My favorite subject is small business and through the 8THIRTYFOUR Happy Hour Hustle podcast, WGVU Your Biz Your Town radio show with Shelley Irwin or this blog, I am constantly promoting the amazing businesses in our community.

Small Business Saturday is tomorrow and while this is mostly for retailers, it is a good opportunity to shine the spotlight on all small businesses.

Starting and growing a business is daunting, to say the least, but you are not alone. There are some amazing organizations in our state that are here to help. This blog is dedicated to just a few of them, who have assisted 8THIRTYFOUR over the years.

Small Business Development Center (SBDC)
When I was starting 8THIRTYFOUR, I needed a crash course in business finance and SBDC offers financial counseling and much, much more. They offer expert assistance at NO cost to entrepreneurs looking to start or grow their business. You heard that right, their services are FREE.

The SBDC is headquartered within Grand Valley State University with 11 regional offices and more than 20 satellite offices.

I just recently reengaged their services to assist us in our Entrepreneurial Operating System journey, they offer facilitated sessions to ensure you are properly implementing.

Find out more by visiting, sbdcmichigan.org.

Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM)
If you know me, then you know I am very involved with SBAM, with over 26,000 members it is the only statewide and state-based association that focuses solely on serving the needs of Michigan’s small business community.They have been successfully serving small businesses in all 83 counties of Michigan since 1969.

As a business owner, the ability to meet, network and commiserate with other owners is priceless. They keep us informed of policies at the state and national level that will affect our businesses and provide opportunities for us collaborate and partner.

Find out more at sbam.org.

There are many more great orgs, such as Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women, local chambers and Inforum Michigan. Determine what your need is then reach out to one of these great resources to take your business to the next level.

Are there others that should be on the list? Add them in the comments below.

The 8THIRTYFOUR team, took time out to reconnect, strategize and explore a small town in Northern Michigan this past week. Since we began implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®), we have made it a priority to spend time talking about the company, plans for the future and each employee’s individual goals. The benefits for doing so are hard to see at the time, but looking back now on a year of EOS®, it is very evident how important ‘company time’ is.

Here are the top 3 reasons, to disconnect and reconnect.

1. One vision, one team. Having all staff members working towards the same goal will only make your company stronger; this will involve transparency on the side of the leadership team. Be willing to share revenue and organizational goals with staff. At our yearly retreat, we discuss one-year and three-year revenue goals, as well as future org charts. We also take a look back on the current year and see how we are tracking to meet the goals set the year prior. This is a great time to ensure everyone is clear on what is important moving forward and how the work they do daily is contributing to the success of the company.
2. Temperature check. A fun exercise to lead with your team, is called roses and thorns. It is an interactive way to identify strengths, weaknesses and improvement areas within your company. Our friends at Atomic Object break it down for you here. This exercise gives you a snapshot of what each team member thinks the company is doing well, could do better and needs to focus on for future goals. For example, our team identified that we do a great job at client reporting, which is something we have worked very hard at streamlining and perfecting in the last 6 months. We also noted that we need to do a better job talking about community engagement and highlighting the importance of it. The best part is the exercise sets the foundation for your quarterly and yearly goals.
3. Fun. Employees work hard for you and they deserve a little fun and relaxation to recharge for the upcoming year. Your retreat should be an even mix of planning and team bonding. I know that is hilarious coming out of my mouth, but when you are intentional about culture, your company will flourish.

What else would you add to this list? By the way, Leland is gorgeous this time of year and there is an amazing bookstore you have to check out.

Most entrepreneurs and business owners fail terribly a leading. No one tells you when you start your business, that you will someday have to manage an entire team. At the time, you are too busy trying to not go broke. It’s probably a good thing that most entrepreneurs can’t see past the week they’re living in, we would have a nervous breakdown.

Over my 11 years at 8THIRTYFOUR, I’ve stumbled upon the following lessons (and I mean stumbled).

