (2X growth) seems just plain wrong.

Here’s your assignment – get the book 10X Is Easier Than 2X by Dr. Benjamin Hardy. Then read the book and identify the first 2 or 3 things you’re going to change in your business to position yourself to 10X your business.

How do you celebrate when your customer achieves a big win?

If you’re like most business owners, you’re probably more focused on YOUR business success than you are on your CUSTOMER’s success. Not that you don’t care, but let’s be honest – you’ve got your hands full worrying about whether YOUR business is growing and being profitable.

So here’s a challenge for you - take advantage of your ability to be different, to be unique, to be personal and make it a priority to celebrate the wins of your customers.

How do you honor the most impactful person in your life?

This past week marks the 10th anniversary of my dad’s passing. When I realized this week that it had been 10 years since my dad died, I found myself being very reflective and thinking a lot about what I learned from him and how much he meant to me.

So I want to honor my dad today – for the lessons he shared with me and the friend he was to me – by sharing his story with you and sharing some of his most profound insights about being a business owner.

Do Your Team Members Know What Future Roles Will Be Available In Your Business?

Do you have clarity on what your organization will look like 3, 4 or 5 years in the future? If you don’t know what you want your business to look like in the future, how will you ever achieve your goals and dreams?

Do You Allow Friendly Fire from Those on Your Team?

This week I want to introduce a concept that will get you thinking differently about how you and your team act and behave in your business. My challenge to you this week is to be especially tuned in and aware of the conversations happening in and around your business this week. Be mindful and watchful for anything that resembles “friendly fire” and step in to stop it in its tracks!

How Do You Measure Your Business’s Financial Health?

Can we all agree that if we want our business to be successful over the long term that our business MUST be in good financial health?

Well, I think the same thing is true about your business. There are certain things that we should track and measure that are indicators of whether our business is financially healthy or not.

Is Your Team Your Greatest Competitive Weapon?

This week I want to talk about the power of transformation – and specifically the power that comes from transforming the individuals who work for you into a team of people who are your most powerful competitive weapon.

Do You and Your Team Live “Above the Line” or “Below the Line”?

I titled this episode “The Line of Choice” because each day, each hour, and each encounter we have with our team, our customers, our suppliers, or our community at large, we have a “choice” on how we are going to “show up”.

Do Your Team Members Take Pride in the Work They Do for Your Customers?

This week's question is a key indicator of how “radically engaged” your team members are.

How Often Do You Over-Deliver On the Promise To Your Customers?

It’s an interesting question that often leads to some interesting discussion about their job responsibilities and the authority they have been given, but mostly, the responses tell me a lot about the mindset of the business owners.

How Good Are You at Math – Not Just ANY Math – Business Math?

You see, I believe that ANYONE can be successful in business – whether you think logically or are more feeling-based – whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert – whether you like things or you like people.

But there is one thing you MUST be good at – and that is understanding the MATH of business.

How Often Do You Call Strategic Time Outs?

This week I want to reflect a bit on the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament that just finished. In basketball, just like in business, there are teams that seem to be unstoppable – until some unknown team steps up and puts a stop to them!

But what should we do about it and how can you keep it from happening to YOUR business? By calling more “strategic time outs!”

What Truly Sets You Apart from Your Toughest Competition?

You may have heard this referred to as your value proposition or your unique differentiation. No matter what you call it, it is important that you purposely and intentionally answer the fundamental question – how can you separate yourself, in a meaningful way, from any other competitor in your industry?

What Progress Have You Made in Making Positive Changes to Your Most Critical Processes?

This week, your assignment is to do just that! Identify 2 or 3 critical processes that could use a good "tune up", get a few of your team members together, and brainstorm ways you could “mistake-proof” those processes.

What Strategies are you using to Increase Customer Loyalty?

It is far easier and far less expensive to KEEP an existing customer than it is to find a new customer. This is why I believe there are two very specific metrics you should be tracking in your business on a regular basis to confirm and validate that you are building customer loyalty the right way.

Today, we're going to explore these metrics and I'll give you 3 specific strategies to improve customer loyalty for your business.

How Well are You and Your Key Leaders Doing at Pacesetting?

You’ve heard it said that you’re only a leader to the extent that others will follow you. Well, today I want to put a slight twist on that saying and phrase it this way – “You’re only a leader to the extent that others are ABLE to follow you”.

To be a great leader you’ve got to be a great mentor and coach. This means you need to set the pace for your business and your team. You’ve got to bring them along with you by involving them in the big decisions of the business.

How Robust are your Execution and Delivery Processes?

If you’re following along with my “bike as a business” metaphor, then you will recognize that today we’re focusing on the BACK WHEEL of your bike – Serving Your Customers.

Once you make a commitment to deliver a certain level of quality or fill the order with an agreed-upon speed, or achieve a specific level of benefit or respond in a defined timeframe, you now must DELIVER on your promise.

How do You Handle Price-Sensitive Customers?

It seems that no matter how we position our products or services, from time to time, we have to face this particularly difficult sales situation. The prospect or customer whose singular motive is to find a way to get your cheapest price.

Let’s see if we can unpack what we need to do to “convert” at least some of our price-sensitive prospects into customers who truly value and appreciate our unique differentiation!

How do You Show “Strong Leadership” to Your Team?

No matter who is at the top of your list, the bigger question today is WHY are they on your list of Strong Leaders? What is it that MAKES someone a strong leader?

What is the Secret Sauce that Sets You Apart from Your Competition?

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I read the definition of "secret sauce", it makes me want to “double down” on my “secret sauce”. How about you? Are you wanting to “increase the chances of your success”? Do you want to be successful or distinctive”? My bet is the answer is an absolute YES!

We're going to dive into this topic today.

How Effectively Do You Ask Your Current Customers for Referrals?

Today I want to talk with you about asking for referrals. Asking for a referral is a powerful strategy that we should all be using to help us grow our business. But I’m not talking about asking anyone for a referral. I want to specifically address asking your current customers for referrals.

Getting referrals from your best customers can radically change the trajectory of your business. If you master this process and execute it well, you will find this to be a goldmine – and you’ll end up with more customers than you know what to do with!

How Do You Handle Team Members Who Do Not Live Up To Your Performance Standards?

When someone acts “out of character” in front of a customer, or when someone shows up late and your customer is left questioning your integrity, or when someone doesn’t put enough effort or attention to detail into your product or service and your customer is disappointed with the end product? How do you handle that frustration? What do you do when that occurs?

