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.  

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.

 

 

 

Will You be a Blessing or a Curse?

Last Friday I visited the Sprint store to replace some of our corporate phones and make changes to our service.  Fridays are usually work from home days for our Tulsa staff so I was dressed in EXTREMELY casual dress. (Okay, I was in workout gear with no makeup)

The women at the store didn't know me from Adam but were very friendly. Usually, I find the people at the Sprint store friendly, but it doesn't hurt if you can avoid their peak times.

The three ladies behind the counter were chatting and the oldest identified herself as the supervisor by suggesting one of the younger ladies would take care of my needs.

They were polite and friendly, and I felt relaxed and friendly even though I had a lot of work to accomplish past this task so I didn't want to spend too much time at the store.  I quickly got to the point of my business and was very up front about what I needed. 

Let me digress for a moment....

My best retail experiences always come from telling the clerk what I need and what I don't want right up front.  It saves everyone time and aggravation.  If they can't meet my needs they tell me, and I move on.  Usually, the clerk offers products that match my specification and I am finished in no time.  (I believe this is an extremely important tactic when shopping for shoes.) 

I love shopping for shoes.

Back to my point...

While the Sprint clerk (my retail consultant) clicked away at her computer, I occupied myself by looking around the store and chatting.  I noticed the poster of the Sprint Nextel CEO, Dan Hesse.

The night before he had impressed me in a television ad with his "value sell" message.  I strongly believe in and agree with that message so I mentioned it to the manager.

"I am really happy with Sprint, " I began.  "I've had my personal account since 1998 and I have moved all of my company's mobile accounts to Sprint."

She smiled and replied that she was so glad I was happy.  I continued my story and commended Sprint for having the most helpful service.  It's true.  Whenever I have a problem, they are always able to resolve it to my satisfaction.

"You know," she said "that makes me feel really good about my job today."  "It's really motivating to hear from customers that appreciate you."

By the time I left the store, it was a mutual love fest.  I thought, I could have had an entirely different experience if I had walked in focused only on my business.  Instead, I made a very simple choice to be present in my interaction with people and we have spent the last 45 minutes in very pleasant conversation.

It was easy to be polite, honest, and friendly and I'm reminded that it is my choice to be a blessing or a curse in my interactions with other people.  I hope I make the right choice.

Search Engine Marketing Doesn't Have a New Definition

I was listening to Kim Komando yesterday on KRMG as I headed out to the grocery store.  I always like to be in the know and she assimilates a lot of technology information.

She quoted an article in the New York Times about pay per click and using it for long tail keyword phrases.  Both the article and Kim, who quoted it, incorrectly defined search engine marketing as paying for placement in the search engines.

Search engine marketing is all marketing activities which promote a website through search engines.  This includes SEO (search engine optimization) and SEA (search engine advertising). 

While the article makes a great case study for when SEA (using pay per click) works well.  As a matter of fact, the company quoted in the article spent a great deal of money in advertising which didn't produce anyting.  Without a good internet marketing strategy, you may invest a lot for a very small return.

Don't miss the Women Entrepreneurs Inspire Conference on March 30, 2010. They have a great program lined up. Read more and register online at www.weinspire.net !

Focusing My Energy in 2010

Every January 1st, my husband and I write resolutions for each role we have in life.  Ultimately it is a pretty long list of goals, but the exercise gives us a way to channel our energy and head into the new year with a positive outlook. 

This year, the recent loss of all of my grandparents is still very much on my mind. Don't get me wrong, I always think that life is precious and short, but this year I am even more keenly aware of it.  I am not , however, thinking of giving it all up to raise my family off the grid and way from all things material.  No, I will keep my career, and with the current economy, I am not likely going to work fewer hours. 

What I will give up, for this year at least, is spreading myself too thin in my projects.  As an entrepreneur, my mind is always spinning with ideas for my business.  I think about business opportunities when I go to bed in the evening and when I get up in the morning. If I didn't purposely focus my attention to each of my other roles (wife, mother, etc.) my life could get easily out of balance.