1. You are in the spotlight. Whether you like it or not, everyone is watching what you do. Your employees, community, clients, partners, family, dog…you name it; your every action and decision is under the microscope. Self-awareness is key, especially after you make a bad decision.
2. Personal and professional is blurred. Most people spend more time with their co-workers than they do their own families, which means you will know a lot about each individual that reports to you. A good work environment, encourages team bonding and presents opportunities for employees/managers to get to know each other on a more personal level. The catch is, you will know WAY more than you want to about your employees. Safeguard that information and respect their privacy.
3. Not everyone is a winner. This may seem harsh, but when we started moving to EOS® (Entrepreneurial Operating System®), it took the emotion out of staff/employee decisions. You have to make the right decisions for the company and that means, right person/right position. Rip the bandaid off when it comes to low performers, if they are not a fit for your culture, then work with them to transition to a new job.
4. Everyone looks to you for the answer. You are going to get asked a lot of questions, some you know, most you don’t. Unfortunately for you, you’re the only one they can go to. Empower employees to make their own decisions, but also have designated times they can come to you with questions and solutions.
5. Leadership is lonely. I wrote a pretty emotional and raw blog about this awhile back, running a business is hard. You can’t delegate running the company to someone else, if a big problem hits – buck stops with you.

What leadership lessons would you share? I am always open to learning and adapting based on what I learn. Great leaders don’t happen overnight, they make a lot of mistakes on the way.

We are blogging maniacs at 8THIRTYFOUR, we blog twice a week or more depending on breaking industry news. That is a lot of content to create, which means we have learned a thing or two along the way.

Here are some of our blogging non-negotiables.

1. It’s all about the relationship. Readers need to feel a personal connection to a brand, and that means you gotta give a little of yourself to build loyalty. We blog a lot about marketing, PR, digital, design…but we also talk about our favorite patios, stuff we do to unwind and more. Communication is all about building relationships, and to do that you have to foster a connection on a deeper level.
2. Provide value. Think ‘how-tos’ or checklists. Just recently we wrote a blog about the best times to post to social media, broken down by network. Readers could download an infographic, that they could use as a guide when scheduling social media. See…value.
3. Be funny (no pressure). Don’t take yourself too seriously, brands that incorporate humor into their content come across as more relatable and engaging.
4. Share the responsibility. No one person in our company is expected to generate all the content and we often will collaborate on blogs with each person inputting their piece.
5. Share real world results. Any company can talk about how great they are, it is when you show results of a project or campaign that readers will take notice.

These are just a few of the things we have learned from 11 years of blogging. What do you think?

The worst bosses I ever had…were women. I know I am not alone, many share the same experiences. These experiences have driven me to be a better leader and to cultivate opportunities for my employees that I never had. As a business owner (regardless of my gender), I need to live by example.

When reflecting back on my worst bosses, I realized they did teach me valuable leadership lessons.

1. Be transparent. By being clear with expectations for each role in your company, your employees know what is expected of them. Share with them the vision and 1 year, 3 year and 10 year goals. Understanding they are a part of something bigger, drives them to contribute in a more strategic way.
2. Support professional growth. When an employee grows professionally, the company benefits. Provide opportunities for community engagement, leadership training and more. We work with our employees to develop a professional development plan that we support as a firm.
3. Be intentional with culture. You want employees to look forward to coming to work each day. We purposefully build team bonding into our schedule – whether it is Friday Sangria or a BBQ at my house to share an updated company strategy to working on a patio for the afternoon. Employees work hard, reward them with some flexibility and fun.
4. Lead by example. This is by far the most important. We have all had those bosses that tells us one thing and do another. While I am out of the office a lot, I make it a priority to attend our team meetings, bonding sessions and hit deadlines.

Use your past ‘bad boss’ situations to drive yourself to be a better leader. Sometimes our worst experiences can be our best education.

I was labeled a pessimist the other day and my first reaction was to be defensive. Let’s be honest, pessimism is not viewed favorably; we are considered the Eeyores of the world, which is associated with negativity.

