Check out our June newsletter, hot off the press!
BUILD. NOT BILLED.
TM
JUNE 2018
BUI LDING BLOCKS
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This Summer, Light a Fire Under Your Business — THE RIGHT WAY T HE HEAT I S ON
I love Summer. The weather is great, my backyard looks amazing thanks to the efforts of my incredible spouse, and I get to relax and watch my kids play. Living on Long Island during the Summer is magical. We have everything a short drive away — from the beach to the backyard barbecue to the vineyards to great cultural events. It’s hard to have a bad day during the Summer.
I’m talking about partnerships between old friends, old colleagues, family members, as well as with people you’ve recently met. Business partnerships can get hot when the partners are on different pages. You might have differing opinions on marketing initiatives, expense control, or ideal clientele. You may have trouble communicating thoughts or concerns to one another. Even the smallest disagreements (what kind of coffee should we have in the break room?) can flare up into a business-destroying fire of fury. There is one thing I’ve found that can help business partners avoid this heat later on in the relationship. Think of it like this: When you go to the beach, you slather on the sunscreen. You don’t want to get burned, so you have a plan. Well, the same applies to the business. This is why we help our clients put together an “exit plan” when we help form a business, and when we engage a new business as a client. It’s part of our basic package. We know that many of these partnerships will turn to ash with the snap of a finger, so we want to set them up right, just like we put on sunscreen before hitting the beach. When you’re protected, you’ll feel much better later on. We’ve seen what happens when people didn’t have an exit plan. The situation can escalate to the point where each partner is coming to the table taking extreme positions in the negotiations. One person wants everything and the other person wants everything. When that happens, the end compromise is something neither party wanted. And often the business is destroyed. No one wins in the end.
Here at the firm, things have been going well as we shift into Summer. The firm is growing, as I shared last month, with our new Marketing Director and two Summer Associates, and more good news is coming next month. Along with these three wonderful people, we’ve had many new clients join the Love Law Firm family. I’m grateful to everyone who has entrusted us with their legal matters, from our longstanding clients to our newest! I spend a lot of time thinking about the growth of our clients’ businesses and those of the members of the Long Island Business Forum, which I lead. Together, the membership of the LIBF vowed that this Summer will be the hottest summer ever in our businesses. The question is, how do you get it hot and keep it hot? How do you sustain healthy growth? There’s no big secret to it. We’ve said it time and time again: The key to your business burning brightly is relationships. You must consider the best interests of your clients. You have to reach out to them and let them know you’re thinking about them. This newsletter features articles about two of my friends, Jerry Rotando and Dr. Esther Jimenez, who are running hot businesses. They share their insights. I’d like to change gears, though, and share that another way business can heat up — and not in a good way — is when tempers flare. When it comes to business partnerships, a lot of people set themselves up for disaster down the road. Nearly 80 percent of business partnerships fail, and 50 percent of those failures happen within the first 2–3 years of that partnership.
This Summer, turn up the heat in the right way. Build up those all-powerful relationships and protect your business before things go wrong. You want your business to be hot, but you certainly don’t want to get burned.
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KEEPING THE
Here are his top tips: 1. MAINTAIN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS.
The world is smaller than you think, especially when you’re younger. You will keep running into a lot of the same people over the course of your career. Be a good person. Keep contacts and foster relationships. “I’ve never had to chase work,” he says. The relationships that Jerry built and maintained have brought work to him since he started his business. He created his own referral system long before he formed Precision Formulations. 2. LEARN CONSTANTLY. Never pass up an opportunity to acquire a new skill. When Jerry was at a company after the military, they offered a lot of training opportunities. He took the courses offered and added to his expertise. When new assignments came, they came to him. He had the skills and demonstrated capacity to take on something new. “I’m still learning,” Jerry says. “For example, the hardest thing to learn as a new business owner was asking to get paid.” Indeed, many an entrepreneur knows that having clients pay on a timely basis is a skill set that needs to be learned early on. 3. TEACH CONSTANTLY. “You should be teaching your clients so that they can learn to do things for themselves.” Jerry has found that by freely giving of his experience and empowering his clients, he generates more (and more interesting) work with each of his clients. Becoming a trusted partner has been invaluable. 4. HAVE A GOOD TEAM. Jerry assembled a strong team around him to fill in areas where he didn’t have the background. His accountant, Craig Cody, has been invaluable to him, especially in managing the tax aspects of running his own business. He is one of my favorite clients to work with and learn from. And, recently, his daughter has become a partner in the firm. “I never thought I’d be able to do it, but I’m so excited to have Laura join in.”
S ome people are satisfied with one successful career. For example, Jerry Rotando could have retired as a Major after his twenty years of service to our country in the U.S. Air Force and been proud. An engineer by training, he served in the bomb disposal unit. The story about how he defused a live nuclear bomb is thrilling, and his wife is grateful he didn’t tell those stories at the dinner table. After the military, Jerry went to work in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. He spent another 25 years in chemical engineering. He figured out how to put the chemicals together to make and improve the products and medicines so many rely on daily. If you open up your medicine cabinet, you’ll most likely find some of Jerry’s work. Not content with merely two successful careers, immediately upon “retiring,” Jerry formed Precision Formulations, Inc., which serves as a consultant to the very industries he recently left. In less than 18 months, his business has taken off. (It seems like overkill to mention that after Jerry started Precision Chemicals, he started a joint venture with a former colleague, sold it to a large firm, and now is a consultant to that entity.) I sat down with Jerry to talk about how to have a hot career. Since Jerry has been successful four times over, I knew he had a lot to offer. His enthusiasm for his company shines through everything: “When you work for someone else you are stuck doing what they want you to do. When you work for yourself, you get to do things that are fun.”
