Conway Daily Sun, Wed. June 22, 2011
by Michael Kline, The Entreprenologist

7 Steps to this, 5 pillars of that, 3 most life-changing what-evers, and let us not forget 8 Minute Abs… who buys this stuff and why?!  Is any of it believable? Does any of it work?  I certainly have never tried the 8 Minute Abs workout. For personal and business development however, I have the books and the training tapes and I follow the blogs from gurus like Seth Godin, Anthony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, E-Myth, Verne Harnish (Gazelle Coaching), Steven Covey (7 Habits), and dozens of others.  I do think that yes, most of it really works, most of it is totally true and applicable to the real world, and most of it is worth every penny they charge for their material. I also think most of it isn’t really anything that new.

I’ve been teaching business development in one fashion or another since 1992. We now enjoy in our workforce, employees that we not even born then who are convinced they know far more than I do, and when it comes to the 8 Minute Abs Workout, or how to use any I-Gizmo, I concede.  Sounding like your father? (I know – shoot me now)!  I’m glad our youth are smarter than me – it’s progress, but I’ve learned a few things in the last twenty years that only experience can teach.

I’ve experienced that knowledge isn’t wisdom.  I’ve experienced that knowing something intellectually is not the same as being motivated to do it. Wisdom seldom changes. We need to stop looking for the new short cut to happiness and study the tried and true principles that have always worked.

There is nothing new.  What appears new is the same wisdom with more modern language, more current examples and sexier metaphors; if the new program/system/method is of any quality, the meaning and the intent is all the same as the old stuff.  Earl Nightingale, the father of the self-help training industry said most everything Anthony Robbins says today. I got a promotional email from Robin Sharma and a blog post by Seth Godin this week both talking about lessons we learned from Stephen Covey in the late 1980’s. In 1976, Stephen Covey studied self-help literature for the previous 200 years and brought us back to principle-based teachings that had been abandoned in this country for prior fifty years. His research was new; his wisdom was ancient. For this reason, I still use Stephen Covey’s principle-based lessons in my work today; it never gets old and there are no better or more current answers, especially relating to EQ vs. IQ.  The growing importance of EQ (emotional intelligence) will have to wait for another column, but Covey covers the basics very nicely.

I’ve experienced that we do better when we stop working so much on technique and work more on character and principles. With the proper foundation, the techniques and methodology fall into place more easily. In business, we must have technique, but we must always be coming from a desire to be of service. I don’t mean to be trained in what to say to customers, although that’s important – I mean to have a sense of service in our hearts; to be passionate about the experiences our customers desire and passionate about our role in making that experience possible.

In my experience, we read these motivational and educational books and go to the seminars, and then it’s near impossible to implement the ideas into real life. Most business owners or managers do not have the time to figure out how to distill the wisdom of the best ideas into a workable plan they can actually execute.  Further, if you had the workable plan, who has the focus, discipline and time to follow through and get their employees on the same page?

I have taken the concepts from the best of these gurus and distilled them into a plan I call the Five Steps to Freedom.  It contains a little attitude of Tony Robbins (a little Tony goes a long way), the fatherly advice of Brian Tracy, the systems of Michael Gerber (of the E-Myth), made modern and more sophisticated by Verne Harnish, polished with the principles of Stephen Covey in mind, and some Wayne Dyer wisdom of the ages. This is all ancient wisdom, modernized, translated into super-simple lingo that applies to small business and orchestrated into a fill-in-the-blank checklist ready to use in your company.

Even with the availability of all the wisdom, the training and the tools to make it doable, the reality is most business owners will never change. They will continue to work slavishly in their business instead of working on their business, because change is seen as the hardest work of all. Getting what you want is easy. Knowing what you want is hard. Change is easy if you decide you want it.

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.

By Michael Kline, Entreprenologist
Conway Daily Sun, Wed. June 9, 2011
I’ve spent a fair amount of time thinking about the potential or plight of small independent, local-owned businesses. The valley enjoys some terrific local businesses, especially in the hotel and restaurant categories, but how do you compete with the advertising budgets and amenities of the big names?

While it’s true that visitors are sometimes drawn to brands they know and trust, compared to retailers, at least it’s easier for hotels and restaurants to get people to try something local and unique. You’re not selling handbags or tools; you’re offering an experience to someone who is looking for a different experience, so you have a reasonable chance to compete with the giant national marketing budgets. In addition to being terrific citizens and community supporters, our local restaurant group, Valley Originals has done an excellent job delivering the perfect message to dine local.

One of the dine-local marketing messages is that the owner is always on or nearby the premises. I love that! From a business development point of view, I wonder if this raises a question – most are on premises because this is their passion, and they make sure it’s perfect. Others are there because things fall apart when they’re not doing everything themselves. This happens in many, many businesses of course. My favorite restaurant owners happen to also have the job of managing their restaurants, so please don’t misunderstand me. If the owner wears the hat as one of the staff, that’s fine. Otherwise, the owner’s presence should be a bonus to the guest, not a requirement to make things function. The first is a sign of a gracious and grateful host; the latter is the sign of a lack of systems and training. With the latter, the owner’s presence is not likely to be sufficient to fix the problems.

When you dine at a national chain restaurant, you don’t expect or need the presence of an owner. You usually get what you order, the way you expect it, quickly and efficiently. Rare, because of constant training, but when something goes wrong there’s no ego getting defensive; just a manager with the power and training to make things right and beg your forgiveness. Is it elegant, romantic or exquisite? Compared to some local establishments the answer is yes; compared to others, the answer is definitely not. The point is that you don’t need the presence of an owner to have a meal – exquisite or casual. The desirable local feeling is created by the owner’s relationships with the customer, not their need to be onsite to put out fires in the kitchen.

If you want to feel local and caring, I like it when I’m greeted at the door by the owner; I like the hugs, the checking on us at the table, the good nights and the thank you all coming from an owner. That feels special. We frequent and recommend our favorite place mostly for this experience. An owner who can create the same culture among the entire staff has a winning business.

The biggest threat to local establishments is not the competition; it’s the owner with more ego than systems. If the owner created the systems and training as if they were a chain restaurant, they would then be on the premises by choice rather than need, and they could go to work on their business, not just in their business.

I’m intentionally leaving out examples of negative experiences – a food critic could help here, but I think if a restaurant deserves praise or criticism consistently, everyone will know it anyway. You can use your imagination if you must. Overwhelmingly though, our local restaurants and hoteliers are amazing, and deliver en experience beyond the expectations of their guests and beyond hospitality standards in other markets. 

To make sure we’re in that special group, let’s all take a look in the mirror (me too, at my own stores). Of course we have real challenges hit us from other sources every day. But are we to blame for some of our troubles? Of course, and if we’re honest, the more troubles we have, the more blame we should take. In the good economy money was so easy; did we get spoiled? Let’s stop blaming the economy, the government, taxation, and big name competition until we have our own house in order.  

I’m here to say that dining and shopping local is the way to go.  If you are a local eatery or shop that needs help, please stop taking it out on your customers and let’s talk systems and culture development.

 The secret weapon of the local owner is to be able to build relationships with the customers and the community. Otherwise, you’re just selling cooked groceries.

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.