Denise Brinkmeyer

Moving Big Rocks in 2012

I've lost some of the most important people in my life during the last two years.  It's made me keenly aware of how brief our lives are.  The moments of our lives are precious resources not to be wasted.

Standing in the kitchen before sunrise, your sleepy headed daughter stumbles her way in for a cup of coffee.  This is a moment. 

"Good morning.  How is my precious daughter today?" delivered with smile and a hug.  What a wonderful moment.

It's these wonderful moments that also tease us with fantasies about giving up "the rat race" and staying here in this moment forever.

But this role of mother is just one of my roles and I am committed to my responsibilities in the others as well.  If I can just learn to seize all of the moments of my day, in all of my roles what kind of impact could I make?

A few years ago, Alan and I read The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber and it changed our lives.  We were at a place with the business where we weren't surewe could ever have our weekends to spend with our families without suffering late nights playing catch up.  The business ran us and we had no control.

E-Myth changes our lives because it acknowledged this plight of the small business owner and suggested that there was a path to changing it.  Since that time we've made small strides in the business and even bigger strides in our health and happiness.  The book gave us hope and that is what we needed.

Now it is a few years later, and we still haven't achieved the level of confidence we want, but as I reflect on our achievements I wonder why.  We've had success, but once we achieve a goal, we set a new one and move on.  We don't take time to step back and look at what we've accomplished like we do on our home building projects.

In early November, I began changing the way I worked.  I started committing more time to my leadership role and focusing on big rocks.  If you're not familiar with the Stephen Covey concept, read this summary.  

I was worried that taking the time away from my operational responsibilities would have a devestating effect on the bottom line, but I felt I had no choice.  I have the best staff I have ever had, but the big rocks piling up kept them from being wildly successful individually.  If I don't take a leap of faith now, the big changes I want will never happen because these wonderful people will lose their motivation.  

In just eight weeks we've designed and implemented a performance and training plan that I've tried to get off the ground since 2006.  Yesterday, we announced the plan to the staff and have had very positive reviews.

Moving big rocks helps me to maximize those precious moments as a business owner, a wife, a mother, a daughter...

This year, I'm going to save my list of goals off to a special file instead of just deleting them from my planner as they are completed.   I'm going to sit around a roaring fire with our associates and toast each of our accomplishments in 2012.  I'm going to thank them for making it possible.  

A Fond Adieu to the Man with the Twinkle in His Eye

Yesterday morning, Bartlesville, Oklahoma lost a long time resident, and our family lost its patriarch, Francis M. Brinkmeyer.  Without warning, we are without Alan's dad, Pop.

Brink, as he preferred to be called, was a Phillips retiree with an active social life in the Bartlesville community.  Of his 77 years, there is a lot to say, but I will let his obituary list his many activities and achievements.  The revolving door of visitors and supporters at mom's house (including the countless casserole dishes) are a testament to how many people loved him.

And while I am aware that many, many people could line up to talk about Brink for many years before I ever knew him, I feel compelled to speak about who he was to me and my family.

 I met Brink and Carolyn in 2002 when Alan and I were dating.  Alan had described his father as a strict disciplinarian, but always a loving father.  He added that over the years his father had turned into a softie, and "definitely was not the same man who raised me."

The minute I met the two of them I was struck by how very sweet and sincere Brink and Carolyn were.  I recognized some of Alan's most endearing qualities as those inherited from each of his parents.

Alan called his dad, "Pop."  I soon adopted the name as well because I truly loved my new in-laws as parents.  Pop was clever and intelligent.  More than that, he was an advocate.

You could tell him about a goal or a project.  Of course he had advice for you, but it was always served with a smile and twinkle that said, "I believe in you."

I think that is what struck me most.  He was successful in his own right and worthy of respect.  But even more than that, he loved us and believed in us.  And that earned not only respect but our sincere devotion.

His grandchildren will miss his stories and card games.  His three sons will miss an amazing father.  I will miss the smile and simple gestures he made during every story or lecture.  

 He was taken from us very suddenly, but life is always so uncertain.  I am grateful for the decade I spent as a member of his family, and every time I think of him, I will remember to love and support my family the way he did.  Thank you, Pop, for all of the love.  I will miss you.

 

Want to Increase Productivity? Kill the Distractions.

