In this episode of On A Roll, Mike Michalowicz, explains how to make better decisions using the 10-10-10 method. If you make a certain decision, what will the consequence be in ten minutes, ten months, and ten years. We have a tendency to put too much weight on the next ten minutes, and too little value on the ten months and ten years.

It seems like yesterday that I was in college (Go Hokies!). I remember high school so vividly that I still think (and act) like I am in it. It feels that moments ago, I was swinging from the jungle gym and enjoying nap time during my kindergarten class. But that stuff is far gone now.

Looking back, I have clearly made mistakes. That doesn’t bother me so much. I have learned from most of them. What does bother me is the missed opportunities. What bothers me are the times I ran toward comfort instead of trying something new. What bothers me are not the risks that I took, but the risks that I avoided.

My past is as dead. So is yours. Don’t waste your time worrying. The only thing you can, and should, do is change your behaviors now. Push away from the comforts of repeating your past, because until you do, you too will regret what you missed.

The No Regrets Formula

Here is my little formula for living without regret (or at least with a whole lot less regrets):

If you heart says “Yes!” and your head says “No!”, go for it! – This is the clearest sign you will get from your soul, trying to guide you. Your head is just going into the protection mode of keeping you in the “tried and true” past. Lead with your heart, and be clear about the fear of danger and the fear of inexperience!

If it won’t go away, go for it! – Sometimes life will present the same opportunity over and over. That can be a clear signal you should be giving it a shot.

Follow your heart, not your urge! – I love jelly beans. When they are put in front of me, I go through a whole bag in seconds. Then I get sick as a dog. I followed my urge to devour the jelly beans, and not my heart that was telling me to enjoy just a few. When temptation presents itself, make sure you are listening to your heart and not an urge.

Fear the pressure of peer pressure – Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn’t mean it is right for you. You gut knows what’s right, go with that.

If you regretted it once, don’t regret it again – If you have regrets, it is a clear signal not to make that mistake again. If you are lucky enough for the opportunity to present itself again… Go for it! Go for it! Go for it!

You Can Say You Lived

Do you have any regrets? Do you regret something in your entrepreneurial life? Personal life? It’s time to start living without regrets. It is time to push the limit today, so when you reflect back tomorrow, you can say you lived.

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Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain

1. The people who can sell.

2. The people who can sell themselves.

There is only one way to distinguish them: Cold, hard numbers.

The salespeople who can sell themselves are masters of cling.  They likely clinged to their last job for a couple of years, until they couldn’t sell themselves any more. They are masters at explaining things away.  They can always justify why their numbers won’t, can’t, and shouldn’t work.  They try to show their value in the “fuzzy” numbers.  The numbers don’t justify it, but they cling around as long as they can.

The salespeople who can actually sell, work for companies that cling to them.  Salespeople who can sell are masters of process.  They are skilled at explaining how their numbers work.  Their numbers are never fuzzy.  They expect more pay for more performance – no fuzz there.

Your business doesn’t need to feel warm and fuzzy.  It needs revenue, so it can deliver the warm and fuzzy to your clients.

Hire salespeople who can sell. Let your competition hire the other guys.

I recently received a notice congratulating me on donating a gallon of blood. I quickly did some research on Wikipedia and learned that the human body has slightly over a gallon of blood pumping through it. Clearly, if I gave a gallon of blood in one sitting I would be a goner. Shoot, even if I only donated one third of my blood (approximately 3 pints) in one sitting I might suffer some tough consequences. But since I donate one pint of blood at a time, my body hardly misses it and I can donate as frequently as seven times a year without missing a heartbeat (pun intended). My blood donations have quickly piled up and in a very short time I have given a gallon.

We’ve all heard that cash is the lifeblood of our business. I think it’s hard to argue otherwise. Shouldn’t we treat our money like our business’s blood? Just like a medical emergency, a business in need of fiscal attention often requires an infusion of capital.