Working in the technology industry takes its toll on people.  One of the worst effects is that the speed of change creates this unseen vortex that is spinning faster and faster as each year passes.  Anyone who can't keep up will be sucked down to the bottom, the great abyss of irrelevancy.  Well, that is how it feels at least.

So, for this year, I am not going along for that ride.  I'm committing to the training projects that are strategic to our business initiatives.  Everything else will go into discussion at our monthly R&D meetings.  This sounds like a non-event, right?  Well I am a training addict so believe me, this will be hard for me to do.  I want to know it all and do it all.  That's my personality.

Doing more isn't necessary.  Enjoying what I do is essential.

Survival of the Most Resourceful

A couple of years ago I spoke to a group of women business owners about how the lessons we learned as young ladies made us very fit as business owners.  My intent was to help the women who had not been the original founders of the business but now found themselves with the responsibility due to death or divorce.  I said that I owed my business success to my ability to cook and the courage to protect what is mine to protect.

You might wonder how on earth cooking has anything to do with running a successful business.  It has everything to do with it.  When you know how to cook you know how to combine ingredients to create a meal.  Great meals don't necessarily come via an elaborate grocery list or ingredients.  They come through skill and creativity. 

When I was younger and raising 5 children, there were many times when money was in limited supply.  Sometimes it was so bad that I wasn't certain how we were going to make it to the next paycheck.  Often in the few days before we had the money to buy groceries again my refrigerator and pantry became by most standards very empty.  It was at those times that I was determined not to let my family feel poor or ungrateful.  Indeed many, many people in the world have far less then we had.  I was always able to produce a great meal through creativity and, of course, effort.  Time was a resource to me even if money was not.  I baked pies, made homemade pasta and even ketchup sometimes.  My children never caught on to the fact that I didn't have the money to take them to the doctor if they were sick or even to buy a box of cereal.

The lesson I learned was to skillfully use my resources.  I learned to barter for and create what I needed when I didn't have the money to buy it.  I am very grateful for the lesson because I am able to apply it in business today to really leverage my company's resources.

I believe strong businesses are built by resourceful leaders and that resourcefulness is not necessarily being cheap or pinching pennies.  It's looking at the value of what you have today and applying creativity to get what you will need to not only sustain but grow your business.  I believe we are watching that happen all around us especially today.  When times are bad, only the most resourceful will survive.

Shame on you if your resource is a federal government bailout.

The Naive Generation

I struggled with the title of the post, but I can find no better to word to express my idea. Last Saturday's Wall Street Journal had an opinion piece about Sarah Palin. The two young women (and I assume they are younger than me since they indicated that Sarah was from an older generation) who authored the piece expressed ideas that agitated me so much that my husband wishes I hadn't read it. They advanced the notion that Sarah and her Super-mom counterparts were not the model for today's young mother. They explained that women of their generation were much more balanced by making more time for themselves and their families with career taking a smaller role in their weekly time allocation. While their attitude is indeed balanced, what worries me is the naive belief that their careers will remain in tact. They advanced the idea that not only do businesses benefit from women in leadership (an idea I embrace), but that businesses had better be careful or they would find themselves without these women leaders. Businesses that make no concessions for family time and flexibility would suffer the consequences as this generation holds all of the cards.

I am extremely concerned about the naive attitude that employees hold so much power that businesses ought to yield to their demands. While that might be true in a sellers market, what does this younger generation know about a buyer's market? Will they be prepared when the rules change? At the end of the day Darwinian theory wins out. The strongest, fastest, smartest win. American businesses will continue to grow based on survival of the fittest. I fear mediocrity will ultimately bring painful lessons in business, but maybe that's what should happen. On the other hand, when family is more important, than careers should take a back seat. At the end of the day, I've never known anyone who has "had it all" without some sacrifice.