It's been 5 1/2 years since I locked the front door at JUMP and removed the expensive, antiquated phone system that gave the outside world a direct connection to our production staff.  I took a lot of criticism from a few customers and some friends who said it wasn't good customer service to take away that human connection to customers and potential customers.

I had decided to provide my business process improvement abilities to my own company.  We had been operating too long in the mode of "this is what you are supposed to do, we hear."

So to my naysayers I pointed out that the activity we were accomodating wasn't profitable business or potential business for the company. 

My analysis showed that the majority of telephone contacts fielded by a receptionist had to do with potential vendors who wanted to use my time to find out whether or not their product fit our needs even when I wasn't shopping for their products or services.  She also spent a great deal of her time helping people who mixed our address with another building.

We're not a walk in business.  Why did we need a receptionist?  If a customer was coming by, the project manager had an appointment and would great him at the door.

What about the phones?

Well, customers who contacted programmers directly were bypassing our analysts and project managers causing cost and schedule overruns.  Again, not profitable business.

However, the single most important reason for the changes was my concern for the staff's ability to focus on their work.  Every interruption costs well beyond the time the interruption took.  For example, a 10 minute interruption to a worker who is involved in problem solving or critical thinking tasks might cause up to an hour's impact on his productivity. 

The mental shift between the task and conversation also makes it convenient for the worker to further delay for fear of other interruptions or to check on new information.

So, let's say John is working through several procedures when he is called on the telephone at 11:00.  He answers the phone and engages in a 10 minute conversation about a work related topic that is not related to his current task.  At the end of the conversation, his momentum in his work is completely  gone.  He knows it will take him approximately 10 minutes to get back to where he was in his thought process and even then he may still be in the middle of the problem. 

But now it's 11:10 and John's lunch break is at 11:45.  So he's looking at less than 25 minutes of quality output before leaving for lunch.  John may be hesitant to shift his attention back to the task for fear of how the inadequate amount of time may affect the quality of his work.  He may be tempted to catch up on email messages and spend the next 25 minutes in tasks that are not nearly as important for the satisfaction of achieving something during that time.

And all of this happened for the convenience of the person on the other end of the phone.  The information may have been important or even urgent to the other person, but for John it was a productivity killer.

It's funny that we respect a person working as a chef more than a person whose job requires thinking.  We would never dream of interrupting the chef in the middle of cooking the meal for fear of ruining the outcome.

I saw an article this morning on information-management.com which pointed to the increasing problem of information overload.  The article, "Interface - Information Overload: None Are Immune" inspired me to consider whether or not I was effectively managing information overload.

While technology can help us manage a lot of things, we have to make decisions about our own processes for managing the information and putting "first things first."

5 1/2 years later I can report that the changes I made did increase our productivity and quality several times over.

While I certainly like to accomodate and please as many people as possible (yes I am high blue), I never regret focusing on the wildly important, even if that means I have to tell someone "no", or "not right now".

Lessons We Can Learn from Border's Demise

Yesterday, I opened an email from Borders Books.

"A Fond Farewell, Thank You for Shopping at Borders."

Empathetically, I felt Mike Edwards, the CEO of Borders, sincere disappointment.  I felt genuine sadness for him.

The sinking of the great ship.  Goodbye, farewell.

As a great lover of books myself, I thought about my own experience with Borders Books.  In recent years I rarely frequented Borders for the reasons that most likely led to the demise of the company.

• I never believed I'd get the best discount from Borders
• I often found they did not have the book I wanted in stock
• I never became a customer online

I remember several years ago comparing Barnes & Noble's reward program with Borders.  I didn't really understand how Borders worked.  I would get coupons in my email which meant printing them and remembering to take them with me.  The 10% at B&N is easier to understand and calculate my savings, so B&N ususally had me when I needed the instant gratification of getting books today.

Speaking of instant gratification, I have visited both B&N and Borders in search of a book that had to be purchased online.  When I did buy online, I used B&N or Amazon.  Today, I satisfy the urgency with a Kindle download.  Amazon can thank Borders for the leg up on that one.  B&N has probably lost my online business for good.

I believe it was Border's failure to adapt that killed the company.  Not that it was incapable, but it was too busy enjoying it's success to see the warning signs.  When it did, it was too late.

It makes me think of the overlooked ice warning:

" In lat 42N to 41.25N long 49W to long 50.30W saw much heavy pack ice and great number of large icebergs also field ice. Weather good, clear."

