(Time to read this Blog is about 3 minutes)

Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:

1. My Biz Quote of the week:
   “When a business doesn’t do well, it’s always due to circumstances beyond their control.  But, when the business does well, it’s due entirely to the brilliance of the management. Funny how that works.”       
   …Donald Cooper.
    
2. Quick Biz Tip:
   It’s time to start work on your 2025 Biz Plan…now:

   October starts in a few days, which means it’s time to start working on your 2025 Business Plan so that you ‘hit the ground running’ to make 2025 your best year ever.

   I’m amazed at how many businesses start their Biz Planning process some time in December…or even in January…or not at all.  This is nuts! 

   Stop retreating to the familiar, doing the ‘easy day-to-day stuff’ and hoping for better results.  Start on your 2025 Biz Plan now!

   There’s big confusion about what a Biz Plan should be and how to create one that works. So, I’ve spent days creating for you a ‘Guide to Creating a Business Plan that Works’.  You can download it here  Click Here  no charge.
    

3. How many guns can the Canadian Government buy for $67 million? A Canadian Government Program to reduce public ownership of military style assault rifles, launched in 2020, has so far cost tax-payers $67 million…but has collected no guns. Not one.  
    
4. The big increase in ‘Grey Divorce’. According to a recent study by the National Center For Family and Marriage Research in the USA, divorce among couples over 50 years of age now accounts for 40% of all divorces…up from just 8% back in 1990.
    
5. A not fun food fact. Food waste is a pressing problem. For example, more than 30% of the food produced or offered for sale in the USA goes unsold or uneaten. This number is about the same in all ‘western’ countries.
    
   Spoiled food makes up the single largest volume of material sent to landfills and incinerators, where it decomposes, releasing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that is heating the planet.
    
   A study by the Environmental Protection Agency found that emissions from food waste in the US are roughly equal to more than 50 million cars on the road.

Now, to this week’s important topic:

If you’re the ‘best’ at doing everything in your business or department …you’re in big trouble. 

I recently did some Biz Coaching with a business owner who proudly bragged that he’s the ‘best’ at doing every job in his business…from operating the machinery to making sales calls. 

There are two possibilities here.  First, that he really is better than any of his 27 employees at doing everything…which is frightening on so many levels.  Or, that he really is not the best at doing everything, but has some deep psychological need to believe that he is.  Either way, he’s in big trouble.   

Here’s the problem.  He can’t do the one job that he’s actually paid to do…run the business.  He’s a poor leader and an incompetent manager.  He’s in denial and ‘hides’ by doing trivial jobs in the factory that he’s very good at.

Business growth has ground to a halt, things are not getting done, he brags about how little he pays his staff, the good people have all left in frustration, the business is losing money, he’s over-whelmed, tired and wants to retire…but nobody is interested in buying the business.  No surprise there. 

So, here’s the tip.  Everyone you hire should be better at doing what you’re hiring them to do than you are…or at least they should have the potential to be better than you at that specific thing within a year of training and mentoring.  This is the only way that you can grow your business…and eventually sell it profitably.  “You can’t grow your business without growing your people…and without growing yourself.”  So, what’s your growth plan for everyone in your business who wants to grow…and what’s your growth plan for yourself?

PS:  I fired the client.  He’s not rescuable!  ☹

That’s it for this week…

Stay safe…live brilliantly!       

Donald Cooper 

Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability.  He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.