002 - Guiding the Business
In the last episode, we shared an overview of the Four Fundamentals of Business:
1. Guiding the business (Leadership)
2. Getting the business (Sales & marketing)
3. Doing the business (Production of your product or delivery of your service)
4. Administering the business (Administrative tasks like bookkeeping, HR, payroll, etc.)
In this episode, we’re digging into the first fundamental: Guiding the Business. We talk leadership, vision, and how to define what you actually want. Listen to the full episode for more detail.
Show Notes
Story of the show — NYC contractor whose business was struggling with the pandemic shutdown (2:00)
What does it mean to guide your business? What’s your North Star? (5:45)
Leadership means being selfless. (7:07)
What do your employees really need? Autonomy, mastery, and purpose. (8:05)
Why is guiding the business so hard for contractors? (10:00)
You’ve gotta look at your business from 30,000 feet up, but how do you do that? (13:05)
When I ask a new client, “What do you want?” they nearly always answer, “What do you mean?” How can you expect to get what you want if you don’t even know what it is? (14:05)
Why are contractors often reluctant to lean on mentors or peers? (16:55)
The first step to solving a problem in your business is admitting that you have one. (18:55)
What is vision? (19:33)
How does a vision help you make good business decisions? (26:15)
Your vision can’t just be about you! (29:35)
Quote of the episode — “A pessimist sees the problem in every opportunity, and an optimist sees the opportunity in every problem.” — Winston Churchill
Mount Rushmore — Essential tech edition (30:52)
One thing to take away — Write down the things you want, or they won’t happen. (38:43)
So, how do you begin writing what you want and creating a vision for your company? (42:15)
Story Loop Closure — How has the NYC business owner transformed his company to not only survive the pandemic, but thrive? (44:45)
Ethan’s Minute — Our intern Ethan tries to nail down the key takeaways from the episode. See if he knocked it out of the park or if he struck out. (47:29)
Quotable Moments
“There has to be a reason why you’re doing what you’re doing, or you won’t like doing it and you’ll rob yourself of a sense of accomplishment and purpose.” — M
“When you start working on guiding your business, that’s when you start leaving your job and start becoming an owner of a business.” — K
“You are who you surround yourself with.” — K
“There is a lot of suffering in business, but it does not have to be that way.” — M
Mount Rushmore
HubSpot (Khalil’s “George Washington”)
Quickbooks (Martin’s “George Washington”)
Resources
Drive by Daniel Pink
360 Leader by John C. Maxwell
They Say I Make Money, So Why Don’t I Have Any? by Martin Holland
More from Martin
More from Khalil
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