Side note: Someone had to be a pessimist in that group. Pooh had no common sense, Tigger was rash and reactive in his decision making and Piglet was terrified of his own shadow. They probably should have given Eeyore a little more credit.

Being a pessimist, that’s right I’ll admit it, has allowed me to succeed as a business owner. I do not walk around singing show tunes, I have a serious case of RBF (resting bitch face) and past bosses have called me abrasive and pushy. All of this is true, although I do occasionally hum the Greatest Showman soundtrack, and I am not going to apologize for it.

The way I approach a lot of situations in the business world are grounded in my pessimistic tendencies and have built a successful foundation for 8THIRTYFOUR.

1. I always analyze the shit out of everything. I overthink every interaction, situation, communication…and it has made me very intuitive when faced with difficult decisions. I notice everything…everything.
2. I hope for the best and plan for the worst. Running a business is really, really hard and it is a journey full of constant twists and turns – you have to plan for the unexpected. You also need to roll with the punches, which is not something us pessimists do well.
3. My self-awareness is off the charts. I take criticism well and it has made me a better boss and colleague. I internalize, overthink it and at times make myself sick over it…but the process is well-worth the results.

While pessimism has served me well, it needs to be in moderation. It cannot take over your life; use it to motivate you, but remember to take time to focus and reflect on the great things.

Lastly, don’t be ashamed to be a pessimist, own it and acknowledge the good that comes from it.

P.S. Being a pessimist is good for your health. 

The most important relationships in your business are the ones you already have. We spend so much time searching for the next big thing, new project, new client…we miss or take for granted what is right in front of us.

Since we started implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®) at 8THIRTYFOUR, we made it a priority to map out our processes and develop a scorecard in which we rate ourselves and our performance. A big part of that scorecard is client satisfaction, it is our goal to communicate continuously, effectively and responsively with our existing client base. If we are not keeping clients satisfied then we are not doing our job.

We make communication a priority, it is all about the relationship we have with our clients. Below are just a few of the items we incorporated into our process.

1. Quality content. This might not seem like such a big deal, but each month I sit down and I write a personal message to our clients and share agency, client, community and industry news. I handpick all of the content and then our crack designers, assemble it into an easy-to-read newsletter.
2. Customized reporting. We know that many of our our clients identified communication as a pain-point. In the past they had been burned by other companies that didn’t communicate their activities, results or priorities. Each month our clients receive a report that details our efforts for the last 30 days, how it aligns with their goals (they determine these in our initial strategy session), what the results were and what our recommendations moving forward for continued success. We then add some sweet graphs, a personal note and off it goes.
3. Party time. Quarterly we host an event at our office and invite 8THIRTYFOUR friends, family and clients to relax and enjoy whatever crazy theme we came up with. It is important we take the time to connect outside of work hours. By the way, mark your calendar for 8/3 at 4:00 p.m.
4. Be our guest. If you are following us on Instagram, you know we are out in the community almost every night of the week and we get lonely. We ask our clients to be our dates on a regular basis to galas, networking events, luncheons and more. If there is an event you are interested in, there is a good chance we are going.
5. Thank you. Sometimes a simple handwritten note speaks volumes. We take the time to tell our clients, in writing, what badasses they are.

We continually analyze and refine our process and are always open to suggestions. How do you communicate with your clients?

If you are not writing, do you even exist? Kidding…sort of. In the world of business ownership, you have to write – emails, blogs, notes, strategies, press releases, newsletters…the list goes on. No matter the audience you are trying to reach, the content needs to be engaging, fresh and relevant.

Here are a few tips to keep your content game sharp.

