The funniest things go through your mind when riding a bike on switchbacks up a mountain.   It came to me today while slogging up the hill that something a client of mine and I had talked about last week riding up the same mountain together was pretty important.  Sales people and business owners really don’t get it.

Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, understood that to have his business grow up and run itself, he would need to pay attention to all of the Seven Elements of a Business – so he did.

Kids need to grow up and stand on their own two feet without leaning on you – that is maturity.  Your company should do the same thing.

We assume we should wait until we’re big enough before we figure out how to make the  business run itself, but  – where we start is where we end up.  No matter what  size your business is, you should be manically focused on getting  yourself out from behind the steering wheel from the gitgo.  Pay attention to all Seven Elements of a Business, like Kroc did, and watch your business grow up.

There are seven words a business owner can never afford to use.  Which of these words are you using to run your business?  Here’s a way to remember them –  “Try” to strike them from your vocabulary, “but” if you “can’t”, you can “settle” for only using a few and make a “goal” of getting rid of the rest “later”, when you’re “alone” and nobody’s watching.

Simple vs. Complex

Occam’s Razor says that given two possible answers to a problem, the simpler one is usually right.  If we applied this ancient idea to business, we’d make a lot more money.

Guiding Principles of a business are necessary (honesty, integrity, customer service, etc.), but there is another set of principles that help the Business Owner in particular: decision-making principles.

How we make decisions effects everything we do.  Problem – we make decisions subjectively, even when we think we’re being objective.  All the research shows this – even at the major company level – we even buy subjectively.

As a result, we react badly to shiny objects, short-term victories and defeats, and strategic planning. So the question becomes, do you guide your biz or does it rule you?  Who’s really in charge?

Want to make more money and stop recovering from bad decisions?  Get some simple decision-making principles on which you run your business.

Like rails that guide a train, your decision-making principles are a core strategy to having a business that knows where it is going and how it is going to get there.

Here’s my seven decision-making principles.  What are yours?

Last week we talked about why processes are so much more important to small businesses than even big business. This week we’ll cover just how simple it is to put together a good process that will actually have a significant impact on your business. What we don’t need is more stuff sitting on a shelf – Process Mapping is designed to make us more money and free us up to enjoy the business we’ve created. The Key – KEEP IT SIMPLE! The more info you try to capture, the less likely you are to actually use the process. Just the opposite of what you might think.

Once in awhile Mom would tell me on the way out the door to school that we were having hamburgers that night. But when I came in from playing to eat dinner, I found chicken on the table. I was disappointed by the switch, which was completely irrational because I like chicken just as much as hamburgers. But she had set one expectation and fulfilled it with another. I was an irrationally unhappy customer, but unhappy just the same.

Last week we tried to give perspective to the idea that being the classic Systems Focused owners are great business builders but aren’t such great business starters. This week we want to see why Product Focused owners start the most businesses, but are the most likely to end up on the treadmill.

There are three basic business owner profiles:

1. The Market Focused owner
2. The Systems Focused owner
3. The Product Focused owner

We’re all a mix of all three, but we all lean heavily on a primary profile for the way we manage and make decisions.

Business owners whose primary profile is Product Focused are passionate about the product or service they provide, but usually not about business itself. They are experts, professionals, craftspeople, and artisans; implementers, producers, doers, and finishers. They like being tactical, on the ground, getting things done, and they take great pride in the product or service they offer.

Last week we tried to give perspective to the idea that being the classic Market Focused entrepreneur isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. This week we’re looking at why Systems Focused managers are great business builders, but aren’t such great business starters.

Contrary to popular opinion, Entrepreneurs are easily the worst at building successful businesses.

Entrepreneur – Wikipedia: “willing to accept a high level of personal, professional or financial risk to pursue opportunity. …in possession of an enterprise or venture.”

There are three basic business owner profiles:

1. The Market Focused owner (the Entrepreneur falls in this category)
2. The Systems Focused owner
3. The Product Focused owner