© 2009 Vinny Ribas

At 11 PM last night, the weatherman on TV said that it was going to snow overnight, and Nashville should expect 1-2 inches.  They warned that the roads would probably be a mess, so everyone should avoid any traveling if possible. If today had been a school day, every school in the state would have been closed by last night as a precaution.

I woke up this morning, prepared to shovel that 1-2 inches of snow and maybe even ice off of my back porch. Instead, what I saw around my house didn’t even amount to a minor dusting. I am sure that some parts of town received some snow, but for me it was pleasantly anti-climactical. After all, one reason I moved away from Connecticut was to get away from snow!

Even though the weather prediction turned out wrong, I am glad I was at least warned of the possibility so that I could be properly prepared. Everyone and every business needs to have some way of being warned of possible challenges on the horizon. Some people look to the news, while others count on the hearsay they pick up at the coffee shop.  Some people consult their horoscope and others consult a fortuneteller.

The accuracy and reliability of what or who you look to for analyzing what will or may happen in the future is vital to your success. It’s not something to take lightly. Too much talk of impending doom can completely paralyze you. Too much ‘fairy dust and roses’ can keep you from being realistic and properly prepared for change. Incomplete, wrong or irrelevant information can have you preparing for the wrong thing. Guesswork can throw you too far off base to recover from. Hang around conservatives and you’ll get one point of view. Hang around liberals and you’ll get the complete opposite.

So, who should you turn to? Some of the sources I mentioned are definitely worth monitoring. But why not also turn to the people who are directly involved in or affected by your business? Your customers can tell you how the consumer climate is changing in your industry. Your vendors can tell you how business is and what the trends are. Your management team should be able to tell you how your employees are feeling and reacting to what is happening in their lives. And your own gut feeling should never be discounted. No one can have as much intuition as you do because you are right in the heart of it.

The key to using the people in your business as barometers is asking them questions and getting to know them on a personal and ongoing basis. You can’t just do this when a crisis arises. That is too late. Plus, they will only talk openly if they believe that you care about them personally. You can get glimpses into the future from the things they say and do when they are truly being themselves. For example, customer surveys can certainly reveal trends in their infancy, but asking questions when you meet your customers face-to-face can reveal the emotions and decision-making process that went in to checking each of the boxes on the survey form!

No one can completely predict the future. The masses were wrong about the impending Y2K disaster. Our government didn’t see the events of 9/11 coming. And the weatherman couldn’t tell me tell me what the weather would be like over the next 8 hours at my house. But you can be best prepared for change or challenge when you have ‘inside information’. And no one is more inside than the people affected directly by your business! 

Copyright 2009 Vinny Ribas

Many people have brilliant product or business ideas that they never tell a soul for any number of reasons. Sometimes they are afraid of getting laughed at by others. Sometimes they’ve failed at being an entrepreneur before, so they are afraid they won’t be taken seriously. Others might not have the confidence to take their idea to fruition. And others know that if they tell someone what they are dreaming of, they might be held accountable to seriously act on it. Some others tell a few close people, but when people don’t call them a genius and throw money at them right away, they think their ideas must be foolish. For whatever reason, many great ideas are never given the chance to take root and grow to become viable and profitable businesses or products.

I firmly believe that for every great idea that anyone thinks, somewhere there are people who believe enough in its promise to bring the pieces to the table that are necessary to make it happen. That ranges from the expertise to the strategic contacts to the capital. The challenge is finding those people. There is only one way that I know of that can solve this problem Tell enough people about your ideas and your plans and ask them all for their support until you either find the right people or the people you tell introduce you to the right people.

There is no greater and empowering feeling than to realize that other people believe in you and are willing to contribute to your success. But you’ll never know that feeling unless you break through your fears and let the world know what you’re hiding!

© 2008 Vinny Ribas

Every one of us has our own comfort zones in our personal lives as well as our business lives. When we’re in that space, we are floating along almost on automatic pilot. We repeat things we’ve done and said before, and don’t have to take any risk. Nothing more is expected of us that what we are already delivering. We’re completely confident in our ability. We’re comfortable, and at some level we’d like to stay like that forever.

Starting and running a business often requires that you get out of your comfort zones. It may mean taking on a new role, like moving from employee or sole practitioner to employer. It might mean switching your mindset from friend or co-worker to being the boss, which at times requires a completely different approach to everyone around you.  You may need to learn a new technology or master a new skill, even though you’ve been doing things the same way for a long time. You may have to adjust your hours or even your vacation to meet the demands of the business. You may have to raise capital for your new venture. For many people, that is the scariest transition of them all. After all, asking other’s for money might make us look needy, weak or vulnerable. You might be thinking, ‘I don’t want to ‘take on that much debt’, - which is erroneous thinking because that is not how raising capital properly works. And of course, no one wants to be responsible for losing someone else’s money if for any reason the business should fail.

