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How Can Business Pride Pay Off?

March 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Teach a young man to fish to empower him. Photo from:.flickr.com/photos/linsight/

In April, I will receive the 2012 Career Achievement award from my undergraduate college, Mary Baldwin College, in Staunton, Virginia. One of the questions they asked me was what was I proudest of in my career.

It’s a great question and complex for me to answer. The short answer is the business I built with my husband. This year our business and our marriage celebrate 30 years. That’s a big payoff.

But I (or you) can have all kinds of pride that payoff. In my case, I am also proud of:

  • My Staff
  • My Colleagues
  • My Customers

I am especially proud of how all these groups have helped us survive downturns, take advantage of opportunities, learn, and grow. They have also come together to help us to be proud of the vision and philosophy we adopted. We have seen them take pride in their accomplishments, too.  Definitely, a win-win for all.

Pride may go before a fall, but it can also be good. It can help a business owner focus on what really matters. My husband and business partner, Daniel Diener, and I may see the Business Success Center as providing sales, marketing, and financial strategy to growing and under-achieving businesses but we also take pride in educating owners so that they can achieve success during and after working with us.

We take pride in having education as a big part of our business philosophy. To us, the Chinese proverb is exactly right: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

That pride shows itself each year in our outreach to our colleagues to participate in educational programs. In our early days in business, it was our Entrepreneurs’ Day. Then it was to ask them to assist with the “Street MBA” and “City Management Academy” that we developed and taught for Austin Community College continuing education. We then brought it in house to the Business Success Center as our “Owners MBA” program but kept them a part of it. Over the years, we have seen the pride of almost a thousand people who learned how to get their business or department on course and over a hundred who are proud of their contribution to this discovery process.

Then there was RISE Week, a full week of free business education provided in locations around Austin. We started doing sessions for RISE by ourselves. Because we were proud of the goal of the event and our colleagues, we asked a few to join us and share their expertise to business owners and wannabe owners. We provided the venue. We all provided our knowledge for 90 minutes for free to anyone who showed up.

Now, four years later, we have 30 experts including Dan and me providing seminars on topics ranging from business ethics to marketing and sales to financial and legal issues. Next week, March 26-30, you’ll find us at our offices at the Chase Bank Building 7600 Burnet Road hosting 25 RISE sessions, 5 a day, from 8am to 4pm. It’s our BSC RISE Week contribution and we’re proud to do it. I hope you’ll join us. Here’s where to go for a list of our presentations and links to sign up, http://ownersview.com/rise-austin-2012/

I want to share my RISE pride with you.

  • I am so proud that Ed Lette, President and CEO of the Business Bank of Texas, will be one of our funding panelists.
  •  I appreciate the pride of Tony Quesada from Austin Business Journal, Kevin Benz from CultureMap Austin, and Michael Pearson of YNN and others who are taking their time to let businesses “Meet the Media”.
  • I recognize the pride of knowledge that our other presenters bring and the time they give up to do this.
  • I acknowledge the company pride of GoLocal that is donating a GoLocal card supporting local businesses as a door prize for each session.
  • I am so grateful and proud of the great help that I have gotten from Jaxzen Marketing to  help us get the word out and to educate our experts in how they can use social media to let their customers and prospects know about this event.
  • There’s my staff, especially Chris Pasch and Marsha Vanhorn. They take pride in helping make this a success for presenters and participants.

I couldn’t and wouldn’t have done this without all this help. It makes me proud to call all these people “friends” as well as colleagues.  I hope they feel this way, too.

If you don’t think pride leads to success, just look at the people who work for you. Pride can also help employees to see their jobs as more than a paycheck.

When studies are done about what motivates employees, no matter what the economy is doing, good wages are not the most important thing. They don’t even come in second.

What does top their list? Pride. Their pride is reflected in their top desires: promotion and growth, feeling in on things, and feeling valuable to the organization.

Now, I’m asking you. What makes you “Business Proud”? Say it out loud. Say it to your employees. Say it to your customers. Pride can be a very good thing to have and a big pay off. In hard times, it can be hard to keep your pride but it’s critical to getting through, getting on, and being successful.