Our discussion today will address this important issue.

How High Have You Set Your Delivery Standards?

You see, it’s CRITICALLY important that everyone in your business knows EXACTLY what you expect from them with regards to delivering on the promise you made to your customers when you first started doing business with them.

It all starts with defining your delivery standard in terms that sets it apart from everyone else in your industry. They break it down and describe it for your team at every step of the customer experience. Then, hold your team accountable to deliver on the promise to each and every customer.

How Frequently Do You Grade Your Current Customers?

This week I’d like to turn the tables a bit and ask you to shine a spotlight on your customers.

There’s no reason why you can’t grade and select the customers you want to work with – just as customers are grading and selecting you as a business to work with.

How Well Do You and Your Leaders Model Your Desired Behaviors?

The first question that needs to be addressed is probably – How well does your “culture” fit the expectations, needs and desires of your ideal customer?”

Let’s start this new year by making a commitment to NEVER allow a leader (including yourself) to fall short of your desired behaviors. You’ll be shocked at the impact that will have on your business results this year!

Does Your Sales Process Consistently Result in Securing Your Ideal Customer?

When I think about making this next year BETTER than this last year, my mind immediately goes to the part of your business that probably needs the most attention – your ability to WIN NEW CUSTOMERS.

If you follow this advice your new year will start off STRONG and by next year-end you’ll be sharing stories about how AWESOME your customers were – because they all represented your Ideal Customer!

How do you Make Things Right when you screw up with a Customer?

Our topic this week is one that no one enjoys or looks forward to, but one that all of us have to deal with from time to time. It’s the reality that no matter how good we are at serving our customers, inevitably there will be situations where our customer is disappointed with us – with our product or our service or how they were treated by someone on our team.

The reality is we all wish they NEVER happened, but we all know they will. So better to be prepared and have a well-thought-through plan of action when the inevitable happens.

What Makes Your Business a SPECIAL Place to Work?

This week I want to talk about your “insider secrets”. You know, those things that only someone who is on the “inside” would know about your business.

Done right, these kinds of insider secrets can set your business apart from any other in the mind of your team members. It will make them feel super special and will make them want to stay with you for the long term.

How do you Decide Which Marketing Strategies are the RIGHT ONES for Your Business?

This week I want to spend a bit more time on that front wheel – and specifically, I want to spend our time focused on the SPOKES of the front wheel – your Marketing Strategies.

Are You CONSISTENTLY Performing Better Than Your Toughest Competition?

TODAY I want to shift our focus and look OUTWARD – to our competition. And not just to any competitor, but to our TOUGHEST competition.

You see, beating your toughest competitor requires you to do some serious thinking and planning in advance of the race itself. It doesn’t just happen on race-day.

Are Your Employees Thinking Seriously About Their FUTURE Role with Your Business?

This week I want to focus our attention on a topic that doesn’t come up in normal business conversation very often – that is - getting your current employees to think of and focus on the expectations of their FUTURE position with your company.

Your team members WANT to be able to see their future – and most of them want that future to be with YOUR business – otherwise they wouldn’t be there today!

How Robust is your Set of Processes for Winning New Customers?

This week I want to focus on the front wheel of your bicycle – the processes necessary to consistently and confidently Win New Customers.

It turns out that there are also three main elements that must fit tightly together for you to be able to consistently and confidently win new customers for your business. In today's episode, we're going to explore them each in detail.

What Process are you using to Consistently Review and Improve Your Critical Business Processes?

Our topic this week is one that I consider to be a “silver bullet” when it comes to beating your toughest competition – implementing a process to consistently and regularly review and improve your critical business processes.

I can assure you, if you get this right, your team members would not only embrace change, they would THRIVE on change! THAT’S our goal with continuous improvement.

How active are you and your team in your community?

This week I want to encourage you to be intentional about using your talents and resources to make a positive impact on your community.

If you’re sitting there thinking that SOMEDAY we SHOULD get more engaged in our community – quit waiting around! I'm going to show you how in this episode.

What are You Doing to Encourage EVERYONE on your Team to Take Personal Responsibility for their Performance?

This week I want to challenge your thinking and ask you drop your defenses as we discuss creating an organization based on OWNERSHIP rather than trying to hold people ACCOUNTABLE.

I can assure you that if you adopt these concepts in your business, not only will your business results improve, but your enjoyment of the business with go through the roof!

What Have You Done Recently to Get CREATIVE with Your Customer Engagement?

This week I want us to focus on CREATIVE customer engagement strategies. And I want to do this by using the model that we learned from the new kings of baseball – The Savannah Bananas!

I’m not asking for a huge effort – just small incremental improvements that will build upon one another to make your customer experience the very best in your industry!

Listen in and learn how.

What are You Doing to Create a GREAT Team Culture?

Today’s topic is – CREATING A GREAT TEAM CULTURE.

Don’t hide behind the culture of the world around us. Put in the effort necessary to create the culture that YOU want and your CUSTOMERS deserve!

Today's episode will help you get started.

Does Everyone On Your Team Know What is Expected Of Them?

Today I want to discuss a topic that is often overlooked or assumed, but rarely crystal clear – THE EXPECTATIONS YOU HAVE FOR YOUR TEAM MEMBERS.

If you want your team members to be 100% in alignment with your expectations and desires for them, this position agreement approach will do the trick nicely. I’ve never had anyone balk at the idea. In fact, I’ve found that employees find it REFRESHING to know with clarity what it will take to WIN.

Today's episode will help you know how.

How Often do you Share your Customer Wins?

Our topic today is one that we can all agree is fun, energizing and uplifting – SHARING CUSTOMER WINS.

Honestly, this may be the easiest and best way for us to tell our story and make others feel great in the process. But far too often, we are too focused on OUR situation and we totally forget about the wins of those who are keeping us in business – our customers!

Today, we're going to fix this!

Are Your Employees Fired Up About You Making More Profit?

Our topic today is one that often creates anxiety, confusion and uncertainty for business owners – SHARING YOUR PROFITS.

I saw first-hand how powerful a motivator this is when I was running a manufacturing business. So I thought that rather than walk you through a step-by-step how-to discussion, I would share the story that I lived out in hopes that it might speak to you directly.

Come on and join me!

Does Your Organization Structure Inspire Your Team to Grow and Stay With You Long Term?