Medical needs sometimes can be predicted and sometimes can’t. Regardless of the timing, with a pool of easily accessible blood reserves the chance for survival dramatically increases. Sometimes our business problems are predictable and other times they blindside the living crud out of us. Regardless of the timing, with a pool of easily accessible cash the chance for business survival dramatically increases.

Profit Distribution Account

That’s why you need to regularly “donate” business cash flow to your reserves. The best method is by taking your profit first. What do I mean by this? Every time money comes into the business, and I mean every time, a percentage is automatically transferred into a separate account. Just like a pint of blood, a healthy business will hardly feel it being withdrawn. I like to call this reserve the Profit Distribution Account (PDA).

How much money can be transferred to the PDA without threatening the health of the business? Most stable companies should be able to post a profit of 10% to 25% after all expenses. So trying starting with a low threshold, maybe 5% of every inbound dollar goes to the PDA. Over time slowly increase the percentage and monitor closely to see if your business gets woozy. Once you have consciously (more often subconsciously) adjusted expenses and cash outflow to sustain your PDA withdrawals, you will quickly accumulate a tremendous cash reserve. Be cognizant not to stow away too much money too quickly. Just like donating blood, the rapid drain of cash exiting from business operations will cripple or kill your organization.

Your Own Blood Bank

Should tough times come upon your company, and they often do, you now have a source of funds that you’ve built up. The PDA’s dinero reserve will see you through these times. On the bright side, as these funds grow they will ultimately be in excess of any imaginable rainy day needs. At that point you should take portions as an equity distribution. Trust me, it’s a real nice way to reward yourself for running a healthy business. There is a nifty little process I recommend on how to do this, but I’ll save that for another article.

If you’ve never given blood, I strongly encourage you to do it. There’s no question it saves lives. If you don’t currently donate to your company’s PDA account, I strongly encourage you to start. There’s no question it saves companies.

When an employee starts with your company or during their periodic reviews or when discussing ways to motivate your team, ask your employee how they want you to address disciplinary issues should they ever come up. Let them lay down the rules.

Do they want you to email them or write them a formal letter? Do they prefer you call them into your office for a private meeting? Do they prefer you take them offsite to a local Starbucks to have a heart to heart? Document their preferred method in your HR file.

When your employees are disciplined the way they want to be, it is always received better than the one generic way you always do it. Plus there is an added bonus, it prevents office gossip. If your method has been bringing people into your office and closing the door, that closed door has become a trigger for everyone to start gossiping. With this new method, you address employees differently and uniquely to their specific preferences. No more office gossip, and the message gets across even more effectively.

The Glory Day Pic

If that picture from 25 years ago, when you looked “amazing,” doesn’t work in landing a trusting long term relationship on match.com, why would anyone in their right mind post a picture of themselves from 25 years ago on their business website?

Pictorial Misrepresentation

Way too many owners, entrepreneurs, authors, gurus, experts, management teams, anybody, everybody, post old “great” pictures of themselves on their sites. If you post old photos, customer won’t recognize you when they meet you. The real you, the you today, is nothing like that glory day photo you posted. I mean, how else are you misrepresenting yourself?

Build Trust With Current Photos

Use current photos on your website. It builds trust and confidence. Glory days photos do the exact opposite.

The experience can be the same with social media. You’re anticipating something all thick and juicy and bacon-y and when your meal arrives you’re like, “I wonder how much of this I can hide in my pockets?” All you can think of is why you didn’t pay more attention in French class.  If you don’t understand how to market via social media, and where you are taking your company’s marketing message, you could end up pretty darn hungry. Hungry for business, that is.

Small businesses that are used to the glory days where they identified the demographics of their customers, ran ads based strictly on data, then waited for the cha-ching of the cash register are slowly realizing those days are over. Advertising was a one-way message then, from you to your customers. The customer listened, because they had no other choice.

Now anyone (which means everyone, by the way) with a FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+ account is talking, and listening, and engaging.  Advertising is now a discussion and if you can’t carry on a conversation, you might as well have ordered the pickled cows’ feet.