Tell me, too.  I really want to know and share it. I wish I had an award to give each one of you.

 

 

Filed Under: Business Management, Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Want a Mentor? Look around you.

March 2, 2011 By 3 Comments

Business Success Center prospects tell us in their initial meeting they want a “Mentor”  to advise and guide them to solve a specific problem or achieve a specific goal.

I completely understand. I’ve had several wonderful mentors. My godmother, Northwestern University professor Alvina Krause, had “teas”. At these salons, I learned the fine art of  conversation. My grandmother taught me the importance of family. My mother  helped me find my voice and be comfortable being myself. She always said “we grew up together”.  Maybe so, but she was my guide.

There were important male mentors, too. My brother Bill (aka WC Triplett, II) has worked for Presidents and Senators, Tibet and Tiananmen, written best sellers and significant treaties. He showed me how important it is to get involved. Ed Van De Vort  gave me confidence because he believed everyone was capable.

But when it comes to a business mentor, there’s been no one better for thirty years than my husband and partner Daniel Diener. That’s what I told Patricia Rogers when she interviewed me for the Austin Business Journal‘s “Journal Profile” published last December.

As a matter of fact, I met Dan because I needed a mentor for a photography project. He has always been willing to share his time, knowledge and expertise.

A good mentor is a guide, encourager, teacher, strategist, supporter — an exemplary person you want to emulate. That’s Dan.

What have I learned from him?

1. To be entrepreneurial.

Dan was selling papers on a street corner in downtown Chicago at age 10. When he lost his job, he moved south to start again. He landed at PETEX (Petroleum Extension Service at UT) made movies, wrote manuals that were translated into 15 or so languages, and became Special Projects Director. When the bug bit again, he started his own company, Dan Diener Photography. I was not a risk taker. He showed me you can succeed on your own. Dan was and is an innovator. He truly understands what it means to create assets that make financial and marketing sense.

2. To be systems driven

Dan was a teacher in Wisconsin and you never forget that you have to stay ahead of your students. That means being organized and systematic to the Nth degree. With his creativity that meant that he is always looking to improve things without being rigid. I learned from him how business systems can be very creative and rewarding.

3. To know how to fight fairly

In a business, partners don’t always agree. Just ask Marsha Vanhorn, our Client Services Manager, who’s worked with us 12 years. Early on, Dan helped us set rules of engagement. He prepared us for tough times. And, we’ve stuck by them through thick and thin. I think that’s why our business and our relationship has survived and thrived. The funny thing is though, somehow when we disagree, even strongly, he always makes me smile. He has a great sense of humor and it just bubbles out in what he says and how he says it. I also thank him for introducing me to the O’Henry Pun Off, a great Austin, Texas tradition. (Maybe I’ll see you there on May 21.)

There are so many other things I have learned from him: versatility, resourcefulness, staying curious, balance, strength, and comradery. I couldn’t have a better mentor and partner. He means the world to me.

Dan’s birthday is this week. I wish him many happy returns and a big thank you for helping make my personal and business life exciting, rewarding, and very special.

Here’s to you, Daniel.

If you want a mentor, look around you. That person may be closer than you think. Who has helped you learn or progress?

Filed Under: Business Management, Business Process, Planning & Vision, Resources Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Does Your Business Need Glasses? A RISE Austin 2010 Presentation

March 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Proud to be green. Here’s my paperless slide presentation, “Does Your Business Need Glasses”,  from RISE Austin 2010 on a better way to get better sales by using niche marketing aimed at a platinum customer. It makes positioning, pricing, and sales procedures more approachable for independent businesses.

It also includes details on the Business Success Center’s sales process that customers go through: from their decision to look for something to meet their needs and desires to the point they buy and then rejoice or experience buyer’s remorse.

Small business owners and entrepreneurs will want to follow the prioritized action items  in order will help avoid mistakes and expand sales opportunities. This is primarily of value to those already in business although it has ideas that startups can incorporate.

Using these ideas result in better sales and lower costs. Collateral is more effective and the sales cycle is shorter.

Does Your Business Need Glasses

Filed Under: Financials, Marketing Strategy, Pricing, Sales Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,