If any of these paradigm shifts are keeping you and your business from reaching your true potential, there is good news. If you stretch yourself to move your business forward, these new roles and attitudes become your new comfort zones. You learn to thrive in those new zones. Things that might have seemed scary at first are now second nature to you. Things that frightened you before now exhilarate you. You start to challenge yourself to stretch even more. Even raising capital will become a fun game! And as you realize that you overcame the challenges that first loomed like mountains in your way, you’ll find yourself seeking out bigger and better challenges!

Whether you’re buying a new house or needing to make executive decisions, change can be scary. And of course, making those initial moves to get out of your comfort zones is the key to jumping to the next level. Here are some suggestions to help you take those first steps:

• Talk to people who have ‘been there, done that, bought the tee shirt’. Whether it is a formal (paid) relationship or just a conversation over coffee, ask them about all of the things that concern you. Chances are they had many of the same fears. Find out how they overcame them. You may need to find different people with different experiences to answer all of your questions. Often times a lack of knowledge or understanding is the only thing that prevents us from moving forward.
• Analyze the “worst case scenario”. Most often you will find that making a few mistakes until you get it right will not cause any long-term damage. Sometimes you learn the most during the transitional phase because all of your energy is focused on getting it right.
• Talk to the people who will be affected by your changes and voice your self-concerns. Most people will give you a grace period to make the adjustments you need to make. This can work in your favor, because they will rally around you to support you.
• Prepare yourself by reading, doing research, taking classes or simply asking for help or guidance. The more informed you are, the clearer the steps become that you need to take.
• Declare your decisions to change to people around you. Ask them to become your accountability partners, keeping you in check while pushing you forward at the same time.
• Manage your change by making sure that you are not taking on too much at one time. If this is a really big decision for you, just take baby steps.
• Keep focused on the end result. Use reminders such as photographs, a screensaver, a calendar etc. to help you make transformational decisions. Visualize what the future will look like if  you just overcome one obstacle at a time.
• Surround yourself with successful people who are comfortable with change and making big decisions. Just learning how they think will influence your ability to step up your game for the better.

Keep in mind that change is inevitable. No matter how hard you try to stay in your comfort zone, something is going to shake you up. It may be things that are completely out of your control like a natural disaster. However, often it is driven by the people around you, such as when the company you’ve dedicated your life to for years decides to downsize or move to another state. The best way to avoid being forced into change is to create it and direct it yourself. By initiating change, you have the opportunity to pick and choose what it will be and how it will affect both you and your family.

© 2008 Vinny Ribas

Many business owners have very lofty and intangible reasons for building their businesses. Some might want to save the world, save the planet, encourage spiritual awakening or stop hunger. Others may want to make the world a safer place, a cleaner place or a happier place. Whatever it is, they are passionate about it and dedicated to achieving it. To them, it’s almost like they have been chosen by God himself to tackle that particular issue. For some reason, they cannot rest unless they are in relentless pursuit of that mission.

Sadly, many people get laughed at when they express these kinds of aspirations. They often hear things like, “You’ll never do that!” or “Get real!” Friends, family, business associates, acquaintances and even people they don’t know snicker when they walk by or when their name is mentioned. All too often, many of these business owners listen to what everyone is saying instead of listening to their hearts, and ultimately give up on their calling. And the worst of it is that NO ONE is better for it.

If a business is not only going to survive but thrive, it needs a reason for existing that is beyond making money. And so does every person. It is what makes us hang on during the tough times, leap back up when we’re knocked down, jump through hoops and climb over mountains that get in our way. It is our greater purpose. It infiltrates every fiber of our being. It is something that can never really be fully achieved – only constantly strived towards. It is our life’s work. If we don’t have a greater purpose, then what is the point in doing anything?

It is vitally important that everyone in your company understands and buys into your mission. It is also crucial that your friends and family comprehend and support your personal mission in life. This is why you need to write down carefully thought out business and personal mission statements. They need to be placed where everyone can see them, so that both you and they are reminded constantly of the bigger picture. Every decision you need to make can be guided by how well it falls in line with your mission.