Our topic today is one that you may think is boring or unimportant – YOUR ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE. But before you tune out, I want you to know THIS topic may be the biggest missed opportunity you have to energize and inspire your team!

In this episode, I want to give you a few very practical thoughts on how you can make that happen with just a few simple changes in what you are probably doing already.

Are You Regularly and Consistently Getting Customer Feedback?

Our topic today is one that many people have differing opinions about – GETTING CUSTOMER FEEDBACK.

Here’s a very interesting statistic – when consumers were asked WHY they would stop doing business with one company in favor of another, the overwhelming answer was that the company they were using today didn’t really CARE whether they stayed with them or not!

Today I want to help you think through some alternatives and design a customer feedback process that will let your customers know you truly do CARE about them being a satisfied customer for life!

Are Your Compensation & Rewards Programs Aligned with Your Values and Desired Behaviors?

In this episode I want to discuss a topic that I’m pretty sure will ruffle a few feathers – THE ALIGNMENT OF YOUR COMPENSATION AND REWARDS PROGRAMS.

Some might suggest this is a topic that I should avoid. But I think it’s a topic that has the opportunity to give you a HUGE advantage over your competition – particularly if you get the alignment right.

When this alignment is solid, YOU get what you want as a business owner, your customer gets what they want, and your team gets what they want – a win in all directions!

Today, we're going to discuss how to make this happen.

Are You Solving Your Customers’ Biggest Challenges?

This week I want to discuss a topic that I would argue is the essence of why you’re in business today – UNDERSTANDING AND SOLVING YOUR CUSTOMERS’ BIGGEST CHALLENGES.

Just imagine your business getting stronger, better, faster and your promise becoming more “iron-clad”. Customers and prospects will see you as someone who “gets them” because you’ve said SPECIFICALLY what you know they hate – and you won’t let that happen when they do business with you!

How cool would that be! Listen in today to learn how.

Are You Setting Up Your Team Members for Success?

Our topic this week is one of the most impactful things you can do to make your business grow – SETTING YOUR TEAM MEMBERS UP FOR SUCCESS.

What we do to help make our employees more successful will be returned to us as they make our customers more satisfied and as a result, our business will be more successful.

It’s a win/win/win scenario! This week, we'll show you how to make that happen.

Does Your Team Know What You Consider to be Non-Negotiable?

This week our topic is perhaps one that most of us know without question, but have probably never said out loud or written down – YOUR TEAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS.

How cool would it be if everyone on your team knew without question the 6 or 8 things that you ABSOLUTELY will not tolerate? And, if they not only knew what they were, but they knew EXACTLY what you DID want and expect of them?

Today, we're going to help you put that in place!

What are Your Customer Engagement Standards?

This week our topic is one that I would venture to guess you’ve never given any serious thought – YOUR CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT STANDARDS.

Imagine what your business would look like if you adopted the 7 fairly simple and straight-forward customer engagement standards I outline in this episode.

Listen in and find out what's possible.

How do you welcome New Employees to your team?

This week our topic is one that will have a long-lasting impact on your team and your culture – ON-BOARDING NEW EMPLOYEES.

This is an area of our business where most ALL businesses have significant room for improvement. Another way to say this is – most businesses have a pathetic on-boarding process for new employees. The opportunity to do better is EVERYWHERE!

I want you to imagine what your business would look like and how your team members would feel about you as an owner and your business as a place to work if this set of activities happened for each and every member of your team.

That's what we're going to help you with today.

What Cause of Purpose do you support with your business?

This week our topic is one that is often an after-thought, but should be part of the “fabric” of who you are – YOUR PURPOSE.

How good would you feel if every day you woke up and knew that what you were doing with your business was truly making a difference and changing the world in the area that you were most passionate about?

THAT’S what knowing your Purpose can do for you.

How Well Do You TRULY Know Your Ideal Customer?

Knowing your ideal customer is important for two very specific reasons.

The first is because when we’re communicating and sharing what we do and who we do it for (some call this our value proposition) we want to be sure we are speaking directly and clearly to those who we want to buy our products or services.

The second reason this topic is important is to help us identify those potential customers that we want to avoid.

What I want for you today is for you to have the clarity and focus on your ideal customer so that it simply pours out of you every time you speak about your business and why you do what you do.

This week our topic is one of the most challenging issues facing business owners today – FINDING AND HIRING GREAT TEAM MEMBERS.

Imagine what that would look like – to have a team of people who are 100% in alignment in these critical areas – mission, vision, beliefs, values, principles and standards.

You’d be UNSTOPPABLE!

That’s what we’re shooting for! Not just finding a few “good” people, but consistently attracting “great” people to your team.

What do you want your business to look like in 5 years?

This week our topic is arguably one of the most important assignments for every business owner – STEERING YOUR BUSINESS.

You may ask – how do I "steer my business"? Well, I believe you steer your business by having a compelling vision and by providing strong leadership.

Today, we're going to dive into this critical topic and give you a few tune-up tips.

These past couple of years have been difficult for many - especially those who are small business owners. We've all had to make adjustments and "pivots" in our daily routines and our business models.

After pausing this podcast for a couple of years, we're back and stronger than ever! Welcome to the NEW Ultimate Business Tune Up Podcast!

Each week we're going to be sharing topic-specific insights, advice and guidance to help you re-build your business so that it is stronger, better and most importantly, being operated by a "radically-engaged" team of people.

Thanks for hanging in there with us!

Rich

Most of us hate to admit it, but in order for anyone to be successful in virtually any aspect of life, business or otherwise, they must be disciplined. Think about the guy or gal who you see at the gym who is sporting a six-pack. How did they get that way? By being disciplined. How about the country western singer who just released a best-selling hit? They were disciplined. How about the sales person who leads the team month after month? Yep, it’s discipline.

Everything starts with discipline. But here’s the great part – you don’t have to disciplined in EVERYTHING you do, just in those things you want to be GREAT at!

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Pick 1 thing you want to get better at right away. Be specific.
For the next 30 days, block 1 hour per day on your calendar to focus on this specific area.
Work HARD on this for just 1 hour each day. No exceptions!
Keep a daily journal of what you accomplished and how you felt at the end of each hourly segment.

Do this for the next 30 days (without exception) and I can promise you that your improvement will be noticeable and you’ll see the change that you’ve been looking for!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there.

