The Difference Between No and Not Yet.

Enjoy this Guest Post by Ron Hoesterey, CEO of The Greater Journey.

We were in the middle of building our house when our project manager suggested we put something from the ranch in to the house. Thinking it would be great to have a mantle over the fireplace of wood from the property, we began our search for the mantle. A large oak tree in the bottom along the river had fallen a year ago, so it was chosen to contribute to the mantle since the wood was already dry. The adventure of cutting a 7’ section of trunk out of the tree and getting it out resulted in my being pinned to the tractor, a trip to the emergency room, and 42 stitches in my forehead. That part of the story is being saved to be exploited for a different life’s lesson in the future. With trunk in hand, the search began to find someone in the area that had a saw mill to cut a 10” by 6” timber out of the 22” diameter oak tree trunk.

I asked my friends at the USDA office if they knew anyone that had a saw mill. I was referred to a man in Miller Grove named Ed Watts. Armed only with Ed’s name and town, my neighbor and I ventured about 25 miles south to Miller Grove in search of Ed Watts. Miller Grove consists of one intersection with a four way stop sign. On one corner sat a feed store and on the opposite side was the school district administration yard. That’s the sum total of downtown Miller Grove. Since people at feed stores know just about everything about anybody, we walked through the front door to the counter and asked if anyone knew how we could locate Ed Watts. The girl at the counter pointed to the back of the shop where there were a couple of tables and a coffee pot. “Ed’s the one with the hat on” she advised. Walking to the back of the store, I interrupted and asked if he was Ed. Ed is in his late 70’s or early 80’s and looked up in a “who’s asking?” look. I introduced myself, explained our desire to use the oak stump as a mantle and asked if he would be able to help us with our project. It was exciting to hear he was cutting wood that day and to bring it over to his house. I then asked Ed if he had lived in Miller Grove all his life. His answer “Not Yet.” will stick with me the rest of my life.

After a good laugh by all, it hit me. What a great outlook on life. This answer told me more about Ed than a thousand questions would have revealed. Ed is on an adventure though life. “Not Yet” means he still anticipates and looks forward the future in his activities. It is the complete antithesis of my Grandfather’s saying of “I don’t eat peas because I might like them and I hate the darn things.”

I have adopted Ed’s answer in my life and it has made great changes in the way the future is viewed. If asked whether or not I have eaten at the new Chinese Buffet, landed at a different airport, or discount bungie jumped, I now answer “Not Yet”. “No” is negative and leaves us with a statement of rejection of the experience and the subconscious imprint of not only have I not been there, but “No”, I am not going there, ever. “No” marks the end of an adventure.

“Not Yet” on the other hand, opens the door to adventure and growth. “Not Yet” means you have not rejected the possibility of a great adventure, a comfort stretching activity, or new experience. It in fact means you may at this time even add it to your bucket list. “Not Yet” opens the invitation in your mind and puts it in its proper place. Go ahead right now and try it. Ask yourself “Have you ever been to …. (you add the exotic destination)? Have you ever done…. (you add the activity) ? Force yourself to answer “Not Yet”. Compare that to the times your answer is NO. Start adding to your adventures.

Thanks Ed, “Not Yet” has expanded my capacity to dream and has given me freedom of thought to replace the killer word “NO” with the adventure building words of “Not Yet”

Ron Hoesterey
The Greater Journey – Remember, Life is not a problem to be solved it is an adventure to be lived,!
714-366-9001

Is The Recession Over?

It seems that every day there is a new take on the recession. The housing market is up, but housing sales are still down? Consumer sales are up, but consumer confidence is still down. The stimulous is not working. Small businesses are taking advantage of stimulous dollars to bridge the sales gap. Who is right here? What can I expect?

The short answer is, all of these are correct. What you experience is likely dependent on some key determining factors.  Your industry, your location, your systems will all play a part in what is happening for your business.  More important than any of these, however, is how you have responded to building your business during the recession.  If you have been working on growth in meaningful ways, you are more likely than others to see improvements now.  One of my clients illustrates this very well.

When this recession started, perhaps the hardest hit industry was home construction.  Certainly new home construction was hit hardest, but every segment of that industry fell the pain.  Master Custom Home Remodeling in Knoxville, Tennessee was no exception.  As the recession started they saw a decline in customer inquiries and a reduction in sales.  Many business owners responded to this market change by withdrawing, Dawn Steimer decided the better idea was to grow.