Here are some key things to consider when developing your mission statements:

• Be certain that your business and personal mission statements do not conflict with each other. If they do, you will be in constant turmoil trying to decide which one is most important.
• Make them very short. One sentence is enough to sum up what you’re all about.
• Neither of these should have any quantifiable or measurable characteristics. That means no specific timelines, quantities, dimensions etc. They should never end, and in fact may carry on long even after you are out of the picture.
• Make coming up with your business’ mission statement a team effort. That way everyone agrees and buys into it right from the start. Only you can create your personal mission statement.
• If you can’t decide what either of your missions is, then it is time to do some soul searching. What do you feel is the most important contribution that you or your business can make to this world over the long haul? Why do you believe you are here on this planet at this date and time in history? What tugs at your emotions so hard that you wish you could either make it last forever or eradicate it completely? What makes you sing, cry, laugh or hurt? What can you do or are you doing about it?
• Frame it and hang copies everywhere, make it your company screensaver or have it etched in stone in your front yard. Do whatever it takes to keep it as the focal point for everything you do, think or say.
• Have accountability partners that keep you in line with your mission. Even though it is your driver, too often distractions or enticements can make you veer off of the path. Ask others to be your compass, insuring that you are heading in the right direction.

Once you have identified and written down business and personal mission statements that you honestly believe in, you will find that it is much easier to get up in the morning or stay up late at night to accomplish what needs to be done. All of a sudden, everything in your life will have meaning. You will become a relentless ‘warrior for the cause’. Ultimately, you will be respected, rewarded and remembered!

Hi everyone! I just came back from a seminar on book publishing. Since my book, “CEO Secrets”, is already on the market, I didn’t hear too much breakthrough information. But one thing struck me as very odd. I could tell from the questions that were asked that, in a room full of writers who would like to make a profession out of writing, very few had studied the industry and the processes involved in getting a book out. The same thing holds true with musicians, artists, phortaphers and many  other creative people. They just want to create. The business side of their profession is the last thing that they want to think about. Some never get there at all. Of course, they are usually the ones who complain that it is “so rough” to get heard, seen or read.

I highly recommend to everyone who is in any creative field at all to either study the business side of your profession just as hard as you did your craft, or find someone who can hold your hand and take care of the business for you. Either way, you should join your industry’s professional organizations to find a mentor. If necessary, hire a coach, a manager or someone with expereince who can teach you how to avoid some of the most common pitfalls. Use experts such as attorneys or agents to handle contracts and negotiations. Treat your creativity like a business, and you will ultimately create wealth!

Why Think Big?

It is very common for many entrepreneurs to want to start their business small and then grow it organically from the income it generates. For someone who is satisfied with a modest income or having a hobby business, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this line of thinking. Other entrepreneurs, on the other hand, know that deep in their hearts they want to build something big that will have a lasting impact on not only their own lives, but on the lives of their families and on the world itself.

Some people, even though they have big dreams, still believe that building a small business is the least risky way to do things. Of course, it is important to play some things safe. Taking one step at a time is definitely necessary to insure any company’s success. However, the inability to “think big” right from the start or early stages of a venture can cause challenges to rapid and profitable growth. Thinking big also doesn’t mean taking on too many tasks at one time. In fact, it can actually lessen the amount of risk that is taken!

Here are some thoughts and concepts that are important to grasp when building your business:

• It takes the same amount of effort and the same amount of time to build something big as it does to build something small. The difference comes in simply taking different steps based on a modified plan that is designed for a bigger and more profitable end result.
• Building a small business usually requires that you use your own money, or borrows money to fund the business. This is very risky. When a business is designed to be big, it is possible to raise capital from investors, eliminating the financial risk on the part of the founder.
• It is much easier to attract a powerful executive and advisory team to your business when the plans are to build a large venture. Smaller ventures are usually one-man or family operations. Having access to the expertise that an experienced team brings to the table eliminates the need to rely on your own knowledge and experience.
• Larger businesses have greater opportunities to diversify their income, again eliminating a major risk factor. Many smaller ventures are much more vulnerable because their profitability is based on one stream of income that can be easily affected by many uncontrollable factors.
• When you build a large business, you can raise adequate capital to launch and grow the business effectively, and still have enough in reserves to weather those storms that will inevitably arise. Smaller businesses often have just enough capital to survive, or are undercapitalized from the start. Any slight downturn in their income, their industry or in the general economy can be financially devastating.
• The eventual rewards of successfully building a large business are often enough motivation enough to keep you fighting through the hard times. When the rewards are smaller, it is easier to just give in and try something different.
• The systems that are put in place to handle a small amount of business may not be able to handle a large volume. Planning for larger volumes of work from the start eliminates the need or redesigning your current system or designing your entire systems twice.

If you are the type of entrepreneur who wants to go for broke, don’t be afraid to think big right now. Surround yourself with limitless thinkers, visionaries and successful entrepreneurs. Let them start to shape your thinking and your confidence. Then reach for the stars!