For years I was using paper planner from a local company and it did me a great service. As of 2011 I have switched to Google Calendar. Then I realized I am a “pen and paper” guy, so despite all pros of electronic web based calendar I am going back to paper.

My criteria for ideal planner:

A5 size with plastic softcover
This is size that is good to carry aroud, fits to any bag, but it’s not too small.
With smaller size planner there is not enough space for writing.
Hard cover tends to be heavier and inflexible when you need it sometimes.

Whole year on one page
This page I use to put together my “happiness factor”.
I evaluate every day and mark it on this page either green (great day), orange (ok day) or red (bad day). One look at this page will then give me clear sense how my year is going.
You can bet I am hoping for very green 2014!

Monthly planning
To monthly tables I mark all travels / vacation and time with family.
On top of my dates I also put there dates for my wife.
This helps us with planning activities together and our own.

Week on two page format vertically
Here I only put meetings, reminders and calls.
To Do list must be on separate sheet of paper.
I prefer vertical format so I can write things down to space with certain hour. Weekly format is important as you need to see your whole week in one look. If you use daily you can easily get burried in small things as you can only see one day of your life. Longer than week period is too difficult to predict and control.

Notes pages
This is handy for taking notes and having it with you.
For jotting down occasional ideas or anything else you need to remember.

Everything else is bonus. Be it pocket where you can put some additional papers, bookmark ribbon or elastic closure.

Most of all, once you find something that fits your needs stick to it.
I guess, this would be same for everything in life.

Related posts: To Do List; Goals

If it was easy, everybody would do it.
I tend to remind myself when things get tough.

What is then so difficult about running your own business?
Long hours? Risk taking? Employing people?

From my perspective there are 3 not so obvious things that are tough on being entrepreneur and make a difference between entrepreneur and employee.

Decision making
Making decision is tough. That’s why people like to be employed.
There is always somebody who tells them what to do.
That’s why people like to watch TV.
There is always somebody who tells them what they should
wear, drive and think. Where they should go for vacation. What is right and wrong.
Who should they like and who not.

People hate making decisions. From small things like what I will have for bfast to
big things like where I want to be in 10 years from now. As entrepreneur you have no one telling you what to do. You just have to make decisions.
And that is tough.

Insight
“We need more Nike”.
My friend who owns e-shop with urban streetwear told me over lunch.
How does he know?
He was crunching numbers, reading magazines and blogs, watching videos with people who collect shoes, talked to many people from industry and to customers.

He spent countless hours going through all possible data and information on topic he could get his hands on. Countless hours thinking and connecting and structuring all he heard, seen and sensed. Out of all this he distilled this simple sentence, this insight.
Very simple sentence behind which is massive work and insight that will move his business forward.
As entrepreneur you need to come up with insights not only when you’re starting your company but continuously to make it grow and prosper.
And that is tough.

Getting Things Done
Successful entrepreneurs don’t mix activities with results.
Sending email to customer is not work done. Getting his signature on the order and shipping it out is.
You have to pay rent, salaries and other expenses and running around being busy won’t do that for you.
Your job is to sell, ship, deliver. Get things done.
And that is tough.

Be warned, for all things above, you have limited capacity.
Don’t spend it on little things.
Save it for things that matter and that will add most value to your company.
As you might guess, it is tough to sort out which are the ones.

Related posts: Entrepreneurs and Risk Taking; To Do or Not To Do

40% of restaurants go bankrupt within 2 years.
80% of businesses don’t last over 5 years.
Is it because entrepreneurs take too much risk?

I am convinced that entrepreneurs are no more risk takers than most employees.
Companies go bankrupt because not everyone who starts his/her own business is entrepreneur.

How do I do define entrepreneur?
Entrepreneur is someone who can see opportunity and is able to transform it into profitable and sustainable business.

Most people are employed because they don’t see the opportunities.
Some see them, but they don’t see them as something they would like to pursue
or is worth pursuing. And there are some who see them and give it a try but are not able to transform it into profitable and sustainable business.

Being entrepreneur I don’t consider myself a risk taker.
And I can’t really take risks.
I have responsibility for my employees, my family and towards our customers.
Out of opportunities I see, I only take ones I know I can transform into profitable and sustainable business.

Employees on other hand don’t deal with their money and are basically not responsible for anything.
Hence higher chance for taking unnecessary and not calculated risks.
If things go wrong, they may even be promoted if they sell it good internally.

Risk taking is not essence of entrepreneurship.
Seeing opportunities and having ability to turn it into profitable and sustainable business is.

This all requires lot of Hard Work and Passion, Goals and Discipline.

Never start or finish your day checking e-mails.

I never met anybody with “must reply to e-mails instantly 24/7” in his job description.
Yet, many people I meet acting this way.

E-mail is a great tool. And we should leave it at just that.
Tool that helps us to achieve our goals.
Too many people are mistaking replying to e-mails for work. It is not.
I guess it’s because it’s easy, doesn’t need too much thinking and there’s always e-mail to be answered.
Much more convenient than something that requires Hard Work.

There are 5 things you can do with e-mail (based on David Allen):

If it requires less than 2 minutes, reply.

There’s no value for you or your work – delete it.
Most of the time it’s enough to see who sent it or it’s subject.
Don’t read more than first two lines to decide if this mail should be deleted.

Is there someone who would reply better / add more value – forward.

