The Entreprenologist
Conway Daily Sun, January 25, By Michael Kline

It’s the most exciting time of the year once again. Only seven shopping days left until Ground Hog day. I know your busy planning your menus, decorating your house and sending out Ground Hog day cards, but I want you to take just a moment to consider what the big holiday really means.

Throughout history, we have looked for clues about our future. We look to the stars, to the seasons, soothsayers, fortune tellers, wooly caterpillars and ground hogs to help us predict what is about to happen to us. If this is beginning to sound silly, consider the fact that today, we’ve gone really crazy and started listening to cable news channels! If we accept that it is our nature to worry about the future, what is a sensible person to do?

You are your own best prognosticator. (Well maybe second only to Punxsutawny Phil). I argue that the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself. Let’s not worry about pessimists saying the economy is going to be slow for another year or five. Let’s make our own economy better! When you take a proactive stance, assume responsibility for your own future and take action, you can change anything you want in your life. From cooking skills to diet to business and relationships, you are in charge.  So what are you going to do about it?!

This is mostly (sometimes) a business column, so let’s talk work-related ideas.  Ask yourself what you can do with the resources you already have. Turn off the news and spend an hour listing all the little talents, creativity, friends, contacts, and ideas you have available to you.  Perhaps you had ideas a few years ago that you dismissed; today might be a great day to revitalize them. In challenging times, old ideas might more sense than they did a few years ago. There are more people in the market for new ideas, better ideas, new ways to feel better, new ways to save money, and even better ways to spend money. Not everyone is looking to spend less, but almost everyone is looking to spend more carefully and more wisely. Perhaps you could help. Next, it’s time to do some math. Calculate what it takes to make a return on your ideas. What would it take and what would be the return if you could you increase productivity, save money, improve cash flow, or make more sales? Stop telling me you need someone to lend you money – you really don’t. Using only what financial or creative resources you already have available to you, write down things you can do to start in the right direction. Get going, take action, do research, go meet people that could help, and the right people and resources start to show up in the most unexpected places.

The most important action you can take to improve your own economy is to accept that it is your personal responsibility. Please understand, I’m not using “personal responsibility” as political code words for abolishing assistance programs; I’m just saying that chances are, if you have the ability to get and read this paper, you have the power to do something to positively influence your future.

Happy Ground hog day, and may your next six weeks be filled with creative planning, excited implementation of new ideas and encouraging results. If not, spring will arrive eventually anyway.

Michael Kline is a local retailer, success coach and trainer. He may be reached through his website, www.klineseminars.com, or e-mail, mike@klineseminars.com.

The Entreprenologist
Conway Daily Sun, January 9, 2012
By Michael Kline
In our last column of 2011, we talked about four ideas behind making 2012 the best year it can be.  Almost half of the first month is already over, so how’s it going so far?
Don’t beat yourself up too much. Yet. We have more than 11 ½ months left to get something done!  Perhaps we make it sound too simple when we write these end-of-year articles with tips for a better new year. Real life requires far more than can be written in a quick-tips column, but that’s why they’re called tips. They aren’t the complete, everything you need to know and do answer book, they’re just tips. Your job, if you want to achieve your goals, is to figure out how to implement them in your real life.
My four top tips were about what to do, how to do it, cash flow and having the right people.  Basically, to make sure you have the right people doing the right things and being able to afford to do them.
I bet you have lots of goals. You’ve probably done the work of clarifying your goals and putting them in writing. I’m willing to bet you have the talent to do what you need to do and you probably know what you should be doing. Assuming you have the cash to do these things, why are you not achieving every personal goal or fantasy you have?
The big missing element would be follow-through.  Most people who are creative enough to get this far in goal setting, scheming and planning, often lack the self-discipline to stick to their plan and do the hard work of executing their plan. Or, they rely on others to do the work to their high expectations, and fail to get the results they want from others. This is called failure to execute and it’s not pretty.

Fortunately, “failure to execute” is curable. The cure involves three-pronged approach of goals, data and rhythm.  First, you and everyone around you must clearly understand your top priority. We call this focus and alignment and we have lots of tricks for achieving it. Next, we need to know what metrics matter most – how do you measure progress? What are the indicators of trouble? What do we monitor and strive for?  This is the data element on which all eyes concentrate.  Thirdly, you need a rhythm to keep the energy and discipline going.  We teach that your strategic plan is written annually, modified quarterly, monitored weekly and pulsed daily.  Never, should you have a work day where you don’t know what you should be doing. Using this formula properly can drive your productivity to levels you’ve never experienced before. This can be an exhilarating and scary ride and is not for the faint of heart.  Many people need to work for someone else to be this productive.  When working for oneself, there is no outside accountability to which we must answer.  All the brains and all the planning in the world won’t help without the commitment and accountability to the system that drives success.  I dare you to ask me how to create the accountability – go ahead, just ask me!

Conway Daily Sun Dec 27, 2012
By Michael Kline
1.       Planning – do the right things. Duh. Sounds so simple it’s almost stupid, but seriously, how do some people always know (or seem to know) what is the right thing to do?  People that have better luck than others at knowing what to do aren’t just lucky. They go to industry trade shows, conventions or meetings and they read the trade journals and top rated blogs for their industry to stay abreast of the latest trends and available tools. They keep accurate records at their own business, so they know what past efforts worked the best and repeat and improve upon them. They use industry standards as well as their own benchmarks to set goals and develop strategy to achieve those goals, with careful monitoring along the way. By the way, successful people don’t really always know what to do. They sometimes do the wrong things, fail without dwelling on it, and move on to the next thing. Mistakes are ok.
2.       Cash flow – make sure you can afford to do the right things.  Success is almost as expensive and failure.  Sometimes, success can lead to failure if it isn’t properly funded. Most people, who have asked me for help in finding a loan, didn’t need a loan at all. If you have cash flow, and you want to expand, then a loan might be for you. If you’re having trouble keeping up with the bills, you probably don’t need and can’t get a loan. If your business isn’t earning enough cash to pay the bills, how will it pay the bills plus the new debt?!  The loan only works if it is used to change something so that you will be able to pay the bills and the debt.  Most small businesses carry far too much accounts receivable and they don’t need to. If you think you need to, call me and let’s talk about it – you probably really don’t need to!  Here’s the simple truth – nothing solves problems like cash. Nothing makes cash like sales. Plan your sales calls and the amount of cash that will produce. Plan carefully though, because if you’re good really at growing, you’ll run out of cash – growth is expensive, but it’s much easier to fund.
3.       People – have the right people doing the right things.  Do you have the right people? Do they know what to do and how to do it?  Are you the right person?  I’ve often argued that it’s very difficult to find the right people.  And, if you find them, they’ll leave you because they’re self-motivated to do their own thing. Or, they would stay but you can’t afford them. For these reasons, I believe in growing your own people. This is hard work, but with the right systems, ordinary people can produce extraordinary results.  Even the largest of companies in the world, rely on pure talent of individuals for too many decisions and too many processes that could be systematized. You need the best people you can get, but don’t expect too much from the incapable, and don’t try to hold down the capable just because you need them. Better to rely less on people and more on systems.
4.       Systems – so the right things can be repeated with predictability. People don’t run successful businesses, systems do. Excellent people run the systems to produce predictable results.

Best wishes to all my clients, students and readers for a kinder and more prosperous 2012.