I think the CEO of a company is the "captain of the ship" in most ways.  If you spend too much time enjoying your success, who is steering the ship?  

Information is moving at lightning speed, we can't afford to stop listening to all of the signals and warnings of what lies ahead. 

Adapt or die. 

That sounds terrible and ominous, but it has to be someone's job.  As the CEO, it's yours.

Informed Business or Intelligent Business

Just back from a business intelligence summit this week, I've been pondering the protestations of some business owners I know when the topic of BI solutions comes up.  The most common responses I hear are:

1. We already have a great set of reports that I get on my Blackberry every day.

or

2. BI solutions are for multi-million dollar companies.

I have learned that if I hear either reaction, I am likely better off just smiling and changing the subject; although, I can't help wanting to change the world for these business owners by educating them just a little.

There is a difference between information and intelligence.  I can't say that the owner who gets reports daily on his Blackberry doesn't mine his data looking for answers to questions, but many times it is the case.

To best understand the difference between information and intelligence I think we should consider whether we as business owners are trying to change the bottom line or the top line.

In many cases controlling the bottom line comes from monitoring traditional key performance indicators for our industry or area of operations.  This is where we rely on canned reports.  The questions are already known, already predefined...the industry standard controls for the business process.  That's why they are canned reports.  If that's all the business is gleaning from it's data, then there is no business intelligence initiative at work.  Information.  Monitoring.

Webster's Dictionary defines intelligence as a (1) : the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations : reason; also : the skilled use of reason (2) : the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests)

Intelligence helps us apply knowledge and manipulate our business operations or climate dealing with new situations.

If we believe that innovation not only leads to success but also involves change, then how can we learn or understand about new situations if we don't have the ability to ask questions of the data?

If all we have are the same canned reports that came with our software package, then how can we understand the results of the innovation that didn't come in the box?

If we're trying to improve top line performance, then we are designing the questions as we go.  Each new answer usually prompts more questions.  What is the root cause?  What will happen if we...?  Intelligence.  Learning.

Without ad hoc query tools, answering such questions can be an expensive laborious effort which may kill growth initiatives.

Today there are tools for businesses at every stage that assist with business intelligence at the right cost and mix for the current stage of the organization.  In my opinion they are critical tools for businesses that want to grow. 

For those that don't, (and I know some of you really don't) then being informed should be good enough.

 

Internet Marketing: Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  It's 2011, and I can't believe I'm STILL talking about business owner expectations from their website efforts.

You can give a man binoculars, but you can't make him see.

Those of you who know me, how many times have you heard me say that websites require ownership by marketing with technical input for quality?

Add SEO objectives to the mix and you might have an impossible situation on your hands:

1. The SEO consultant who is sprinkling content across the Internet to create links pointing to your website (to increase your traffic and positioning)

can't get it done because

2. The small business owner still doesn't understand that only some content should be on the company's website so he insists that all new content appear on the website

demands 

3. That I.T. liaison speak to the SEO consultant about the problem.  The I.T. liaison speaks I.T. but the problem is a MARKETING problem.  The I.T. liaison has no authority in marketing.  He has a directive.

Websites contain marketing content like your printed brochure might.  If you use a billboard to advertise your location, are you going to put the billboard graphics on your brochure??  That's what you're saying when you insist that all content be added to the website.

Now, look at your analytics console and tell me how many times a website visitor (potential new customer) clicked that customer newsletter link that the business owner INSISTED was important.

Answer: 0

Small Business Should Thank Mom for Lessons in Success

My mom didn't go to college, yet she taught me important lessons that have helped me successfully operate a few small businesses.

My mother has operated her own successful family daycare for more than a few decades (sorry if I'm telling your age, Mom).  The families she serves love her, and she almost always has a waiting list because of the loving care she provides. 

No one taught Mom how to be successful.  She figured it out herself.  Even though she didn't go to college, she educated herself with every resource she could find when she needed to learn something new.

Lesson one: Life long learning is essential.  If your mother is like mine, then she read to you from as early as you can remember.  She taught you the importance of reading so that you could pursue knowledge and learning your entire life.

Small businesses that have staying power do so because the business owner is able to adapt and grow his business through continual learning.   It doesn't require a college education to pursue and acquire knowledge.  It takes a love of learning.  Thanks, Mom.

