Business Owner today -Entrepreneur tomorrow

"Nothing is so successful that it can't be mismanaged. If you lose sight of what you are doing, it could be here today and gone tomorrow."- Jim Pohlad (Owner of the Minnesota Twins)

What are you doing? Whatever you do to pay the bills or take care of the family, what are you doing it for? Money, kids, to make a difference? This is a very important question and the answer to which must be kept front and center, or it will be gone.

Often, when business owners started their business they new they were doing it to build a better life, have more time, make a difference, etc. But, along the way they became not only the owner but the CEO, CFO, COO, manager, supervisor, and sometimes even the hourly wage worker. The ideals of a better life get swallowed with working harder and surviving and paying the bills. Without much thought, just like that, you can lose sight of what you got in this for in the first place. Same thing with being a Parent, a coach, or a teacher.

Since I can't speak to everything in a short blog, here is an overly simplified model to entrepreneurial success:

1. Solve the $ Step - If you don't plan and save to get far enough ahead to invest in others and better systems you will be left spending everyday and hour (every dinner with your spouse) not thinking about anything, except, how can I make more $ so I don't go out of business. Some people stay at step one their entire life- this is very sad to me as a coach.
2. Solve the time step - Use the money you saved or set aside in step 1 to buy yourself more time. Hire, delegate, create, and build new time saving systems.
3. Use the time you bought for yourself to find inspiration, new ideas, better ways of doing things, and creative energy to build your life and/or your business to new heights.

Where are you stuck? Which step is next? How are you going to get to the next step?

Of course, I'm here to help you do that. Just never lose site of what got you in this in the first place. Have fun!

Enjoy Life!

Creating Entrepreneurs everyday,

Jon Bohm

Can't Change the Game? Change the Players.

Playing a game as kids there is always someone who would bend the rules, make up new rules, or re-create the game on the spot if it benefited them. Man, did you hate that or what!? Unless, that was you ruining the ability to play fair for the rest of us.

We were always told - you can't do that! We hated on them and we called unfair or conspiracy, depending on how many people were trying to change the rules.

Now, here we are all grown up and those that have figured out how to change the rules of the game to benefit them are the winners. As an entrepreneur, if you can change the way the game is played - kudos to you- do it. Google, Facebook, online magazines, Tivo, Apple, netflix, etc. have changed the rules in their industry. In one way or another they are making the world play their game. And just like when we are kids - the people that hate you for it feel like you are making them lose and those that benefit love your influence.

But, what about most of us? Are we game changers? I hope so, we try to be. But, often we don't get to change the rules. We have to play the game by whomever is changing the rules.

So, we will have to pick one of 2 options:

1. Take our ball and go home= you will no longer be playing the game, or refusing to play the game will often get your boss to send you home as well if the marketplace doesn't send you home first.
2. Realize if you can't change the game- change the players. Starting with you.

In today's marketplace the rules are changing everyday.

Are you going to take your ball and go home or worse get sent home?

Or are you going to change the players starting with you?

If you think your industry isn't changing- beware you are probably inches away from being sent home.

If you can't change the game - change the players.

Changing players in every industry everyday,

Jon Bohm

Learning from LeBron

Or, maybe I should say learning from LeBron's choices and circumstances surrounding his move to the Miami Heat.

There is a lot of media surrounding what LeBron did, how he went about it, and even speculation on why he didn't tell Cav's owner (Dan Gilbert) before he announced to the world his decision to leave the Cav's and move to the Heat. The aftermath is hurt and broken relationships as bridges of trust and loyalty burn to the ground.

No matter what, how, or why LeBron did what he did. One thing is for sure- any loyalty that may have existed between LeBron and and the Cav's is gone, and any relationship that may have existed between Gilbert and LeBron is also gone.

So, was it worth it for LeBron? For Gilbert? Who knows? And only time will tell.

The takeaway from all of this is that loyalty is good business. From Gilbert's perspective, had he fostered a deep loyalty in LeBron, it's more likely LeBron would still be with the Cav's. And, if LeBron had fostered loyalty and relationships with the team and Gilbert he would be more marketable, and he may have left without burning the bridges so many fans were standing on.

Loyalty exists when expectations are exceeded, period. What we can learn from LeBron is at the end of the day- relationships, loyalty, and expectations is the basis for decisions made in business. Sure money is an issue, contracts, and price all get into the game. But relationships, expectations, and loyalty trump every time sooner or later.

Obviously, LeBron's expecations either grew or were never met with the Cav's (he took a pay cut to go to the Heat.) Gilbert's expectations either grew or were never met with LeBron (LeBron accomplished nothing towards a championship). This causes a relationship breakdown and loyalty comes apart at the seams.