And, to make progress faster in your business, ride along with like-minded business owners who share ideas, lessons learned and business strategies that are working. You’ll find it all in my FREE, private Facebook Group: The Peloton. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/jointhepeloton/

Come on – join us! And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Your Legacy

Several events have happened recently that make me realize we are only “in the game” for a defined amount of time – and we don’t know when we’re going to get “benched”.

A City of Richardson SWAT team member was killed recently but never imagined his duty call would be his last call. My father-in-law passed away exactly 1 year to the day that he had his first stroke. And I’m sure you have someone you know who was taken “out of the game” well before their time should have been up.

While it is sad to think of these situations, I am inspired when I think of the LEGACY some of these men and women have left behind. And it makes me ask the question – “Am I building my ideal legacy every day?”

Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Today, we are still “on the court – in the game” and have an opportunity to truly make a difference in the lives of those around us. We cannot forget that. We cannot take that for granted. We MUST use each and every day we are given to make progress on our legacy – never putting it off until tomorrow!

I’ve asked several business owners about this over the past week and as expected, many do not REALLY know what they want their legacy to be – do you?

Make time – this week – to write down your ideal legacy. What you want those you leave behind to say and think about you when you are gone. Then, begin to live each day as if it may be your last day!

One business owner I asked about their legacy opened a document they had written several years ago as the speech they hoped would be read at their funeral. It was powerful and compelling. Are you that clear? If not, take time to work this out now!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Insane Productivity

Have you ever wondered how the uber-successful people can accomplish so much while you are always feeling stressed out and over-committed? I sure know I have!

So recently I decided to enroll in a course called Insane Productivity by Darren Hardy. The goal was to learn the principles and techniques used by the ultra-successful to achieve so much more than the average person.

I’m only half-way through the course, but I’ve already had a big “Ah Ha” that I want to share – that is, most of us have Digiphrenia and Acquired ADD!

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

The biggest block to your being Insanely Productive is that fact that you think you are great at Multi-Tasking! But you’re not! Because it’s not how your brain works.

Rather than being able to FOCUS and get things done, we are constantly SWITCHING from one thing to another and being DISTRACTED hundreds of times each day! If you want to be Insanely Productive, you’ve got to FOCUS and AVOID DISTRACTIONS – most of which are SELF-IMPOSED!

Take out your smart phone and turn off EVERY notification! That’s right – no dinging, no buzzing, no pop-ups! Now do the same thing on your computer – turn off all alerts and pop-ups.

Now set a schedule to check your email only 4 times a day – twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon. Next, only check your phone once per hour. You may need to put it in a drawer or leave it in your car to help you avoid temptation.

Try this for just 1 week and I PROMISE that you will be amazed at how much more time you have and how easy it is to focus on getting important things done!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Your Wildly Important Goal for 2019

Earlier this year I introduced you to a very powerful book – The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Sean Covey. It has proven to be a game-changer for many of my clients over these past years.

The premise of the book is that if you want to make significant change in your business, you need to FOCUS your attention on the One Thing that you truly want to improve. This is your Wildly Important Goal – Your WIG.

As we put a bow on 2018, the question for you is – What is YOUR WIG for 2019?

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Ask yourself this very important question: If everything else were to stay as it is in your business right now, what is THE ONE THING that would make the biggest, positive impact on your business right now?

Take the time to define your answer using the following formula: Improve _______ from _________ to __________ by __________. This should become your Wildly Important Goal (WIG) for 2019!

Now, go back and re-read the book, The 4 Disciplines of Execution, and put in place all 4 of the disciplines so that 2019 can be your break-out year!

Avoid the trap that many business owners fall into. That is repeating your very same experience year after year. While my Dad worked his business for over 40 years, he did not have 40 years of experience, he had 1 year of experience repeated 40 times!

Don’t let that happen to you! Make 2019 a NEW year with NEW experiences! My hope for you is that 2019 is YOUR BEST YEAR EVER!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Be a GREAT Shepherd

As we close in on the end of another year, I want you to take time to think about how you can become a GREAT Shepherd!

We live in a place where your team members have MANY options when it comes to earning a living – why should they stay with you rather than looking for “greener pastures”? The answer should be - because you are a GREAT Shepherd!

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Take time this month to read or listen to the book The Way of the Shepherd by Dr. Kevin Leman. It’s an easy read, but one that will change how you consider your role as the leader of your team.

Dr. Leman outlines the 7 Principles necessary to be a GREAT Shepherd:

1 – Know the Condition of your Flock

2 – Discover the SHAPE of your Sheep

3 – Help your Sheep Identify with You

4 – Make your Pasture a Safe Place

5 – Use the Staff of Direction

6 – Apply the Rod of Correction

7 = Have the Heart of a Shepherd

The lessons are clear, to the point and powerful when applied. In this highly competitive economy, you need every advantage you can find – this is a BIG one!

Get the book and read it by the end of the year! Don’t put this off! Make this your new model for demonstrating leadership – and those who truly “know your voice” you will follow you anywhere!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Work Hard to Retain Good Customers!

My wife and I recently spent time updating our vision for our future – where to live, where to travel, what to accomplish, and how to manage our finances. It’s an exercise I would HIGHLY recommend to any married couple.

As part of this discussion, we agreed to stop spending money on several subscriptions and services that we had been paying for but not fully utilizing. So the following Monday, I send cancellation notices to 6 different companies after having been a customer for many years with all of them.

The result….CRICKETS! With the exception of 1 company, the response was either silence or a polite “we will miss you.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Be willing to FIGHT to retain your Good Customers!

I’m the first to recommend you say “good riddance” to any customer that is a C or D customer. But if they are an A or B customer, you’ve got to FIGHT to keep them! Here’s how to show them you care about their decision to leave you:

Respond QUICKLY – the same day if possible, and express your sincere disappointment.
Take Responsibility – be quick to acknowledge that you have let your customer down by not making the service or experience more impactful.
Provide Options – give your customer some alternative other than just walking away.

Take some time to review your current customer list and ask them how it is going BEFORE they come to the decision to make a change. Be Pro-Active. It is much more expensive to win a new customer than it is to retain an existing customer!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

5 Keys to Working Your Genius

I want to share a great lesson I got from one of my mentors, Taki Moore. He hit me in the nose with two realities that I think you may relate to you as well. He told me, #1 – You are Wearing Too Many Hats, and #2 – You Spend Time Doing Stuff You SUCK At! Ouch, that hurts!