Speaking more about my mother's business...  It's a daycare.  Ugghhh!  Childcare is one of the most thankless jobs that I can think of.  There are so few people who do it exceptionally well, but my mother does.  In fact, she LOVES it.

Lesson Two: Do what you love

If you don't love what you do, ultimately your job will take its toll on your life.  I don't mean that at every point in your life you have to be in love with your job or your daily tasks.  (Who loves changing diapers??)    You should know, however, what path your are on and be passionate about where it is leading.  I don't know a successful small business owner who isn't.

There are plenty of transitional jobs we will take through the years.  For several years my mother sold children's shoes.  But ultimately we should pursue our passions.  While our fathers may have said "Suck it up!", our mother was the one interested in our happiness.

Bill Cosby said moms get better presents than dads.

With all credit to dads' interest in helping us get through tough times, Mom had her own method.  She taught us how to turn lemons to lemonade.  She taught us how to take a basket of scraps and turn it into a quilt.  Mom can make something where there is seemingly nothing to work with.

Operating a daycare home isn't a lucrative operation, yet my mother produces video slideshows on DVD each year for her families.  It is a precious gift to the families and it costs little more than her time and creativity to do it.  Yes, my brother Scott helps her out when she gets beyond her technical abilities, but that's really my point.

Lesson Three: See the value in your resources and use creativity to leverage them

Small businesses operating during a tough economy leverage their other resources when financial resources aren't available.  We leverage our time and skills to do for ourselves what we might outsource in other years.  We educate ourselves and see value in resources that might otherwise be overlooked.  Thank you, Mom.

So obviously I'm a big fan of my mother.  She would tell you that I love to give her a hard time.  (It's true.  I can't help teasing her.)  I am grateful for the lessons she taught me and continues to teach me about the kind of person I want to be.

I know I'm not alone in thinking I owe a lot to my mother for helping my business grow.

 

 

 

Greenwaste Program Good for Environment and Wallet

It's that time of year when many of us are working in our yards and preparing for weeks of outdoor living and enjoyment. 

In the past few years, our backyard projects have required a trip to Lowes for a bag of mulch or pea gravel.  This year's projects required truckloads of dirt and mulch.

A quick Internet search for mulch indicated there was a great FREE resource for mulch in Tulsa.  The Greenwaste program.  You can drop off green waste from your yard (limbs, leaves, grass clippings, etc.) and haul away mulch.  They are open both days on the weekends which is GREAT news for weekend projects.

Another Google search for "green waste" revealed that there are programs in many cities, not just Tulsa.  I encourage you to see what's available in your city.  

 
Our truckload was considerable savings compared to purchasing bags of mulch at Lowes.  Granted, if you're looking for a specific type of mulch, then you may end up buying, but for our purposes this was a fantastic find.

If you live in South Tulsa or Jenks, Gem Dirt is a great resource for a truckload of garden mix or other types of soil.  3/4 yard of garden mix is under $20.00.

Securing Our Future Requires Dramatic Improvements to Education in Oklahoma

Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Edward Carrington, 1787 said:

"Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors, shall all become wolves. "

In the State of Oklahoma, the results of the 2010 election may indicate that the people of Oklahoma are paying attention enough to protect themselves from the wolf disguised as SQ 744.  While we defeated that wolf, there is another that is still there, still hungry and just waiting for the next time we aren't paying attention.

When the general society, good men and women alike, believe that enlightenment is best achieved by a public institution and they relinquish their involvement, then no improvement can be achieved.  

I don't blame the components of the system.  Public school teachers are among the most talented and dedicated people I've ever known.  As a former teacher, myself, I was proud to have such a noble profession.

Just the other day I came across the boxes of notes and pictures from my students.  They were my passion.  I faced every day with the anticipation that learning would happen.  Many, many times I was blessed to witness the "aha" moments of my students.  Very few moments in life compare to those.

I gave very little thought to the institution and refused to join the union.  And as much respect as I have for those like me, I cannot respect an institution that supports a paid day for teachers to lobby at the capitol.  It's the institution of public education in Oklahoma that is flawed.

So now, while more of us are paying attention, let's finish the job.

Someone once told me if you want a man to do a good job, give him a good job to do.  What is the job that must be done to ensure our children stay competitive not only nationally, but globally? We should radically change the institution by applying a catalyst for excellence. Competition.

The first step must be questioning the metrics.  When did grading our systems by how much money is spent become a measure for excellence? In private enterprise we judge performance on the net profit not the total expenditures.  The new legislation for grading our schools based on performance is a step in the right direction. 