The Right Customer, At The Right Time, On The Right Platform

Today’s social media requires you to have a conversation with the right customer, at the right time, on the right platform. Not being on the right social media channel is like speaking at a carpeting convention when you sell automobiles.  You are clearly talking to the wrong people, at the wrong time, and the wrong place.

To select the right social media channels, you need to first know your marketing goals and who wants to hear it.  The process is simple… ask your top clients (the existing “right customers”).  Ask your top clients what social media platforms they visit.  Ask them which ones give them the most value.  And ask them when they visit social media (hint: the right time).

What Do They Want

Birds of a feather flock together. With an understanding of where your top clients are going on social media, you can now roll out your social media strategy:

Step 1 – The Right Social Media Platform
If you’re paying attention in your meetings with your top clients you will know the best social media to use, not only from what they say but from what you also observe. Don’t just use Twitter or Facebook because everyone else is, or because your top client likes to use them to talk with his college buddies. Find out what social media platforms your best customers use to find solutions and to stay current.

Step 2 – Managing Social Media
Use a management system like Hootsuite (http://hootsuite.com) to have a unified platform for managing the social media site you need to be on.

Step 3 – On Schedule
Social media serves two purposes very well – delivering content and having a dialog.  For the content part, you must have a scheduled approach. Regularly introduce new, relevant content in social media.  Be an active voice, constantly.  And to do that, you must schedule it.

Step 4 – On Time
As I mentioned in Step 3, social media is the ideal platform for a dialog.  As prospects and customers make comments, you have the ability to participate in the conversation. Use your social media platform to notify you of relevant keywords, and respond in a timely fashion with relevant information.

Social media is a conversation. Don’t beat people over the head with your product just because you can. You would never go to a networking event, meet a person and repeat what you do 100 times during the hour. Don’t do it on social media either. Pretend you’re at a party or dinner and let people know once or twice what you do as part of a much bigger conversation.

Your social media needs to be targeted (clone your best customers). You need to have scheduled sharing of content, complemented by real time dialog. You need to be responding with customers/prospects and your community, and you must be part of the conversation in a way that benefits those you’re talking to, and not sounding like a loud obnoxious ad.

I wrote this blog post on behalf of Visa Business and received compensation for my time from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s. Visit http://facebook.com/visasmallbiz to take a look at the reinvented Facebook Page: Well Sourced by Visa Business. The Page serves as a space where small business owners can access educational resources, read success stories from other business owners, engage with peers, and find tips to help businesses run more efficiently. Every month, the Page will introduce a new theme that will focus on a topic important to a small business owner’s success. For additional tips and advice, and information about Visa’s small business solutions, follow @VisaSmallBiz and visit http://visa.com/business.

Not all meetings are necessary, some can be run as a huddle  and others need to be the traditional presentation, minus the empty nods and half smiles. In those circumstances, you can use a group goal list to get everyone more engaged. Do it through this simple three step process:

STEP 1 – EACH PERSON’S GOAL

At the start of your meeting, give people a thirty second overview of what you will be talking about. Then ask, “For this to be a productive meeting, what do I need to make sure I address?” Have the first person say one objective in response. Write it on a whiteboard for everyone to see. Put the name of the person next to their objective on the whiteboard.

Then ask the next person to share one thing they want, and write it down. Do this with each person in the room. Go around again to see if there are more things to add to the list.

STEP 2 – CONSOLIDATE THE LIST

Once you have written down all the objectives, consolidate any duplicate objectives. For example one person may say “We need to figure out the schedule for this project,” and another may say “I need to know when we are getting started on the project.” This can be consolidated to “Provide all scheduling details.” As you consolidate the meeting objectives, make sure the people in the meeting agree to the consolidation. Be sure to put both the names next to the new consolidated objective.