But then he shared with me some wisdom that I thought you could use as well…

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

The Secret to “Scaling up” is to Give Yourself a One-Hat Job!

Here are 5 Keys to “Working Your Genius” – that is doing what you are BEST at, and having a small team (your pit crew) to do the rest:

1 – Find Your Freakness – What are your natural strengths and weaknesses?

2 – Eliminate Your Weakness – Surround yourself with those whose strengths are your weakness.

3 – Play to Your Strengths – Stop comparing yourself to others and focus on your unique giftedness.

4 – Change the World – Use your pit crew to design your unique systems and processes.

5 – Build a Theatre – Let your pit crew build the engine room and you focus your time and effort to be “On Stage”.

I love his quote: “The world needs you to do BIG things, and you can’t do BIG things if you’re busy doing lesser mortal crap!”

Was this message meant just for me, or could it possibly be meant for you too?

It’s time to stop working on “lesser mortal crap” and start doing BIG things!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Set the Bar High

My wife is excellent at relationships. She seems to be the go-to person when someone is in a difficult relationship or needs someone to help them process their feelings. I often hear her say “don’t settle” to our young adult kids and I’m sure those she talks with hear it time and time again. I think her advice is solid.

So why is it that when we get into business and we have folks on our team, we are so willing to “settle” for average performance? With the difficulty in hiring these days I’ve heard business owners suggest that they’d rather have someone who was average than have no one! But that’s a big mistake!

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Millennials want Business Owners to hold people to HIGHER Standards!

I recently read an article that outlined the main reasons millennials don’t stay in most business. And one of the big 3 reasons was that today’s business owners have LOW standards and often willingly accept average performance – and they don’t like it!

Here’s their specific quote: “It’s downright debilitating to a high achiever. I’m working my heart out and every time I look up Donna-Do-Nothing is contemplating how long is too long to take for lunch. I start wondering why leadership tolerates this. Is that the standard here? No thanks. Fact: Poor performers have a chilling effect on everyone.”

Stop tolerating average! Stop settling. It’s time to set your bar HIGH – for the sake of your business and to demonstrate to the millennial crowd that you’re not OK to just be average.

If you step up, those on your team who want to be there will applaud you!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

The Challenger Sale

Whether we want to admit it or not, we are ALL in sales! Some are very comfortable with the idea of being in sales while others wish they NEVER had to “sell”. But since it is a critical part of each of our roles, then why not be GREAT at it, rather than just try to get by with whatever skills we have (or don’t have).

I’m a big fan of always learning when it comes to the game of selling. And recently I re-read one of my favorite books on the art of selling – The Challenger Sale, by Matthew Dixon. In his book, he outlines the 5 categories of B2B sales reps: The Hard Worker, The Problem Solver, The Relationship Builder, The Lone Wolf and The Challenger.

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Greater than 50% of all Star Performers use The Challenger style of selling!

Clearly, if you want to be on top of the game in selling a complex product or service, you need to become familiar with The Challenger approach to selling. Challengers become competent in 3 major activities: Corporate Teaching, Tailoring and Taking Control.

Other research findings show that only 7% of top performers use the Relationship Building approach!

First and foremost, READ THE BOOK! This is a must-read if you are selling a complex B2B product or service.

Secondly, become familiar with the core elements of Corporate Teaching, Tailoring and Taking Control.

Thirdly, don’t be satisfied with your current level of competency. ALWAYS be learning and challenging your own knowledge, skills and abilities!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Priority Determines Capacity

What would you do if you knew just how much time you had left in your life? Would you change the things you focus on if you knew there was a specific and defined amount of time you had left to get done what you felt was important?

It is a reality that none of us know how much time we have left being able to do what we’re doing today. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. So why do we PROCRASTINATE on the things that matter most and spend our time on activities that really don’t make a lasting difference?

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Determine the BIG ROCKS in your life and put them in your schedule FIRST!

Each of us has different priorities, different goals and different agendas. The question is are you making them a PRIORITY and would that be evident by looking at your CALENDAR?

Your calendar needs to reflect what matters most to you. The things that are your biggest priorities should be SCHEDULED IN on a regular basis, not just something you will get to if you have time left. The small rocks, the pebbles and the sand will fill up your jar of time and you will not have room for the BIG ROCKS unless you make them a PRIORITY!

Dedicate the time to identify your TOP 4 or 5 Priorities – Your BIG ROCKS. Then take your daily and weekly calendar and BLOCK TIME on your calendar for each of them. Do this BEFORE you put in the ongoing administrative things like email, voicemail, social media, etc.

Ask yourself each day – Did I spend time on my PRIORITIES? If so, your CAPACITY to accomplish more will grow!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

The Art of Digging Deep

What do you think about when I mention the word “selling”? Do you immediately envision a used car salesman, or a pushy phone caller? Or do you think of someone professionally helping you solve your most difficult problem?

How you think about selling and your beliefs about sales have a big impact on whether or not you will be good at the art of selling.

And one thing is certain – you can’t be very helpful in solving someone’s biggest problem is you haven’t asked enough questions to know what their REAL problem is!

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

To be great at “selling” you need to master the art of “Digging Deep”.

Most sales people are too quick to dive into their sales pitch without ever really understanding the problem or issue their prospect needs to solve. And how can you know what their problem or issue is without ASKING QUESTIONS?

If you want to see “digging deep” in action, watch the newly released movie “MINE”. It’s a story about a US soldier stuck with one foot on a land mine for over 50 hours. But during his ordeal, a local Bedouin approaches him and in one scene asks him the same question 5 or 6 times – “WHY…”

The next time you have an initial meeting with a prospective customer, act like the Bedouin in the movie MINE – ask the same question at least 4 or 5 times – “WHY…”

Don’t move on to your “pitch” until your prospect has uncovered at least 4 or 5 layers of reasons “why”. At that point, you may know their REAL issue or problem – only then you will be in a position to help them with your product or service.

If you don’t have 4 or 5 “why” questions ready to ask, you’re not ready to master the art of selling!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

The Most Powerful Question

Often times we find ourselves in situations where we just don’t know what we should do. It may appear that there are a few options we could take – some perhaps easier than others. But the right choice is difficult to see from where we stand.

I have found that there is one question that we can ask that will clear away any confusion or fog. I consider it to be the most powerful question that we could ever ask. Here it is: What would my successor or replacement do?