Is it important and requires more than 2 minutes?
Schedule it in your calendar and come back to it later.

No action needed right now, but you may use information later? Archive it.

Never start your day with checking e-mails.
If you do, what will happen, there will always be something that will take your time and divert you away from your goals.
Instead, dedicate first hour of your working day to one of the 3 most important things that are on your To Do List.

Should you finish your work day with checking e-mails than your mind will think about it and you will not be able to fully concentrate on other things you want to do.
Obviously if you check your e-mails before you go to sleep, don’t expect to have a good night sleep.

Related posts: To Do List; Hard Work Explained; To Do or Not To Do

Leading people is toughest job you can ever have.

They say there are three major breakpoints in life.
When you get married, have children and when
you have to lead people.

Being through all of them I believe leading people is the toughest one.

Here are my observations on leading people:

Lead by example and be consistent

Just like with raising kids, your people will not do what you tell them but what they see you doing.
You need to live what you preach, otherwise you don’t earn their respect and they will not follow you.
You want them to work hard, they need to see you work hard.
You want them to grow, they need to see you growing.

People follow person, not position

Don’t assume that with the position you got people will automatically follow you. They don’t care about positions.
They need to see and feel leader in you regardless of your position.

Different approach for different people

There is no “one size fits all” approach to leading people.
Some need friendly chit-chat, some are fine with facts.
Some need couple drinks together, some don’t need to.
Find out and behave accordingly.
Obviously, regardless of approach treat everyone the same.

Business first

I was always on friendly terms with all my people. Tried to help them grow and with everything needed on and off the job.
Still, just because you had couple beers last night, you can’t accepts job is not done or deadline met.
Be friend but don’t forget your and theirs responsibilities.

Be yourself

I read hundreds of books, been to many trainings.
Was even trainer on leadership myself.
But all techniques, all knowledge can’t replace “you”.
They don’t need perfect leader, they need genuine “you”.

Give credits – take blame

When something goes wrong, take blame.
I tend to say “we” instead of “you” in these situations.
Eg. “we forgot to do this” or “we should’ve done this differently”.
Point here is to make sure people learn from this for next time but don’t become defensive. Smart people will find themselves in “we”.
When things go good give credits. This is time for “you”.
Give all credit to people. They need it to get energized and motivated.
You don’t.

One of the best questions I’ve ever got:

What would you do if you’re not afraid?

This is something which always reminds me, that
99% of the things we regret in life are things we didn’t do.

Most of the time, this question helps me to make that step and do things.
Do things I would be afraid to do. Things I would “normally” not do.
Both in business and in life.

What are you afraid of? What would you do if you’re not afraid?
Would you start that business? Would you change a job?
Would you still stay in that relationship?
Would you…?

Related posts: Regardless; Maybe Someday

You can’t build profitable and sustainable business by cutting cost.

Business is simple. Revenues minus costs equals profits.
To increase profits you can cut costs or increase revenues.
Ideally, you combine both.
Increasing revenues while keeping organization lean.

Cutting costs has one downside – there is limit how much you can save.
Once you reach it, you can save no more.

The other way is to increase revenues.
This you do via investing into marketing, people and sales.
With increasing revenues sky is the limit.

Which option sounds more appealing to you?

Related posts: How Much is Marketing? Hard Work Explained

Knowing what not to do is equally important as knowing what to do.

On company level I use 3 rules from book Good to Great:
i) are we passionate about it
ii) can we make money on this
iii) can we be the best in the world in this

Should we answer no to one of these questions, we don’t do it.
Simple fact that we like the idea or there is something flashy involved
(celebrity, fame, status and shit like that) doesn’t matter.
We simply don’t do it.

On individual level, we need to keep in mind:
i) what did we hire this person for? (is he / she doing it?)
ii) what is “core work” of this person? (is it all done?)
iii) is this person spending time on something that makes us money?

If we answer “no” to any of above questions, he/she needs to stop doing what he/she is doing and start doing things where we can answer “yes”.

What are you working on right now?
What are your people spending time on?

Related posts: Added Value; Hard Work Explained;

You must be different to succeed in the marketplace.

Every company in certain industry must meet certain criteria – minimum to have – to be able to compete in this industry.
These we call „points of parity“.
If company doesn’t have them it has no right to be part of this industry.

Take restaurant as an example.

Points of parity: every restaurant should have:
– clean and nicely decorated place
– using fresh and quality ingredients
– good quality equipment
– nice and friendly personnel
– follow all hygiene / operational standards
– etc

All above are „must have’s“ for all restaurants. Having all these gives you right to be part of the industry, but this gives you no advantage to win over other restaurants. All of them have it, so you are just an average.

To succeed company must have something that differentiates it –
„points of difference“.

These must be very clear, communicated and be relevant to our customers (our WHO).
This sets you apart from your competition in minds and hearts of customers.

The best point of difference is one that can not be easily imitated.

Points of difference for our example restaurant:
– unique recipes you inherited from your Grandma
– daily fresh baked bread served
– fastest order to delivery time
– etc

Please note, that “lower price” can’t be your PoD;
“low cost efficient operating system” can.

Think about “points of parity” in industry you’re competing.
Do you have them all?
Are you on par with your competition and industry standards?

What is your “point of difference”?
What is the reason people should choose your company over competition?

Related posts: How Much Is Marketing?; New Kid On the Block