Tag Archives: bottom line

Gotta Love the Quick Fix | Business Problems and Easy Solutions

Originally posted at Pro/Vision Coaching.

I vaguely remember an old movie starring Michael J. Fox and James Woods entitled “The Hard Way”. I couldn’t tell you what it was about or even why I saw it, other than I assume it has something to do with doing something in a more difficult fashion. I certainly prefer doing things the easy way, and that is one of the main reasons why I love duct tape.

“Iowa Chrome”, as many call it is a tape that can hold virtually anything together. Originally designed for duct work, its main purpose was to hold the metal ducts together against heat and sometimes even water. For a roll of tape, that’s pretty impressive! The mid-nineties witnessed the rise of duct tape pop-culture, a fashion statement that included designer duct tape suits. I once made a wallet out of the beloved material, though I regrettably never used it. It is just so simple – one roll of tape that can fix basically anything – who wouldn’t want to use it for everything?

Most people did. It became such a popular household tool, that sales have consistently risen over the years, and, according to a recent article about a spike in sales due to Hurricane Irene, proves that Americans will pretty much use duct tape for anything. Why?

According to Florence and the Machine, duct tape is simply the quick and easy solution to life’s problems, and causes situations when not readily available. “I got in a lot of trouble from my stepfather for using his duct tape, to tape up my school skirt. So the inside of my skirt was done up with electrical tape. I always find in daily life, it’s like, don’t you kind of make your own uniforms in a sense. It’s really weird.” Duct tape is simply the quick and easy solution to your fix-it needs. This is why Iowans use it so much.

What does this tell us about life? It tells us that we are all about finding the quick and easy fix to our problems. It’s been often said that necessity is the mother of invention and, since the industrial revolution, America has prided itself on its ability to figure out faster, easier solutions to problems. While Eli Whitney was brilliant in figuring out ways to make plantation life easier, the impacting result today is unquenchable desire for the next get rich quick scheme.

Hard work is considered a bad word in many parts of our culture. Even during the recession struggles of the past few years, I personally have witnessed multiple people choose laziness. This shows itself in the business world as well. While I am in no way saying that multi-level marketing is, in and of itself, a scam, it is often marketed as an easy way to get rich quick. “Discover the Hefty New Online Revenue Source To Get Rich And Generate At Least $31,650 Every Month On Complete Autopilot! Now You Can Learn The Step-By-Step Methods This 21-Year Old College Dropout Used To Make Money Fast And Generate His First $1,000,000! The Secret Is Now Revealed To Public” (http://21butrich.com/ – please do not visit this site, used only for “journalistic integrity”).

The truth is getting rich quick doesn’t work. “In an October 15, 2010 [USA Today] article, it was stated that documents of a MLM called Fortune reveal that 30 percent of its representatives make no money and that 54 percent of the remaining 70 percent only make $93 a month”.

Success and financial independence can certainly be earned, but it takes time and hard work. Whether or not you have decided to go the multi-level marketing route, it still takes work – lots of it. There are plenty of people out there helping others reach their vision, business coaches (Yay for shameless plugs!) being a good place to start. However, regardless of how many people you have helping you, there is no way to avoid hard work. If you want to strike it rich, my suggestion is to roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty, and invent something better than duct tape. Or at least make a bad movie with an aging movie star.

Whether it’s Baseball or Business, it’s All About the Numbers

Take me out to the ballgame; take me out to the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks; I don’t care if I ever get back.

What a beautiful stanza to a gorgeous song that represents all that is right with this world. Baseball. The greatest game ever played, especially if you are in business.

I can already see the bevy of comments that will hit me on this post about my obsession, and specifically why I chose to write an article like this at this time, so at least I’m prepared. Yes, I just attended an entire series at Safeco Field in Seattle, though for the sake of my current city popularity, I will decline to admit my favorite team. The first comment to guess correctly wins a prize that will be revealed at the end of this post.

While attending these baseball games, one cannot avoid being smacked in the face at a seemingly constant stream of statistics. “In June 2010, Felix Hernandez won the American League Pitcher of the Month Award for his flawless portrayal of Felix the Cat in the local theater’s rendition of Rent 3D: Alley Cat. This was his 5th AL PoM Award in 6 possible months.” Obviously that means he had a good year. You know he did well because NUMBERS DON’T LIE, at least not like your Uncle Herbert.

So what? Who cares that I can make up odd baseball and pop culture connections? Here’s why: it’s all about the numbers. If you need to know how many baseballs you need to sell in order to keep your store open, you must rely on the numbers. Take a look at this – did you know that the average operating budget for a Major League team was $84 million dollars in 2009? The Seattle Mariners’ budget was at $98 million. Their average ticket price was $30. So how many seats did they need to sell to cover their expenses? Knowing they play 82 home games, the equation becomes simple:

(# of tickets sold x $30) x 82 games = ticket income If ticket income had to match operating expenses, the equation would look like this: 98,000,000 / 82 = 1,195,122 (income needed per game) / 30 = 39,837 (seats that must be filled)

Safeco Field has a seating capacity of 47,878 for baseball games. That means Safeco would have to be at least 83% full each home game to make budget. In 2009 (according to ESPN), Seattle averaged 27,116 tickets sold per game. Going back to the original equation, that means Seattle pulled in $66,705,360 in ticket income in 2009. Put that into the next equation: income – expenses = profit. $66,705,360 – $98,000,000 = $-31,294,640

OUCH! It’s a good thing they have other ways of generating income. Do you? Do you know what your income needs are and where they are coming from? The moral of the story is this: numbers are cold, hard, and factual. They will tell you the real story of your business in a way that would make J.K. Rowling look like your Uncle Herbert. Use them, do not be afraid of them, hate them, but above all trust them. The best businesses know it’s all about the numbers.

And, by the way, the prize is a cup of coffee and a pleasant conversation.

Being Organized is for the Birds

Originally posted at Pro/Vision Coaching.

A crumpled piece of paper sits quietly on the floor, its jumbled words holding a message of deep significance, yet silenced by a single hasty act. My dastardly scheme is succeeding; as long as it can survive in its spot until 5 o’clock, the paper’s message will be forever destroyed at the hands of the night-time clean-up crew.

Who am I? I am disorganization, your single greatest enemy to profitability. It is my goal to keep your business down, your efforts up, and your profitability in complete disarray. I keep you from putting away your files, from cleaning up your workspace, and from systematizing your production. I work alongside my good friends distraction, hurried, and anxious. The longer you keep from paying attention to the growing pile of stuff sitting in front of you, the stronger I become, and the longer it will take to put me down.

I thrive in environments of low accountability, low visibility, and low commitment. And it doesn’t take much to get me started. All I need is for you to leave that one item un-dealt with, giving me just enough space to flex my muscles. Oh, and no one is immune. I can break into any safe or any system you put up to protect against me. Why? Because I already live inside you.

I have one weakness and one weakness only – constant vigilance. A plan that you are completely committed to that does not allow for one thing, item, or piece of information to be left out of place. You may think you are a “natural organizer” or admit to obsessive compulsive behavior – but both of those are fallacies – obsessive compulsivity may lead you to clean up a lot, but that has nothing to do with organization. Good organization is not needing to constantly clean up your desk, as it stays clean through continual acts of organization.

I’m not worried. Very rarely do I come across someone who has the will to defeat me, which is probably a good reason why many small businesses fail, they just don’t do what it takes to stay organized. And how can they? They are probably taking too long looking for stuff, too busy catching up on work they under quoted, or too frayed because they are trapped under a pile of junk.

You think you want to fly? I keep you from walking. Besides, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to fly anyway; leave that for the birds. They don’t have to be profitable.