This is the question, that when answered honestly, will give you the greatest clarity on your next step, your next action, your next focus. And the best part is that a version of this question works in most every part of your business or your life!

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

If you’re a Business Owner and your business is struggling, just ask yourself : If I were to sell my business, what would the NEW BUYER do to turn the business around?

If you’re an employee but just not making the kind of career progress you’d like, ask yourself: If I were to quit or be fired, what would MY REPLACEMENT do to be successful?

If you’re in a relationship that isn’t going well, ask yourself: If I were to leave, what would HER NEXT LOVE do to make the relationship great?

Take some time to think about what you are most frustrated with – in your business, in your career or in your life, and then ask yourself this ONE POWERFUL question.

If you have an advisor, partner or personal friend, ask the question of them! They will often see clearly what you cannot see at all!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Knowledge vs. Wisdom

Let me ask you: What is the difference between Knowledge and Wisdom? Aren’t they pretty much the same thing? Actually, no – they are VERY different! Here’s the equation I use: Knowledge + Experience = Wisdom

If you need help in any part of your life, wouldn’t you rather get it from someone with Wisdom, not someone who simply has Knowledge? For your bad back, for your tooth ache, for your marriage or for your SEO, your hiring needs, or your tax returns?

We ALL want to work with someone with WISDOM, not someone who just has Knowledge! So, how do we BECOME someone who has WISDOM, not just Knowledge?

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

TAKE ACTION! The only way you can gain Wisdom is through practice, experimentation and hands-on learning. It’s why most people with Wisdom are “Older and Wiser”! But age alone does not gain you Wisdom. Many “experienced” people don’t have Wisdom because they don’t Practice, Experiment and Learn.

TAKE ACTION! Begin putting some of your Knowledge into Action. Stop just “knowing” stuff and start “doing” stuff! Stop just “talking” about how much you know and start “experimenting” with what you know. Stop “gathering facts” and start “demonstrating” your expertise.

My challenge to you is to become a person with WISDOM, not just a person of KNOWLEDGE. Others will respect you and seek you out when you do!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Slow Down to Speed Up!

Think about the last time you encountered a roadblock, setback, problem, issue or frustration. It might have been with a customer or with a team member or perhaps even some technology. If you’re like most people I know, you probably jumped right on the issue, wrestled it to the ground and found a solution or fix. It’s a normal reaction for high-performing individuals who consider themselves to be go-getters!

But it’s not always the best approach if you want to produce game-changing results. A “quick fix” might stop the bleeding, but it rarely provides the long-term, best-fit solution.

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Build the discipline to SLOW DOWN in order to SPEED UP! By that I mean take longer to get started so that you can go faster in execution. Rather than diving head-first into solving a big challenge without a plan, it is important to take time to do 3 things:

1 – Think about your Desired Outcome,

2 – Decide how to Best Approach the situation, and

3 – Seek Advice from someone with experience or knowledge that would help.

The next time you run into a difficult situation – in your business or in a significant relationship, or with your children, I want you to apply the “Slow Down to Speed Up” approach.

Don’t react or respond right away. Step away from the keyboard. Put down the phone. Don’t open your mouth. Take time to apply the 3-step process by asking yourself: What is my Desired Outcome? What is the BEST Approach in this situation? Who can I talk to who would have dealt with a similar situation before?

Do this and your business, your life and your relationships will be enriched!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

The Bottleneck is ALWAYS at the Top!

Have you ever seen a bottle where the bottleneck is anywhere but the top? Probably not! That’s because the most restricted part of any bottle is the bottleneck. And the SAME is true in business! The limit on any business is ALWAYS at the TOP of the business – you, the business owner!

So if you want your business to grow bigger, you’ve got to first grow yourself. If you want your business to be better, you’ve got to be better yourself.

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

I’ve got a Success Self-Assessment that measures where you are on 16 characteristics that define GREATNESS as a business leader. It covers areas such as self-confidence, positivity, buoyancy, inspiring others, thirst for knowledge, demanding high standards, setting aggressive goals, developing your team, leading by example, accountability, out-hustling the average, having a clear dream and making a difference in the world.

My question for you is – if you were to rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 in each of these areas, would you be a 10 (the best there is) or closer to a 1 (you suck at this)?

If you’re serious about taking your business to the next level, then you need to be passionate about taking YOURSELF to the next level FIRST! You’ve got to be ON-FIRE when it comes to the attributes that are behind the ultimate success formula:

BE x DO = HAVE

You’ve got to BE the kind of person people are inspired by. You’ve got to DO the things that successful leaders do. And you’ve got to HAVE a clear idea of your future and the significance you want to make in this world.

Without being at your best in each of these areas, you’ll never achieve the success you desire and deserve!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Geometry for Business

I recently heard a church sermon on “The Good Life” that made me think. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the same principles apply to being successful in business. It was all about geometry – specifically 3 shapes that were important to “master” if you want to be successful and enjoy “The Good Life”.

The 3 shapes are quite simple – a point, a line and a circle. And the application of these 3 geometric shapes in your life and your business may just be the key to success you’ve been searching for!

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

The point represents you as a business owner taking time to be alone, to think, to study, to dream and to plan. You MUST dedicate time on a regular basis for these important activities if you intend to be successful.

The line represents the time you spend listening to and learning from experts in your field. This could be at conferences, in seminars, or in workshops where you change your surroundings and learn from those who share wisdom and learnings. You MUST make this a regular part of your ongoing personal development.

The circle represents your being a part of a small group of peers who are willing and able to support you, to challenge you and to hold you accountable. In business this is often called a Mastermind Group. It may be uncomfortable to be open and honest with others, but it is critical for each of us to be in a tight-knit circle.

Are you TRULY taking time to be alone to think and plan (point)? Do you find time to get out of your every day environment to learn from others (line)? And are you invested in a small group where you’re sharing your inner-most feelings and challenges (circle)? Take some time this week to reflect on the geometry of your business.

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Getting Known

I have a very strong opinion that the #1 issue facing most small business owners today is that not enough people know that their business even exists! That’s right – I think this is a bigger deal that the quality of their product or service, or the price they offer, or the success of their competitors.

For many of us reading this Net Worth Tip of the Month, the single biggest hurdle we must overcome is to become KNOWN by more people! Would you agree?

