Vision to Reality

Stop Working, Start Living.

Curtis L. Jenkins

• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9781950367184
• eBook ISBN:
  9781631957581
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

Entrepreneurs who are facing challenges with growing their businesses often face the same issues that impede their growth.

Many entrepreneurs believe that to grow their businesses, they must work harder and harder. They overlook the importance of the team, the financials, and a solid plan that must be executed and adjusted on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. They don't understand the concept of working "on the business" because they are too often working – harder and harder – "in the business", creating another job for themselves instead of rising to leadership and orchestrating a well-run business.

Vision to Reality provides a simple set of steps to help entrepreneurs realize their vision for their business and "clear the fog" for everyone involved to get on board with executing the vision. The goal of Vision to Reality is to help entrepreneurs clear the fog for themselves and their business, giving them confidence that they can tackle problems head-on despite the problems appearing insurmountable. It is unique and appealing because it introduces a new opportunity, using simple but effective foundational principles and tools often overlooked by entrepreneurs in their quest for business success.

PART 1:

What Leads Smart Entrepreneurs and CEOs Astray?

Vision to Reality starts in a unique place—the place where most entrepreneurs stumble, the place where they are simply unable to get out of their own way. The truth is that all leaders—entrepreneurs, CEOs, and everyone in between—can be led astray to the point where they are working only in their business and not on their business. This book is a resource for readers to develop a growth mentality based on their vision, a new strategic plan, and a roadmap for how to get to the realization of their vision.

Each business must be brought to life by implementing new ideas and raised standards. Vision to Reality will help you become a better business owner, returning the joy, excitement, and passion you had at the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey. Let’s begin your journey into the realization of your original vision as the charismatic leader of a successful business and a dream lifestyle with a look at some of the most common things that take leaders astray.

Chapter 1:

MISDIAGNOSED PROBLEMS

The world is overflowing with experts who are broke. Why is that? Often the reason for a business’s failure, even the extraordinary business ideas that should work, is misdiagnosed problems or misalignments. In this chapter, we’ll begin our exploration of the common issues faced by entrepreneurs, CEOs, and other business leaders by looking at misdiagnosed problems.

As most of us know, the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 resulted in many small businesses suffering. Some went out of business entirely, and others got the short end of the stick when it came to funds from the government. Knowing the world will be even more dependent on the success of small businesses in the future, I want you to be successful. To make sure that happens, you must develop into the charismatic leader you were meant to be with a future-based cause (e.g., sustainability), offering opportunities for your target customers. And I specifically say charismatic because you must be an inspiration to the people you want to follow you. You must inspire a compelling desire to participate in the journey with you. You must determine what is in it for others so that they support you and your goals.

Facing the Obstacles and Challenges of Leadership

As an entrepreneur, business owner, or CEO, you have likely already faced some of the obstacles and challenges that come with managing a business. You’ve also likely already encountered the difficulty of finding the necessary solutions. If you have been in business for any time at all, you have probably found yourself frustrated, dealing with similar issues time and time again, leaving you perplexed and wondering why the same issues keep coming up.

Why do the same challenges continue to manifest in your business? In many cases, the problem is misdiagnosis or misalignment, which can occur when you attempt to simply resolve the symptoms rather than find the core problem and its solution. It is quite similar to a medical problem when symptoms, like pain, are addressed, but the cause of the pain is not. If you fail to address the cause of the problem, you will find yourself continually facing the same issue again and again without resolution. Don’t ignore the symptoms altogether, as they help you understand that a problem is looming, but you must face the problem head-on to resolve it.

The issues that are often misdiagnosed can also be the result of misalignments in the company. Generally, business problems that continually resurface are misdiagnosed issues coming from an undiscovered, underlying problem. The underlying issue could be poor cash flow, which is a result of not recognizing that your expenses are coming in faster than your income. Or it could be too much debt because you are constantly borrowing money from various sources just to make the payroll for the week or to keep the business running after an unexpected charge decimated your bank account. A misalignment could be marketing efforts aimed at an uninterested audience. The solution to these misdiagnosed issues is often found not by working harder or simply addressing the symptoms of the problem but in discovering the genuine source of the issue and resolving it with the appropriate course of action.