1. Get to the point. I say this to my brother all the time, is there a point to this story? We all like a good lead, but it shouldn’t be more than a paragraph to build up to the key takeaways.
2. Write first, edit it later…and sometimes ignore grammar rules. Great writing isn’t overly structured, you are not writing a research paper. You can start a sentence with a preposition and fragments are not always bad. Get it all out, then go back and reread and clean up.
3. Be passionate about it. Don’t write about something that bores the hell out of you. You won’t ever see me writing about accounting or cross-stitching (little known fact, I used to cross-stitch). You will see me writing about my small business journey, integrated communications, relationships and leadership.
4. Read up. I use Feedly to stay-up-to-date on marketing, business, public relations, digital, etc. news. It often sparks ideas for an article, blog or email.

The best piece of advice I have is, don’t overthink it. If it interests you, write about it. It doesn’t have to be rocket science, you are not curing cancer…you are writing from your perspective.

What ways do you stay motivated and inspired to write?

At some point in the lifespan of your small business, you have to grow up. What do I mean by this? You stop living in a reactive, chaotic environment and you become more strategic and structured.

When you first start your business, you are desperate for clients/customers. You don’t have the luxury of turning down business, you are just hoping to pay bills and keep the lights on.

Now that you are all grown up, it is time to start running your business that way.

1. Buyer personas are a great way to identify the best customers for your business. Buyer personas (sometimes referred to as marketing personas) are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers. Segment your audience by age group, interests and other relevant demographics. This provides great insight into buying decisions, behaviors etc. Once you understand this, you can target your marketing and the tools you use to reach your customers.
2. Internal processes need to be defined; as you add employees they need to be on the same page. How will services be delivered? How will you communicate with your clients/customers? Spend time outlining all the actions you take in a day and start creating systems. Set up a SOP (standard operating procedures) binder – this way as you grow, you maintain your culture and way of doing things.
3. Write up your job description; what do you want to do as the company grows? How will your position change? You will no longer be accounting, human resources, marketing…the list goes on. Your talents best lie in other areas of the business, you will need to let go to grow.

Evolving your business over the years is the most important task you will have, it is also the hardest. There will be frustrations, sleepless nights and so much change. It is all part of the journey, just know you are not alone. We are all experiencing it.

Why, as women, do we feel the need to be liked by everyone? Why are our feelings hurt when we aren’t included? Is high school still haunting us?

I won’t get into how society or our upbringings can play a role in our need to be accepted or loved. I will say this, knock it off! I went through this a few months back and reached out to several women who I thought I had offended (who, me?) and offered to grab coffee or connect on a more personal level. The responses I received made me realize that I don’t have to be liked or be best friends with these women. I respected them on a professional level but it did not need to ever move beyond that. Why was that so hard for me to accept?

It came up in conversation again the other day when another (professional/colleague) woman and I were commenting on the fact that we had known each other for over 10 years, but it was never on a personal level. Guess what…we were both FINE with that. We both have an enormous amount of respect for each other professionally, but see no reason for it to move beyond those boundaries.

If you are struggling with the need to be liked, it is basically a disease, break down your relationships in the following ways:

1. Colleagues: These are individuals that you run into at professional events, board meetings or worked with in the past. You might meet up for  happy hour or sit together at an event, but you are not friends. They do not need to know your life story, unless you are like me and tell everyone you meet within the first 5 minutes of the conversation.
2. Co-workers: This is where personal and professional tend to blur, we often spend more time with our co-workers than our own families. They know what is going on in your personal life, you have most definitely grabbed drinks outside of work and you are brought together by common circumstances. These people will often exit your life quickly as well, usually for a new job.
3. Actual Friends: I say actual, because no matter where you are in life, these people will be with you. You don’t have to work in the same place, have the same type of job or worry about being liked by them. They will love you at your worst and support you at your best. Think back on those tough times in your life, who reached out to you? Who made the effort to support you? Who was by your side?

The fact is, no matter what, there will always be people out there who don’t like you. I am abrasive, stubborn, persistent and not shy about my beliefs – that doesn’t sit well with many people and that is ok. Don’t compromise yourself so someone else will like you.

Learning to be okay with that is hard work, but you’ll like yourself so much more for it. And guess what, I like you.