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Exposure and Awareness are the essence of your Marketing. And if you’re like most small business owners, you rely on only 2 or 3 primary ways to gain more exposure and awareness. And frankly, that’s not enough!

If you want to GET KNOWN, you’ve got to get out of your comfort zone and identify at least 5 or 6 strategies you’re going to use to gain a larger following. And once you decide what strategies you’re going to use, you’ve got to put 100% EFFORT into those strategies on a REGULAR BASIS! Any less and you’ll find yourself trapped right where you are today – with perhaps a GREAT product or service, but in OBSCURITY!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

How do you SURPRISE Your Customer?

We all like a good surprise. It’s what makes birthdays, anniversaries and Christmas so much fun. It’s what we do often and with great joy when we are dating.

But soon after we get married, we begin to lose our interest or our passion for great surprises! Why is that? Is it because the “thrill” is gone? Or do we just start taking our spouse for granted?

How about with our customers? Are we guilty of the same thing? Being excited at first, then taking them for granted and being “routine” after a while.

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

What if you delivered an unexpected SURPRISE to your customers? What if you truly thought of what might “delight” them and made it happen – without expecting anything in return?

We’re all still young at heart. We all still like the thrill that comes from something good yet unexpected. It is what stories are told about. It’s what legends are made of.

It’s time for you to think deeply about your business and your customers and find a way to build in regular SURPRISES so that your customers know without a doubt that you’re still excited to have them as a customer.

Find a way to create a SURPRISE moment for your customers. Build it into your regular calendar of events. Set it up so that at a certain time or milestone in your time working with them that they get something they are not expecting.

It doesn’t have to be big or expensive, but it does need to be something that they would find valuable, inspirational or motivational. Perhaps link it to your favorite charity or a worthy cause. The possibilities are endless!

But don’t shy away from this one – it’s CRITICALLY important!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Do you REALLY Know Your Ideal Customer?

How would you respond if I asked you to “Define Your Ideal Customer”? Would you tell me the demographics – age, sex, income level, neighborhood, industry, position, etc. Or would you tell me about the thoughts, feelings and emotions they have each day and each night?

Most of us only know our customers at a surface level. We don’t REALLY know our customers – we just know what we can see, only what others can see.

But in order to speak DIRECTLY and INTENTIONALLY to our Ideal Customer, we must truly know them. We must get inside their head!

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Here’s an exercise for you: Put an empty chair in the middle of your room and imagine that your IDEAL CUSTOMER is sitting in that chair. Now get out some paper and a pen and begin writing everything you know about that ONE PERSON sitting in that chair. Not just their demographics, but their thoughts, their feelings, their worries, their fears, their hopes and dreams, their aspirations.

Write down the answer to these kinds of questions: What keeps them up at night? What do they fear most about your industry? What bad experiences have they had before that make them nervous or uncertain? What do they truly want for their life, for their family and for their business team?

Once you have written all this down, now use these EXACT WORDS for your marketing messages, your advertising campaigns and your facebook posts. Focus your messaging on ONLY the things you have written about your ideal customer.

Do this exercise over this next week. Don’t stop writing until you have at least 2-3 pages of notes. Your marketing messages will be far more powerful and impactful if you do this!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

The Price of INDIFFERENCE

Did you know that 85% of customers leave or switch providers because of “Perceived Indifference”? It’s true! The most common reason that you are losing your current customers is they don’t think you really care if they stay or not.

I recently had an experience that made it VERY CLEAR that this was the case. I had been a customer of this business for nearly 10 years – but when I was presented with a new opportunity, it became very obvious that I was no longer all that important to my old service provider! Are you making the same mistake?

Here is the REAL TRUTH: It is FAR CHEAPER and MUCH EASIER to RETAIN your existing customers than it is to find and convince a new customer to begin using your product or service. So why do you spend more time and money in search of NEW customers – rather than putting that effort into loving on your existing customers?

We are all guilty of it. We love the hunt. We love the challenge. We may even get compensated more to find new customers. So there is a tendency to forget your current customers after a while. We get complacent and lazy with them.

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

You need to put MORE effort into making your CURRENT CUSTOMERS feel special than you do the PROSPECTS you are chasing.

Answer these questions: 1) How do my current customers know how much I appreciate them? 2) How am I demonstrating that my current customers are MORE valuable than my prospects? 3) Am I offering anything to my prospects that I am not already giving to my current clients?

The answer to these simple questions may be the difference that makes your current customers feel like they are still important and special to you!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

The Power of FOCUS

Business owners today are crazy busy! If you’re like most around you, you’ve got at least a dozen important goals or tasks that you’re working on. You’ve probably got 5 or 6 things that are critical and need to get done right away – but each one of them takes concentrated time and effort to do your best work.

So why is it so hard to FOCUS your attention on just one thing at a time? Many people are proud to claim that they can “multi-task” well, but studies have proven that those who multi-task to get things done are less productive than someone who uses marijuana and is “high” or “stoned”!

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Rather than continue to work on multiple priorities at the same time, I recommend you apply FOCUS to your #1 priority. Here’s a simple acrostic you can put on a sticky note and put it where you will see it daily:

FOCUS = FOLLOW ONE COURSE UNTIL SUCCESS

I have been applying this principle for the past year or so and as a result I have achieved far more this past 12 months than I have in any other period of time. I am certain that you would see similar results if you just set your #1 priority and made the decision to FOCUS – Follow One Course Until Success! Only then can you move on to your next big goal!

Take a 30-Day Challenge: 1) Identify the #1 priority that would move your business forward right now. 2) Set everything else aside – no matter what – and FOCUS on getting that #1 priority completed. 3) Go to Step #1 above and repeat!

You’ll be amazed at how productive you will become! Good Luck.

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Are You Operating at 10X Levels of Action?

Getting people’s attention these days is very difficult. That is unless you’re running for a political office and you’re willing to pick a fight with your opponent. If you’re simply trying to be a good, upstanding business owner, chances are no one is going to listen to your “pitch”.

The biggest problem for most businesses today is OBSCURITY – not enough people even know you exist!

That is, unless you’re willing to do what most business owners won’t – to put forth 10X levels of Action so you can DOMINATE your competition.