Is your business exceeding expectations? Are you creating loyalty and relationships among your internal and external customers? Do you even know?

In your personal life it's the same way. Marriage? Friendships? Work life and piers? Are you exceeding expectations?

Our challenge is not in how, what, or why other people do what they do. Rather, our challenge is where we set the bar in our own life, and how high we are willing to jump to create loyalty and relationships that will eventually trump everything else... sooner or later.

Exceeding expectations,
Jon Bohm

Reinventing Yourself - What next?

If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of potential, for the eye which , ever young and ardent, sees the possible.- Soren Kierkegaard

I was hanging out with my 4 year old son the other day and I was impressed with the excitement he finds in all the little things in life like learning a new word, understanding how something works, the adventure of playing in the backyard, and eating a new food. His energy and adventure is contagious. As we get older, and we have lived a full life and tried everything under the sun. We can have the tendency to write off all the things we don't like and embrace what we do enjoy, this causes the excitement and passion for life and new adventure to fade.

For example, I would love to get my pilot's license and then fly the country in my own airplane. This is an adventure and it would be an incredible thrill for me. My Dad, on the other hand, has had his pilot's license - he has been there and done that. The excitement has worn off, so what's next? Maybe for my Dad it's time to get some buddies together and build their own plane, time to take a passion and reinvent it. Re-create it with fresh perspective and new skills.

Once you have traveled the world, fought in 2 world wars, lived, loved and know yourself well. What is left? What excitement, challenge, and fervor for life and adventure is there? Maybe it's time to re-invent yourself?

Is it time for you to get some new energy from an old passion? Is it time to date your spouse again? Renew your vows? Check an item off the bucket list? Build something? Find a new talent? Or maybe the greatest reinvention is to plant seeds off your tree of experience into the life and mind of someone else?

Enjoy this true story:

Anna Mary Moses loved to do needlework. She had been enjoying it since before she was married. But as she began to get older, she started to lose some of the dexterity in her hands through arthritis. By the time she was eighty, she could no longer perform even the simplest stitches. Therefore she decided to try something different—painting. The brushes were easy enough to handle, even with her arthritis, so she took it up full time, mostly painting farm and country scenes.

One day a traveling art collector stopped for a bite to eat in her town and saw her pictures in a drugstore. He decided that he liked them, and in a very short time the name of Grandma Moses was known throughout the art world. Although Grandma Moses didn’t even start painting until she was eighty years old, she was able to create over fifteen hundred works of art in her lifetime. She had an international following, and prominence as a world-class painter.

All this because she was forced to quit her favorite pastime and take up a new one.

Success cannot be measured in time, or what anyone else thinks. It's personal and powerful when you are reaching your own goals. Never stop learning, dreaming, and re-inventing the wonderful life you have been given. The world is a playground, and there is always something new to explore. Sometimes the greatest exploration is done inside your own mind and life.

Dream it, find it, and live it. After all... this is YOUR one shot at life.

Jon Bohm

A Star is Born

"Many an opportunity is lost because a (wo)man is out looking for four-leaf clovers." ~ Anon

I was reading my son is bedtime story and it happened to include an interesting story about how a star is born in space. It requires 3 major elements for the star to be born; gas, gravity, and timing. Read more about the science behind this here.

What a great metaphor for each of us. We all want to be "stars" in our own world, family, industry, or peer group. We want to make a difference to bring the right things together and maybe the biggest motivator - we want to be recognized for it. We want to shine, brightly!

It's easy to think that this is a function of luck.

• If I had their background, looks, luck, than I would be a star too
• If I had bought when they bought I would be rich too
• If my daddy owned "x" company I would be in the right circles
• If my kids were born without that disability

The more I work with people in a behind the scenes capacity with widely successful people the more I realize there is no four leaf clover, there is no lucky situation, and there is no lottery ticket. The magic bullet to success doesn't exist.

What appears to be lucky timing or lucky resources is not luck at all - it's simply preparation, passion to find resources, and the ability to expect opportunity (timing.) 3 ingredients that happen out of purpose and direction. To the skeptical outsider it appears to be lucky. But, it's not.

You want to be a star? 3 simple ingredients must exist to shine brightly -

1. Prepare yourself to become who you want to become. You want to be a star, act like one, now.

2. Find your passion and you will find the resources. Trust me, if you want it badly enough you will find the resources- or they will find you.

3. Look for opportunity with an expectation, a certainty of someone who knows the sun will rise tomorrow.

Stars are born everyday, in every economy, industry, and family. The only question is: will YOU look inside for the opportunity and put the ingredients in place or will continue to look for four leaf clovers and lottery tickets?

Expecting great things for you!

Jon Bohm