Identifying Misdiagnosed Problems and Misalignments

Entrepreneurs, CEOs, and other business leaders often blame problems on employees, customers, the industry, the market, the economy, etc. They don’t think their employees are following the instructions from the top, but typically when they are asked what they are telling their employees and how they are guiding them, their answer includes one of these excuses:

• Well, I send an email and I have bullet points of instructions, guidelines, and goals.
• My employees fail to follow through and get the goals accomplished.
• When I get back to them, all they have is a bunch of questions but no answers.
• I do not have time to deal with them; I have important work/meetings that require my time.
• They need too much from me.

One of the main issues with misdiagnosed problems is entrepreneurs, CEOS, and other business leaders usually believe the issues are someone else’s fault when, in truth, most business leaders are not spending enough time with their people to clarify their instructions and the business goals.

A similar issue arises regarding customers, specifically customers who aren’t paying their bills. This issue, in turn, creates problems for the business’s payroll and accounts receivable. When asked about the age or velocity of their money, they don’t know the answer, nor do they have a plan for preventing the issue from happening again.

So, misdiagnosed problems often stem from leadership assuming the issue is one thing when, in reality, it is something entirely different. The answer for solving problems lies in taking the proper steps to diagnose the real problem the first time.

Diagnosing Problems Properly

Entrepreneurs and business leaders like you can solve problems effectively with a bit of listening and effort. The problem arises when you don’t feel you have the time to reengineer a process, manage the process, and ensure a quality solution, but simple common sense and effective listening are often the first steps in avoiding misdiagnoses and misalignments in your business. Always listen to team members. Ask them about issues they are experiencing that make their jobs more difficult. When you have their answers, do not judge them or determine that those team members have weaknesses since they are living with the issue day-to-day. Listen to your team members and really think about the changes you need to make to improve misalignments and diagnose problems.

Many of the problems that arise in business are quickly blamed on others. On one hand, if your suppliers screw up, they are likely screwing up for both you and your competitors. While you can’t fix a supplier problem directly, you can solve a few issues by simply asking for a solution to the supply problem with guarantees, altering your contract to include penalties when problems arise, or change to a higher-quality supplier. On the other hand, if your marketing department bombs, that’s on you. You can only fix one of these problems effectively: your marketing department, the one over which you have direct control. Once you uncover the real cause of the problem, you can fix it. What you can’t fix are the symptoms of the problem, at least not until you find the source.

Once you have diagnosed your problems properly as within or out of your control, how do you decide which issues are the most crucial to your business’s success? There are two schools of thought on the answer. The first is that you solve the issue causing the most problems for your bottom line. The second is that you solve the problem most annoying to you. You choose, but in my opinion, as long as you are improving your bottom line, the annoying issues can wait!

Common Misdiagnoses and Misalignments in Business

In business, misdiagnoses and misalignments are more commonplace than most would like to admit. Here are some of the most common misdiagnoses and misalignments in businesses to look out for.

• A frequent area of misalignment is hiring, particularly among entrepreneurs and other small business owners. Many leaders running a small business make the mistake of hiring family or friends to help with the business, but the leaders don’t follow through and spend time with their new hires to share the vision and mission of the company as well as set expectations. The misalignment quickly becomes evident as the new employees fail to meet expectations. For me personally, along with many other like-minded entrepreneurs, it took a long time to realize that other people aren’t “like me”; they don’t act upon or approach situations and circumstances in the same way I would. Ultimately, this means they are not as invested in my outcomes as I would like them to be. But you can hire someone who is not like you with a set of strengths that will get the job done. Focus on what you need, not how similar the person is to you. When hiring friends and family, for example, more often than not, their goal is primarily the financial compensation they receive, not necessarily the quality, quantity, or overall outcomes you desire. If you were in their position, you would put in the extra effort (because it’s your business), and you expect that extra effort from them as well, getting upset when they fall short. They, on the other hand, feel they are going the extra mile for you, even if that doesn’t match your expectations. The goal is not to lower your expectations but to ensure you match expected outcomes with the appropriate talent. Therefore, take a close look when you are hiring. Ask yourself if you would hire this family member or friend if they weren’t connected to you. Don’t skimp on the process of hiring the talent you need.
• Another common area of misalignment is compensation for talent. As business owners or entrepreneurs, we often believe that hiring as cheaply as possible helps the bottom line when, in fact, the reverse is true. Those who are fairly compensated for the quality of their work and their talent will do more—and do it better. But it is equally important not to overcompensate to help someone. If you go out of your way to help someone and they do not deliver to your expectations, you will be upset and disappointed. Your choices make the difference, so spend the necessary time to ensure you get the highest quality talent, and create an environment of open, honest communication to bring out the best in your employees. Often as small business owners without a large war chest, we test our employees, spoon-feeding them menial tasks for the matching menial compensation. Each task is a milestone or “carrot” to prove themselves. Because they have not yet proven themselves trustworthy, you don’t want to share all the information required for the person to actually do their job and help your business. This is not a good tactic. Avoid it. It is a waste of time and money. An intern can follow this process because the cost is not that great, or you can do this once or twice with someone you know has great talent to see how they fit into the overall business. But when you make this process a norm, it is a recipe for disaster, at least from what I have seen.
• Promotion is another area of misalignment. While promotion should always be a consideration, do not build it into your plan and provide a false sense for employees that promotions are to be expected just because they show up. Create all the jobs you need and promote when an employee demonstrates they can do more, take on more responsibility, and accomplish more than what you originally believed. Spend time finding the right person—the one who can perform all the duties in the job description. This is not someone who can only do some small jobs; they should have the potential to expand their skills and grow into other facets of the business. While it sounds good, promoting often will frustrate you because you will always have to be on the search for more talent, which can become a never-ending cycle.
• Failing to properly plan is also an area of misdiagnosis, as well as an area of misalignment. Failing to plan only allows you to focus on the present moment, the symptoms of your problems, and the current issues. Planning has the opposite effect. It helps provide a guide for your employees. It allows you to learn from the past, focus on the present, and look to the future, as well as giving you the opportunity to solve problems at the source, rather than suffering from misdiagnoses and misalignments and the setbacks that manifest as a result.