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Operating at 10X levels of Action means that you look around and see what others in your industry are doing and you choose to do 10 TIMES what they do! Here are a few examples:

Networking – meeting and sharing contact information with 10X the people.
Sales Appointments – holding 10X more than others in sales roles.
Social Media – sharing 10X more “meaningful” information with your followers.
Community Involvement – participating or contributing in 10X more ways.
Enthusiasm – being “fired up” by a factor of 10X over others around you.

The list could go on and on – you get the idea. Being “Average” just isn’t good enough to set yourself apart from the crowd. You need to find your unique ways to be 10X so more potential customers know just how good you really are!

If you’re a book reader, here’s another great one for you – The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone. Grant’s a bit edgy, but I can assure you he’ll get you “fired up” – particularly if you listen to the audio version of his book. Do like I do and listen to it OFTEN!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

What is Your “Bold & New” Commitment?

From time to time you’ve got to embrace the idea of “Out with the OLD, in with the NEW!” So the big question is…What is YOUR “New” for this next year? – and is it not only new, but also BOLD?

If you’re like many folks, you’ll start this next year doing the very same things that you did LAST year. Nothing will change. Nothing will be new. You’ll follow the same old routines, use the same old strategies, and talk with the same old folks.

Now don’t get me wrong – there are some things that you don’t want to change – like your spouse, or your children, or your good habits. But there are others that NEED to be changed – freshened up, polished or re-built on a regular basis!

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Take the 2 or 3 strategies or activities that you’ve been doing that are not working well and REPLACE them with 1 or 2 NEW activities that are fresh and new.

Let me share 2 new, fresh and bold strategies I am using for this next year as a way to inspire you:

#1 - I have started this new Alexa Flash Briefing and will continue to stay ahead of the curve on

#2 - I designed an exciting, new 2-Day Ultimate business tune up MasterClass to help more business owners super-charge their business results.

So, I’ve got a challenge for you: Identify 1 or 2 NEW, BOLD and FRESH marketing strategies for this next year. How can you engage with your prospects in a way that is unique, new and exciting? Make this next year different by engaging the idea of BOLD and NEW!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engagement and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

Outwitting the Devil

You know by now that I am a big believer in ALWAYS listening to and reading books. I seem to always have 2 or 3 that I am working on.

Someone made a recommendation to me a few weeks ago and strongly encouraged me to get a new audio book – Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill. So I did. And I will have to say, I found it to be one of the most inspiring and impactful audio books I have ever listened to!

Napoleon Hill is the author of Think and Grow Rich, the preeminent self development book ever written. He wrote both of these books back in the 1930’s but their message is as relevant today as any that have been written more recently.

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Buy the audiobook version of Outwitting the Devil. I am sure it is just as good in hard copy form, but the audio version makes the story truly come alive.

The premise of the book is that Napoleon Hill finds the secret key to getting the Devil to share all of his nasty tricks in an interview – so he does just that – interviews the Devil to pull from him all of his trickery, deceit and lies.

As you listen to the interview, ask yourself, “am I prone to DRIFTING” as the Devil calls the primary thing that we humans do that make us susceptible to his schemes.

Get this audiobook. Listen to it at least 2 times right away. Then make a list of the 5 people you love most who should also listen to this book.

Don’t procrastinate on this one! (Oh, by the way, procrastination is the work of the Devil according to Napoleon Hill – it’s what people do when they are “drifters”).

Don’t be a Drifter!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engage and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

5 Gifts of Successful People

If you’re not constantly reading you’re missing out on some of the greatest knowledge and wisdom you’ll ever find. Let’s be honest, you won’t find it on Facebook or on Sports Center or the Nightly News.

I’m constantly reading. Right now I’m in the middle of a great book titled simply “Ask” by Ryan Levesque. I’m sure you’ll see a “tip” from that book very soon. But recently I was talking with a guy at our men’s bible study and he reminded me of a book I read several years ago – Wild at Heart by John Eldredge.

No, it’s not a business book. But it does contain one of the “secrets” of successful people, whether in business or in life.

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

In the book, Wild at Heart, John shares the 5 “gifts” that we are all born with. He also shares that when you look around you at the people who are “Successful” they all live out these gifts to the fullest. Here are the 5 gifts:

Enthusiasm – unbridled passion and excitement for their mission & purpose.
Persistence – unwilling to quit, never letting roadblocks get in their way.
Adventurous Spirit – energized by the unknown, breaking through the fear.
Gift to “Get Over It” – holding no grudges, not looking back, always looking for ways to do it better next time.
Faith – a pure belief that anything is possible, it just takes focus on gifts # 1-4.

How are you doing with these 5 gifts you’ve been given? Are you utilizing them to their fullest potential? Can those around you sense them in you all day, every day?

If not, then my challenge to you is to go get the book and take time to read it! You’ll be surprised how much of success in business comes from an inner sense that you’re doing the right things for the right reasons. When that alignment happens, it’s like magic in a bottle. Go get yourself some today!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engage and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!

The Lifetime Value of Your Customers

I recently spent time in Stillwater Minnesota enjoying the scenery, seeing old friends, and relaxing with my wife. As usual, we spent the weekend at our favorite Bed & Breakfast – The Ann Bean Mansion.

While at the Ann Bean, it struck me that they truly understand the lifetime value of their customers – and they treat us like we are VIP’s as a result.

It made me reflect on how I treat MY customers and it made me think about how you treat YOUR Customers. Do we treat them as if they are truly as valuable as their lifetime value would suggest?

Here’s Your Net Worth Tip of the Day

Knowing the Lifetime Value of your customers is a simple exercise but requires some calculation. But once you do it, you’ll change the way you think about your customers and you’ll begin to treat them like VIP’s. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Calculate your Average $ Sale for all customers – take your total sales in a week or month and divide that number by the total number of transactions in the same period. The result is your Average Ticket or Average $ Sale.
Calculate the number of transactions per client you’ve had over this past month or over this past year. To do this, take your total number of transactions and divide that number by the number of individual customers you have served over that same period.
Calculate how long each individual customer does business with you – do this in terms of months or years. Yes, there is an average.
Multiple your answers (#1 x #2 x #3)= the Lifetime Value of Your Average Customer.

Do this exercise. Be sure to be consistent with the time periods you use. Once you have this number, share it with your team and treat your customers as if each one were worth that amount to you – because they truly are!

To get more tips on how to improve your leadership skills, your team engage and your business results, go to my website, www.tourdeprofit.com and you’ll find lots of free stuff there. Now, go get ‘em this week. And remember, whatever you do, RIDE HARD!