In the early days of the recession, Dawn began a radio marketing campaign that was expensive, but promised high returns if it worked.  Over the course of the next 12 months she continued to pay for ad presence on one of the area's most popular stations.  She also volunteered to be a guest host on a local Saturday morning radio talk show focused on home maintenance and repair.  The results were dramatic.

Measuring and comparing this year to last year, Dawn's lead generation increased by 400%.  The result for her is a full pipeline and opportunities that could make this one of the best year's ever for her business.  I would say the recession is most likely over for Dawn and Master Custom Home Remodeling.

But what about business owners who did not start marketing so early?  What can you do to end the recession in your world?

First, you have to believe that it is not too late to make a difference.  If you want to get your business growing right now, then get started today on your systems for lead generation.  As you do, keep these principles in mind:

1.  Who:  Lead generation begins with a very strong understanding of who you are marketing to.  You need a current profile of your target customer that let's you know exactly who you are trying to reach.  The CEO Rule is, "you market to suspects."

2.  What:  Before you start marketing or advertising, make sure you know exactly what you intend to offer.  This may seem obvious, but creating a value proposition that will be meaningful to your suspects is not always easy and may change from time to time.  This is especially true as you are trying to break out of a recession.  Revisit your product or service mix and define a value proposition that will sell right now.

3.  Where:  This piece has two components.  First, define the geography of your market and then target that geography.  Dawn Steimer did a lot of things to increase her marketing activities during the past year, including updating her website and getting active in social media marketing.  While some of these may have had global reach, she defined each of them in terms of how they would help her reach her local market.  That is why the radio program was so valuable.  Her voice on live air was supported by other activities that emphasized her commitment to her regional marketplace.   A great strategy.

Second, you need to know where to find the people or businesses who make up your target market.  There are hundreds of marketing avenues, but only a few of them will actually lead to your suspects.  For example, if you want to meet business owners, you have to know where you will find them.  What organizations do they join?  What events to day attend?  What kind of mail will they actually read?  What radio or television stations and programs do they follow?  Blindly investing in marketing activities that don't actually reach your suspects is not money well spent.

4.  When:  There are good times and bad times to approach the people in your target market.  You need to know when is the best time to reach them.  Not only the best time of day, but the best day of the week, the best week of the month, the best month of the year.  All business has seasonality.  Know when is the best time to make your pitch.  Plan your activities to match their patterns.

5.  Why:  This is the most important piece.  Before you begin your marketing and advertising campaign you need to understand why your suspects will buy your product or server.  Know why not from your perspective, but from theirs.  Think about the times when someone has tried to sell you something.  If they don't have the why part right, they will often focus their energies on telling you how much you need what they have to offer.  How much better would it be if instead, they focused on asking you about what you want or need so that they can make sure they know just how their product matches your need.

Now that you have answered the key questions, you are ready to put your plan into action.  Of course, that is often the most difficult part.  You may need to find a coach or adviser who can help you decide the best avenues to pursue.  If so, give me a call or send me a message at kevin@estradastrategies.com.  I can help.  Whether you set out on your own or work with an adviser or coach, make sure you create a plan that you can measure for success and then commit to that plan for long enough to produce the results you want.

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Your Business is Worth the Cash It Generates

CEOs, many of us are so focused on evaluating our profit and loss statements from month to month that we may be missing some other important numbers. We continually ask ourselves that one critical question: Are we a profitable business? That’s a great question. Analyzing your P & L on a month to month basis is an absolute must-do. However, more times than not I find myself working with a client that is showing a net positive income on their profit and loss statement, but at the end of the month they have no cash. There are many possible reasons for this. One common mistake happens when a business owner forgets that the cash used to make long term debt payments does not show up on your P & L.

Here’s a tip: Identify a cash flow analysis formula for your business. For example, you might add up the cash in your checking and/or savings accounts, plus your accounts receivables, minus your accounts payable. This formula will give you a very simple and basic calculation of your current liquidity. It will give you the ability to evaluate whether or not you are generating enough cash to fund ongoing operating expenses. If you begin to measure the true cash your business generates, you will respond to that measurement.

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