Business Class Journal

What choices are easy to make in your life? What to have for lunch, what should I wear, what movie should I see? But there is one choice that is really hard to make, Should I buy a Franchise or start a business from scratch? If you have ever wanted to go into business for yourself you know there are many different options. However, you need to have the knowledge of choosing the right one for you. One that feeds your passion that you will love to work at for a long time. One that makes you successful because you are skilled and amazing at what is required for that business venture. If there is one thing that I have learned over the years while watching my father run his business or talking with the franchisee owner it's that if you have the personality for working with people you can be successful at anything you do. If you are someone that is patient and willing to put the work in you can be successful. Now that doesn't mean that everything my father did in his business was...

Many things went through my mind this week. As we discussed who to hire and how to look for the right people to work with it was very eye opening. We are in the process of looking for 9 people to hire at work. And the "Hire slowly, Fire Fast" article really stuck out to me. It stuck out because I find that those that are hiring will hire whoever walks through the door and that makes our turn over rate extremely high! I loved this article so much that I printed it and took it to work and gave it to the team that is over the hiring process. The other thing that I really enjoyed this week was learning about Matt Stewart. He has failed in some of his business adventures and for that he has also learned many lessons. He recognized that the businesses that were failing were the ones where he tried to make money. The ones that were most successful were the ones that he focused on his company mission and not the money aspect. What an important thing to learn while you are ...

This week as we learned more about leadership style I wasn't surprised to find that I was a Participative Style Leader. I have always believe that micromanaging employees removes their ability to trust and feel open to telling you their thoughts and ideas. When I worked for Morinda, I remember once a month the Owner/founder of the company would come down to each floor in the building and would walk around shaking our hands and thanking us for the great work we were doing. I was also very impressed that he not only thanked us but he wanted to meet with us every couple of months and would ask us what was we were doing right and what we were hearing from our customers. How could we improve? It was incredible to me that he would take the time to talk with us and value our ideas and thoughts. I for one would never want my employees/team to fear me or not trust me. I would want them to know that I trust that they will do their jobs until they prove otherwise. If they aren't doing th...

When I think about this week and the discussion of Customer Service it reminds me of what I have done for over 20 years. I love customer service and love working with people. Over the years I have experienced watching the decline of basic, dare I say simple customer service skills that everyone should already know. If you were to be asked who has the best customer service are there any companies that pop out in your mind that still have great customer service? One that comes to mind for me is 1-800Contacts. They will not only check with your doctor to get your prescription but if there is a problem they notify you immediately. If you call because you tore a lens they immediately replace the that lens with a new one, and not only that but they will hand write you an apology note that includes a $5 gift certificate. WOW, when was the last time you received a hand written letter? If you call because your prescription changes they will immediately exchange your old prescription for the ...

This week we talked about something that I actually enjoy, Marketing. It is something that has always intrigued me and wanted me to learn more. I feel a strong connection with marketing, I love talking about products and selling products and learning what new products are coming out. It all just makes me smile and want to get involved in marketing. I feel like I can sell ice cubes to Eskimos so why wouldn't I want to be in marketing? This week I learned a lot of things regarding marketing. Sure I know that you have to appeal to your customer and have a product they want but what I like was that Phil Romano said, "Go against the grain, Have a point of difference, don't be like everyone else." Sometimes I think it would be easier to find a product that is already out but redevelop it with your own company to compete with them. However, there is a lot that goes into that and it is probably better to come up with your own product by noticing and then filling a need th...