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March 2021 Te Contractor’s Advantage
HarrisonLawGroup.com (410) 832-0000 jwyatt@harrisonlawgroup.com
How I ‘Live Long and Prosper’
There are a lot of obscure and strange holidays out there. Some were seemingly made up on a whim, such as Extraterrestrial Abductions Day (March 20), while others are deeply rooted in history, like Saint Patrick’s Day (March 17). Then, there is one day in March that falls somewhere in the middle: Live Long and Prosper Day. The day is, of course, named after the phrase made popular by Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy on the 1960s television show “Star Trek.” It’s become deeply embedded in our social fabric, and it conveys an important message that goes well beyond its “Star Trek” origins (though there are many variations of the phrase that go back thousands of years). We all strive to live long and prosper. In recent months, many of us have felt the pressures of the pandemic, and it may seem like it’s much harder to prosper and live our lives in the way we intended to. Many people had to change their lifestyles and make concessions or compromises. For my family, we’ve had to temporarily give up many of the things we enjoyed doing. We used to make regular trips to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, along with visits to the many museums in the city. These were important and enriching experiences for our kids, especially. However, while we’ve had to make concessions, we’ve been able to fill our lives with alternatives. The important thing is that we’re still finding ways to enrich our lives with the things that make us happy. One of my personal philosophies is to “pay yourself first.” It’s similar to the idea of living long and prospering on a very personal level. That is to say, make sure you’re taking care of yourself before taking care of other things. For example, when you’re scheduling your day or week (or even planning for the quarter or year), make sure you’re leaving room for yourself — for your interests, your self-care, and anything else you need. Once your needs are taken care of, then schedule everything else. At a glance, this can feel like a selfish philosophy. Shouldn’t you put others first? In some respects, yes, but not at the expense of your own health, whether it’s mental or physical. That includes stress and anxiety. If you overbook yourself and don’t schedule the downtime you need — or if you don’t do what brings you happiness — you become stressed.
This is a philosophy I have put into practice, and I’ve noticed a few important things about myself and my work. When I take this approach, I’m able to perform at a higher level as a professional. I’m able to do better work for my clients and for the firm as a whole. That isn’t to say my work suffered at any time before, but I’m happier with the result (and by extension, I’m sure clients are happier, as well). This comes back to another important point: happiness. I think prospering and living in a way that gives you more control over your stress puts you on a greater path to happiness. Stress is a normal part of life and cannot be avoided entirely, but you do have some level of control over it, such as how you structure your day and how you respond to stress. But there’s another major component to living a happy, prosperous life. Over a span of 80 years, Harvard University conducted a massive study on happiness. It’s often called the Harvard Happiness Study and was part of their Harvard Study of Adult Development. The study involved hundreds of people over two generations. Through the study, researchers found that the thing that contributed most to lifelong happiness (essentially, living long and prospering) was expressing gratitude. From my experience, that is very much the case. I find I’m in the best mood when I express my gratitude to others. For being such a simple thing, it’s easy to overlook, but it is something we should practice daily, or at the very least, weekly. It can be an internal reflection by taking time to think
about what you’re grateful for or journaling about it. Or, it can be an external statement when you express your gratitude to others. So, make time for yourself and express gratitude. This is how I “live long and prosper,” and I have no doubt that you can, too.
-Jeremy Wyatt
jwyatt@harrisonlawgroup.com | HarrisonLawGroup.com | 1
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Succeed in Business With the Right Strategies
• Lead generation of quality prospects
Remember the musical, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”? Ralph Macchio goes from the mailroom to the boardroom by not accomplishing anything in his career other than kissing up to the right people. But, for entrepreneurs, kissing up to the boss won’t help much! If you want to succeed without really trying when you’re running the show, you need to focus on these six things instead. 1. Retain and Maintain Customers. How much money do you lose each month in customer churn? What about employee churn? This is a big issue and a major reason businesses don’t scale. Check out the book “Stop Losing Customers'' by Shaun Buck. A section dedicated to calculating churn discusses why it matters for your business and how you can save a massive amount of money once you know the number and work to lower it. 2. Market to Convert Leads. You need marketing that generates quality leads and a sales process that converts those leads to customers for your business.
• A customer-relationship-management system that allows you to keep track of, nurture, and follow up with leads
• A sales process that includes long-term nurture and follow-up as well as the ability to close a deal
• These are only the minimum requirements, so make sure you have them all.
3. Create Systems and Processes. Businesses don’t scale when they don’t have any systems in place. “Ask the entrepreneur” is not a system, and if you have to do it all, your business will max out very quickly. If you are not a systems and processes person, hire one. A competent person in this position will be your right hand and help you scale. 4. Keep Employees Happy. If your employees are happy, they will do a better job serving your customers. If your customers are happy because your employees are serving them well, then they will refer more, spend more, and stay with you longer. This will make you happy because you will turn a larger profit. By contrast, it costs three times an employee’s monthly compensation to hire, onboard, and train their replacement — minimum . Few things hurt more than high turnover. 5. Play the Long Game. Win wars, not battles. Sacrifice today for tomorrow. Don’t make
This is much easier said than done, and I get that. The fundamental items your business needs are:
emotional decisions in business. Build systems, track everything, and nurture relationships.