Should we abandon public education? No, but let's shift the paradigm. When parents are free to choose which tax payer funded school will best serve their children, it becomes a buyer's market.  Choice shouldn't be limited to those who can afford private schools or special needs populations.  Choice should be available to everyone.

After all, it's our money.  It's your hard work and mine, taxed.  If I don't have any opportunity to speak about how my money is being spent, then I'm not living in the right country.

Even if you don't have children we're still talking about your grandchildren, your nieces and nephews, your neighbors children.  These are the people who will grow up and run the government in which you will live in your retirement years.

It's your money.  It's our money.  Have we become so numb to being taxed that we no longer count the money as ours?   Once it's gone to the government then we have no rights?  Can we not demand better service?

Maybe we've given up because we know what the response will be.  "Give us more money."

Every day small businesses are challenged to succeed through hard work and innovation.  Sure, they would like to have more money, but they don't.    Our free enterprise system rewards the resourceful and the competition in the market ensures that smart business succeeds.

It's time for the tax payers and consumers to demand more, demand better.  We need more choices.

The iPad vs. Kindle Battle: The Winner Is...

A little over a year ago,  I was suffering from a form of retinopathy which severely limited my vision in my left eye.  While my doctor assured me that the condition was most likely temporary, he also indicated that it might re-occur since it was probably caused by stress from my busy life.  I purchased a Kindle DX to help me see the many documents I must read. 

A year later, my husband purchased an iPad as his reading device. And now, after a month of side by side usage, I am ready to name a winner.

My Kindle Assessment:

The Kindle DX's large screen is great for anyone with vision problems.  The black on white screen that is easy to read even in the sunshine does what computer laptop screens don't do.

3G on the Kindle is pretty cool.  We make frequent trips from our property in Lincoln County to our Tulsa home, and there are few areas around Drumright where we lose our Sprint connection.  I am able to read Internet pages on the Kindle even when the Sprint connection is unavailable.  Of course my husband was driving.  He patiently listened to my review of a website on raising goats.

Transferring documents from my laptop to the Kindle is easy when the Kindle is connected via USB.  Just use windows explorer and drag and drop.  I've transferred Word Documents (.doc) and .pdf.  I haven't tried .docx.

Supposedly, you're able to email yourself documents at your Kindle address.  I haven't been able to get this to work.  I'm sure it's user error, but it isn't a user friendly feature.  I've Googled the issue and found many others asking the same question.  The Amazon website doesn't offer much help.

I've been able to purchase any book that I wanted for my Kindle.  Today, there are many more available than even a year ago.  If I could get all of my magazine subscriptions then I wouldn't have to carry my magazines when we travel.  Of course I wouldn't have the color pictures, but I'm not sure that matters (except for fashion magazines).

Now, let's talk about the iPad.

We bought the low end one because my husband could barely stomach the cost of it let alone the ones with 3G and larger disk space.  His iPad has wireless, but no 3G, so he can't do in the car what I'm able to do with my Kindle when I suddenly want to look something up on the Internet. (We take turns driving.)

My husband, not a gadget guy, has fallen in love with his iPad.  I'm starting to get jealous.  Yesterday he came in looking for it.  "Have you seen my personal assistant?"

He was never a big cell phone address book guy, but now he has all of his contacts on his iPad.  He runs Yahoo messenger and iChat on it to communicate with staff and our children.  Our kids are Mac addicts.

The untouched Wall Street Journals are now piling up for recycle near the front door because he reads it on his iPad.  His books are on iPad.  He even got the Kindle app and is able to read MY books by logging into my account.

The iPad has helped him elimate a whole briefase full of documents, magazines, and books that he used to carry with him.  He used to carry that in addition to his computer bag. 

The only negative comment I've heard him make has been about certain action buttons and safari usage as he tries to familiarize himself with the Mac approach.

I'm ready to announce a winner.  As you can probably tell, the iPad quickly outpaced the Kindle and crossed the finish line miles ahead.  I am not sure it was a fair fight since I bought the Kindle due to eyesight problems.  If I were to assess only for vision impairment, my Kindle DX would still win.

When you consider the usefulness of the iPad, it's a pretty great product.  I wish he had bought the one with 3G.  I think we'll eventually sell this one on eBay and buy the upgrade.