I help entrepreneurs leapfrog over the typical potholes that derail most small businesses with inspiration, motivation, education, and support across a wide range of business topics drawn from over a decade of running my own business, teaching entrepreneurship for the City of New York, and coaching and consulting privately with dozens of women and minority small business owners. Honestly, why go it alone when help is an email away?
Cause vs. Effect
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I'm still thinking about my biggest takeaways from last week's SPARK! event with Katherine Pomerantz. If you were there or caught it on replay, may be you clocked it, too. As our final exercise of the workshop, Katherine asks us to identify one-to-three key performance indicators (KPIs) we will commit to improving for the initial 90 days of the year. My gut reaction is to identify the percentage of income growth I wish to achieve, i.e., 10% over last year's first quarter revenue. This is a money workshop, after all. However, with Katherine's help, I remember that it's much more important to focus on process metrics than revenue goals. By doing so, we continually refine what's driving our success, thereby maximizing efficiency and efficacy. If I were just focusing on hitting a revenue target, that wouldn't help me understand more clearly what actions are leading me to more or quicker sales, for instance. I might work extra hard to hit that financial goal but how would that help me for Q2 and beyond. This is the very epitome of working smarter rather than harder. By focusing on process we get a much clearer picture of which strategies yield our desired results and which we need to keep honing to drive ongoing improvement. So here are my tips for staying focused on the right things as you build your plan for the new year—inspired by both Katherine Pomerantz and Garry Keller's The One Thing, which I recommend if you haven't read it: Find Your Domino>>What single action, if done consistently and well, will trigger positive results through your entire business? Make It Measurable & Meaningful>>The best KPIs are narrative metrics, providing insight into your business's health, challenges, and potential. Each metric should answer the question: "What does this number really tell me about our performance?" Track Progress, Not Just Outcomes>>Meaningful KPIs don't just measure, they motivate, creating clear pathways that truly move the needle. Keep in mind your process is where your value lives and dies. Continual improvement allows you to keep deepening value to support ongoing growth and success. With all that in mind, hit reply and let me know which KPIs you're going to focus on in 2025? And if you need a little help figuring it out, schedule some time with me. PS - If you missed it, last week I advised you to Git 'Er Done. Your success is our strategy!No longer want to receive my newsletter but don't want to miss my special offers and announcements? Click here. |
Easily Said & Done
I help entrepreneurs leapfrog over the typical potholes that derail most small businesses with inspiration, motivation, education, and support across a wide range of business topics drawn from over a decade of running my own business, teaching entrepreneurship for the City of New York, and coaching and consulting privately with dozens of women and minority small business owners. Honestly, why go it alone when help is an email away?
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Have you seen the video of McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski trying to promote the new Big Arch burger ahead of its March 3rd launch? How about any of the many, many videos or memes negging on it for a host of reasons, including how Kempczinski refers to the burger as "a delicious product" or his failure to take a real bite of it, seeming almost disgusted by it. To me, there are three great marketing stories going on here. 1. Going Viral Isn't the Goal Yes, there is such a thing as bad PR and...
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