Chapter 2:

INABILITY TO GET OUT OF THEIR OWN WAY

As I mentioned in the list of common areas of misalignment in business, most entrepreneurs simply don’t trust anyone to “do it like they do it.” They can’t get out of their own way. They often have a history of operating as solo entrepreneurs—always being the hero. This is the primary thief of your time as a business leader! As a result, the question they are often faced with is: “Do you want to run a business, or do you simply want another job?” In many cases, business owners may have created a business on paper, but, in reality, they haven’t moved away from the position of employee and find themselves frustrated and wasting time getting in their own way.

There is no doubt that entrepreneurs, like you, are faced with numerous challenges, but more problems arise when you genuinely believe only you can solve the challenges and overcome the obstacles.

It goes something like this: an entrepreneur falls into the trap of not trusting anyone but themselves to do the work. They know their work got them where they are. They believe they can handle any situation.

Do you see yourself in this description?

In working with entrepreneurs, including myself, I ask them to list the top five areas that would make their lives easier if someone else could do them. But when work in those areas is assigned to an employee, the individual often fails to perform the task to the entrepreneur’s expectations, and confirmation bias immediately kicks in! The employee failed to fulfill the task according to the entrepreneur’s expectations, which results in the business owner shying away from future delegation. In other words, they can’t get out of their own way.

Selecting the right talent is paramount for overcoming this issue. To help entrepreneurs see the issue clearly, I next ask if they believe the employee failed to perform the duties as expected because of a “skill” issue or a “will” issue. I often learn from interacting with both the entrepreneurs and their employees that failure to complete a delegated task is rooted in communication. The entrepreneur doesn’t provide enough detail for the employee to meet their expectations, and because communication hasn’t been fully established, the employee is afraid to ask clarifying questions. The entrepreneurs then latch on to the task when the employee fails to meet expectations, with the intent to never let go, thus their inability to get out of their own way.

A Lesson Learned from the One-Minute Manager

Years ago, I learned an important lesson from The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey, a book by Ken Blanchard, William Oncken, Jr., and Hal Burrows. The book follows a familiar route: a leader challenges an employee to perform better or delegates tasks to an employee, which is followed by the employee failing to meet the challenge or task. This is often the source of a business owner deciding to just do everything themselves, knowing that approach will take less time than training employees and disciplining them to perform the task according to expectations. In taking this approach, owners are actually training their employees to dump tasks, problems, and issues (the monkeys) back onto the owners while still collecting their paycheck. In other words, the business owner is enabling employees to get their work done through the owner. This is smart on employees’ part, but it can be very frustrating and time-consuming for the owner.

Changing the Nobody-Can-Do-This-Better-Than-Me Position

As humans, we gravitate toward the areas of work that provide the greatest satisfacti...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• A Note from the Author
• Introduction
• Part 1: What Leads Smart Entrepreneurs and CEOs Astray?
• Part 2: The Remedies
• Part 3: How to Prevent Backsliding
• Part 4: Case Studies
• About the Author