6. Be the CEO. Invest in the skills required to become the leader you need today and, especially, tomorrow. Learn to delegate and let go of any role that “nobody
can do as well as me,” because that’s how you become what’s holding your company back.
Once you become comfortable with these six fundamental areas, you’ll move your business and yourself in the right direction. Being great at the boring stuff wins business, and that’s how you can afford the life of your dreams.
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HAVE A Laugh
Corn Dogs for All The Development of National Corn Dog Day
National Corn Dog Day began in March 1992 when two Corvallis, Oregon, high school students needed a snack while watching a basketball game. They got some corn dogs and called it good. But somehow, this simple snack and sport pairing turned into something huge. Though it’s not clear how, it spread across Oregon and eventually the rest of the country. It’s likely that people just heard about it from
friends and family and thought it was a great idea. In 2012, in honor of the original Corn Dog Day, the then-governor of Oregon issued an official proclamation naming March 17 National Corn Dog Day in the state. Today, it’s celebrated with thousands of events every March. An article printed in The Oregonian in 2009 revealed that National Corn Dog Day parties have been celebrated on nearly every continent — including Antarctica!
What Can a Netflix CEO Teach You About Business?
one we’ll let you read for yourself, and there is plenty more where that came from.
If you ask Marc Randolph about his favorite place, he’ll mention an office building in Dallas, where Blockbuster had its corporate headquarters on the 27th floor. Randolph, one of the founders of Netflix and its first CEO, has no illusions about what happened to the former retail giant. In his new book, “That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea,” Randolph shares how Netflix disrupted an industry and took the world by storm, an example every business leader can learn from. Randolph himself is fascinated by the nuts and bolts of business and entrepreneurship: “How does your business test new ideas? Can it happen faster? What’s the cost of having sloppy content hit the internet if it gets you out there sooner?” He examines how quickly you can put an idea in front of a customer where “you will learn more than you could in five months of R&D.” Randolph addresses these issues and more in “That Will Never Work,” all the while explaining their relevance to entrepreneurs. If you’re looking for more salacious details, he spends much of the first chapter debunking the stories about who had the idea for Netflix and whether or not it was an epiphany. “That story is beautiful,” Randolph writes. “It’s useful. It is, as we say in marketing, emotionally true. But as you’ll see in this book, that’s not the whole story.” The whole story is
Anybody can research Netflix online, but “That Will Never Work” is a rare glimpse into the inner workings of one of the 21st century’s most lucrative and secretive companies. Juicy stories pair well with marketing lessons, and the writing style is easy to get lost in — it really is a page-turner.
jwyatt@harrisonlawgroup.com | HarrisonLawGroup.com | 3
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Jeremy Wyatt jwyatt@harrisonlawgroup.com HarrisonLawGroup.com (410) 832-0000
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Inside This Edition
1. 2. 3.
How Do You ‘Live Long and Prosper’?
Succeed in Business With the Right Strategies
Where Does National Corn Dog Day Come From? Netflix’s CEO on Pursuing Your Ideas
4.
Boost Your Profits in 2021
As if 2020 was not already hard enough, its lasting impacts are going to make sales evaluation a lot harder this year. Brick-and-mortar sales fell 14% last year — a number that even the big increase in online sales just couldn't make up — leaving us with a 10.5% drop in sales overall. What does that big picture mean for your sales team? Should you measure 2021 against 2019? Focus on pre-pandemic projections for the current year? Throw your arms in the air and let the sales crew do whatever they want? First things first: Make sure your sales have stabilized. If you’re not starting to see sales climb again, you need an attack plan to meet your weekly numbers where they’re at. Evaluation is important, but you have to stop the ship from sinking first. Once you’re stable, you can take the next step and run the numbers. What kind of year did your business have in 2020? For many, it was worse than previous years, but some industries saw increased business. If you’re one of those lucky few, your plan is going to look a lot different. Remember, sales numbers are just part of the puzzle. You also need to look at productivity, profits, losses, and more to put together your own big picture. This is when you’ll see if your old metrics are still relevant or if you need a different way to look at 2021. Boost Your Profits in 2021 By Rating Your Sales Team
Then, set up your sales targets for the year. Your first leads should be those who canceled or stopped participating with your business last year. Past clients cost less to reactivate than new ones. It often just comes down to how you incentivize them. This is also a good time to question whether your traditional “ideal client” still looks the same as before the pandemic. Economic downturns are rough, but every time, some businesses bounce back stronger. They often attribute this success to changing tactics on a number of key issues and freeing up resources (especially sales personnel) to tackle new areas of interest. Finally, examine your sales team. It can be unpleasant, but is there anybody you wish wasn’t there? Low performers make everyone look like amateurs. The second half of this process is asking yourself, “How can I incentivize the right sales people?” Make them happy, and you’ll be happy.
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