Issue #31 Here is the One Thing

Before I get into one thing, here are a couple of updates:

Updates

• Did you miss our email marketing secrets webinar? As disappointed as I am, we’ve got your back; get the content here. And our follow-up email templates are here. Our course takes you through building the email machine and includes 36+ campaigns to make your life easier. Find it here.

Back to Business

So, let’s think about this logically.

When you start a business, you have a great idea. You reach out to some contacts, and they hire you to do the thing that you do.

You are in business, yippee!

But then what happens: you have to do the thing you do. So what are you not doing? Finding more people to buy the thing you do. So once you are done doing this, you have to start selling again.

But this time to people you don’t know as well. So it takes longer.

And, alas, the MSP ownership spin cycle has begun.

So what is the one thing you need? Well, there are a bunch of things you need:

• A product.
• An avatar.
• A process.
• A strategy.
• Your compass.
• A way to bill.
• A vacation.

But there are only so many hours in a day. There is only so much you can do. And, worse (or not worse, depending on how you look at it), you don’t know everything. In fact, the amount of stuff you don’t even know that you don’t know dwarfs the stuff you know.

(I’ll pause here to let you unpack that for a second…).
.
..
(Okay, we’re back).

When you try to look at your work and figure out what is good or bad, right or wrong, engaging or blah, you can’t do it. It is like reading a label on the outside of the bottle from inside the bottle.

So what is the one thing your business can’t do without?

Help. Other people. A team.

Is this a bit self-serving? Darn toot’in, ’cause we want to be your team or help you build one. But this fundamental truth is also why we built Start Grow Manage.

But even if you don’t work with us, you need a team: your spouse, kids, friends, vendors, customers, and the mailman can all be a part of your team.

Well, actually, even if you do work with us, they will be a part of your team; your team will just get better results.

Remember: we all need a team.

If you haven’t come to 2 free Thrivers meetings yet, why not join us? Just apply to see if you are the right fit.

Enjoy,
Jeff

How to lead a team

If you are going to work with a team, you will have to step into a leadership role. Running a business requires leaders and managers. Leadership forces us to be uncomfortable, to always deal with the unknown, and to take chances. But you can’t manage a team that includes your spouse and your mailman, you must lead.

There are five key roles that leaders provide:

• Create the context.
• Align the team.
• Empower management.
• Assess performance and make adjustments.
• Motivate.

Want to learn more? Check out this post here (and feel free to mock the production quality of the video… sigh.)

From Around the Web

• 📼 Remember Blockbuster? On this day in 1985, the first Blockbuster opened in Dallas, Texas, with around 8,000 tapes. The company grew quickly until it went bankrupt in 2010, leaving one last hold out in Bend, Oregon. At the time, there were many video rental stores. What made Blockbuster different? They created a machine. What led to their demise? Netflix created a better one.
• 📑 How to not procrastinate: We at Start Grow Manage tend to push against the breathless need for more work; spinning faster is still spinning. But sometimes, procrastination can get the better of us. We came across this article from a self-described “master procrastinator” who explains his five steps to beat procrastination – it is a good read.
• 🧐 “I quit,” said ~4.3m Americans in August, the most in a month in the 20 years the government has been keeping track. We think people are just tired of working for people who don’t give a damn about the people who work for them.