It’s only just becoming Summer, but Jerry’s company is already hot and is only getting hotter. Jerry can be reached at jerry_rotando@yahoo.com.
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3 INCREDIBLY
TIPS
TO GET YOUR BUSINESS THRIVING!
It’s very important to not overlook your own health and well-being while you are growing your business. After all, your most important asset is you . You need to protect you, invest in you, and ensure you are able to handle the work you set out to do. Dr. Esther Jimenez , owner of Life Spa Chiropractic & Wellness, offers her clients a holistic path toward wellness. She also is a successful entrepreneur in her own right. Her office is always bustling with clients of all ages, from infants to the elderly, the agile to the fragile. Dr. Esther shares three tips to a thriving business: 1. NETWORKING Relationships are key, and it is important to find “power partners.” A power partner is simply someone that you like and feel comfortable referring people to and receiving referrals from. Dr. Esther is active in the community, attending networking events, health care forums, entrepreneur meetings, and more to meet other health professionals and those who can help build her practice. 2. LECTURES/WORKSHOPS Dr. Esther creates and presents workshops every month in her offices that are free and open to the public. She advertises the events through Eventbrite, social media, and/or email. Educational events allow interested persons to come and
learn more in a nonthreatening environment, without pressure, to see how they would benefit from her services. 3. EVENTS AT CLIENTS’ HOMES To make the educational setting even more comfortable, Dr. Esther will travel to a client’s home and host a “tea
party” where her client and their closest family and friends can relax and learn about what she has to offer. This intimate and relaxed setting allows people to ask questions without any fear. In addition, Dr. Esther offers a free health analysis to all who participate. Dr. Esther is a great example of how education creates clients. In the course of my own networking on Long Island, I have met a number of chiropractors and wellness professionals. What has separated Dr. Esther from so many is her passion to teach and share what she knows. To learn more about Dr. Esther and her practice, please visit wellnesslifechiro.com or call 516-868-8100.
Francine, with the incredible Carol Keil of Otto Keil Florist, picking up the spring bulbs and flowers for the lucky winner of our newsletter’s first-quarter contest! Carol, her husband Otto, and the entire Keil family have an incredible nursery here on Long Island. Our winner, Frances Ignatiou, says, “The floral arrangement is beautiful! After an especially brutal winter, seeing and smelling the flowers brightens my days.” Give them a visit! emmasgarden.biz
AROUND THE FIRM
June 8 - LIBF Women’s Lunch - ask me to attend. June 22 - Offices Closed. Keagan graduates kindergarten! July 4 - Offices Closed. Happy birthday, America! July 13 - LIBF Women’s Lunch - ask me to attend. Francine and other panelists at the LIASB’s Business Survival Program on May 16.
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. The purpose of this newsletter is to provide information about Love Law Firm, PLLC’s qualifications and experience. The information provided in this newsletter does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. Any prior results described in this newsletter do not guarantee a similar outcome. Love Law Firm, PLLC’s distribution of this newsletter is not intended to create, and will not create, an attorney-client relationship with you.
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Isn’t it time you learned to love your lawyer?
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Light a Fire Under Your Business in the Best Way! INSIDE THIS ISSUE 1
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Keeping the Flame Burning
3 Hot Tips for a Thriving Business
Around the Firm
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Business Must-Read: ‘The Origins of Happiness’
Changing Our Ideas of Success
‘THE ORIGINS OF HAPPINESS’
What is happiness?
While it’s designed to help policymakers quantify and boost the satisfaction of their citizens, there is something for everyone in “Origins.” The chapters on success and happiness in children are of particular interest to parents and educators, for example. Business owners and managers should be especially interested in the book’s data-driven reimagining of wealth and happiness.
How can we encourage well- being in others? These
are the sorts of questions that have kept philosophers busy since the dawn of human history. In “The Origins of Happiness,” a team of the world’s leading social scientists tackles these age-old mysteries. Their groundbreaking findings may change the workplace and public policy. Listed as one of the top five books Business Insider was excited about for the year 2018, “Origins” does not disappoint. If you want to better understand your own happiness or the happiness of others, you’ll find the book to be an enlightening page turner. Even though it’s based on years of research and filled with graphs and data to support the authors’ arguments, it doesn’t read like a heady scientific report. On the contrary, this fairly short book is surprisingly accessible. Between the charts and equations, you’ll find “Origins” has wit, charm, and wisdom in spades. With their down-to-earth prose, the authors dissect complex arguments and strip long-held beliefs to their core assumptions. The result is a methodical yet enjoyable exploration of what it means to live well in today’s world.
The paycheck is no longer the universal incentive for employees we once thought it was. One has only to look to Silicon Valley to know that some of the most successful companies on the planet have prioritized the well-being of their employees. The quirky perks and benefits offered by Google and Amazon make much more sense from a business standpoint after reading “Origins.” This is one of those rare works that captures the prevailing winds of the business world and puts them into easy-to-understand terms backed by hard data. Far more than vague platitudes about money not buying happiness, “Origins” will change the way you think about everyone’s well-being — including your own.
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