As a business owner, you’ve likely never experienced a year like 2020. The challenges have been complex and unfamiliar. And to keep business running, you’ve needed to confront each one head on. So has your team. While you’ve been focused on how to pivot, generate revenue, manage a remote team, and balance work and...
As many teams are returning to work in some form, business owners are facing an uncomfortable realization. The old frustrations with your employees—the ones you’d forgotten about or maybe only realized with a period of unprecedented space from your team—are still there. The things that weren't working before still...
It was a warm Friday afternoon at the end of June when we spoke to Maren and Christopher of Boothby Therapy Services, their child therapy services company in New Hampshire that uses their surname. They’d prepared us for the fact that they might be a little late to our call. They needed time to dock their boat—chee...
It’s easy to run a business in default mode, to operate reactively instead of proactively. Many business owners do it. They allow systems to develop by happenstance in their business rather than designing them with intention; they keep their business afloat on referrals and word-of-mouth instead of developing a Ma...
As the world continues to change and uncertainty abounds, you may be facing the big question, “When should I reopen my business?” Or, if your business has remained open in some form during the pandemic, maybe you’re asking different questions like, “Should I continue this new social media campaign I started to kee...
One of the essential skills for any business owner is negotiation. How well you can negotiate a favorable agreement or deal for your business makes the difference between growing to achieve your goals and not. There are so many different types of relationships—ones with your employees, your vendors, your customers...
Just like so many of you, my company’s been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. Since the end of February, I’ve woken up every morning relieved that today wasn’t the day I had to ask our Team to take a pay cut. Layoffs have been out of the question except as the last possible resort—and I’m just glad we haven’t re...
Your Customer Fulfillment system—the way you deliver your product or service to your customers—is an essential part of every business. But at EMyth, we talk often with our clients about how your fulfillment system is more than your product or service: It’s the promise you make to your customers, the experience the...
As a small business ourselves, we know that the national crisis of the coronavirus is likely creating unexpected financial challenges for many of you. We feel it, too. But the good news is that support for small business is coming, either through state or federal government assistance or through organizations offe...
Now is a particularly challenging moment to show up for and manage your people. As a business owner weathering a global economic crisis, you have so many demands on your time and focus—not least of which may be keeping your business financially afloat. So making sure your team has what they need to do their jobs a...
Starting last Tuesday, the topic of COVID-19 and the coronavirus became a part of each of my coaching calls, and as the week went on, it started to consume more and more time. Conversations about whether or not we should prepare quickly turned to, “We’ve already lost a job,” and “We’re going to shut our doors unti...
To grow your business, you need a dedicated physical space to do the strategic work of growing it—a place for dreaming, thinking and planning. And many business owners don’t have that. Instead, they work from a mobile location, share a space with employees, or have a desk that’s more of a dump zone than a place th...
As the owner-operator of your business, you’re often the first point of contact for anyone trying to connect with any part of your company. So no doubt your inbox is a constant distraction—even a point of overwhelm. And no matter how diligent you are about managing your email, messages can still build up quickly. ...
If you sent your team a text today telling them you were never coming back, what would happen? Would your business be able to operate just as well without you? If the answer is “no,” it’s safe to say that you’ve built your business around your own ability to get things done. If that’s true, your business may be gi...
Take a moment to think about your business. Go ahead—picture your typical work day. What does that picture look like? Does it look like you clocking into a job, immersed in the technical work of your business? Does it look like you putting out constant fires, struggling to check a single task off your to-do list w...
When I started as an EMyth Coach in 1996, I had a client (let’s call her Kathy) whose biggest frustration was not being able to trust her people to take care of the business in her absence. She confessed that it had been ten years since she’d gone away for longer than a weekend. Just one week prior, she’d stepped ...
Let’s be honest: Building a business that doesn’t depend on you isn’t easy. It’s going to take lots of time, attention, and know-how. You’re going to be drawn into fighting fires you wish weren’t happening; you’re going to worry about having the right resources to create the right results; you’re going to have to ...