STEP 3 – CONFIRM AS EACH OBJECTIVE IS ACCOMPLISHED

With all the objectives documented for the group to see, you may start talking. As you address the objectives in your presentation, you will cross it off. But, before you cross it out ask the person(s) if you fully addressed their objective. If not, ask them what else they need and provide it to them. If you have addressed their objective, cross it on out.

This simple process shows each person in the meeting that you are there to serve them, that their needs matter and that their input is valuable. And that is exactly what gets people more engaged. Say goodbye to blank stares, half smiles and the occasional sleeping drool factory.

You see… if you are coming into New Jersey by plane, you will land at New Jersey’s international airport located in Newark. The general area is very “armpit-ish.” Major highways criss-cross the area and trash is piled up on the sides of the road. Within miles of the airport are smoke billowing plants, stench producing factories, deserted buildings and rundown warehouses. The roads are over used and under maintained resulting in a high likelihood of a concussion hitting one of the many potholes on Interstate 78 in Newark.

On the other hand, when you drive into the Garden State, it’s a different story. You are surrounded by beauty and history. Driving up from the south you pass right by small seaside towns like Cape May and Stone Harbor. Coming from parts of New York City, you see the breathtaking skylines, amazing bridges and buildings. Roads coming in from the north or west wind through rolling hills dotted with sprawling farms,and historic homes.

Here is the interesting part: The vast majority of NJ is gorgeous, historic and full of life. But the vast majority of people that come into the state enter via the airport. The armpit part. Since the masses come into NJ at the armpit, the label stays and rightfully so.

Businesses have the exact same exposure. Even though 95% of your business operation may be phenomenal, if the points of entry are gross, the overall impression will be very poor. Consider these common “points of entry” for new customers to your business. If you rank high on these, good for you, keep it going. If these are armpit like, it is time for significant improvements… NOW!

Your Phone System

People still pick up the phone and expect to talk to another person. A professional, helpful receptionist answering the phone each and every time is the best option. But if you don’t have that, you must at least have an automated attendant that is EASY to navigate, and EASY to get live help. If the caller can’t get a live, helpful person within 15 seconds of calling in, you need to improve.  P.S. If you are considering a new phone system, I recommend my corporate partner Nextiva.  It’s a great reliable modern system, and it delivers that professional touch!

Your Website

How would you like to visit a store that had workmen all over the place, dust every way, and most of it was incomplete? You would probably leave and go to another place that was clean, safe and had everything you needed. The same is true for websites that are “under construction” or littered with dead links. The old school approach of getting on line quickly doesn’t work anymore. You must have a clean, complete, professional site. No less, no more. You don’t need to have gobs of stuff and lots of pages. If you are starting up, it is far more important to have a single landing page that is clean, professional and complete, than to have tons of pages that are incomplete.

Your Email

When a prospect emails your firm, get the inquiry in the process quickly and consistently. This is where well prepared form email responses and other form processes will come into play. Ensure your email is current, and that it doesn’t reference outdated materials or actions.

Your Facility

It happens infrequently for some and regularly for others. Regardless, when someone visits you it is important to have a clean professional space. This doesn’t mean you have to have new furniture and great equipment. It simply means you need to dust every so often and stack papers neatly.

You, Yes You

The final, and probably most important, impression people will get of your business is you. They will hear how you speak , they will see how you dress, and they will discuss (behind your back) the impressions they have had of you. Be true to your business. Dress, behave, speak in a manner that is absolutely consistent with what you want the impression of your business to be.

Just like the gorgeous state of New Jersey, you are at risk of making a horrible impression if your prospect’s first impression is “armpit-ish.” It is time to clean up your act! Reconsider every “point of entry” to your business and make absolutely sure it is clean, friendly and professional. While these few points may represent only 5% of your entire business, doing them right can result in tremendous returns.

In case you’re not familiar with the 80/20 rule here is a quick primer: In 1906 an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto noticed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. He started looking around and noticed that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas, and so and on and so on.

The resulted was the greatest find in the history of economics… the 80/20 principle. In fact, the success of your business depends on your successful application of this principle. [Read More at Nextiva]