I have been thinking about leadership quite a bit this week, probably because I am in the middle of the woods with 6 dogs and a shitty wifi connection. I’ve been reading a lot on Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG), so I am going to use her as my inspiration.

People, myself included, get leadership and management confused. Leadership is how you approach and deal with different situations, it doesn’t have to mean you oversee people. For example, you notice that the garbage is full and you bring it out. You don’t stop and announce to everyone what you are doing, you just do it. Leaders don’t seek praise, if anything it makes them uncomfortable.

When RBG was asked to apply for a board position with the ACLU, candidates were expected to discuss their career highlights, major accomplishments and tout how great they would be in the position. RBG was so self-effacing and kept giving everyone else the credit (for some of the landmark cases she won), that the board elected her on good-faith, due to her past performance with the ACLU. Her peers and ACLU staff members, were ultimately responsible for her getting elected.

There is no perfect leader, but if you want to be one, I recommend keeping the below in mind at all times. A very smart person, once said to pick 3 and make those the lens in which you assess all situations.

1. Caring. This should speak for itself, if not, let me say this: don’t be a dick. You can have a very direct communication style and still really see the other person.
2. Patient (I didn’t say a master of it). I suck at this, I have a tendency to outline my requests in a way that seems perfectly clear to me and is incredibly confusing to everyone else. This often leads to annoyance on my part and frustration on the other end. Which leads me to my 3rd point.
3. Self-aware. Know your weaknesses, strengths and everything in between. This allows you to elevate others while staying focused on what you are good at.
4. Lead by example. The saying “do what I say, not what I do,” is utter bullshit. Be the first to lend a hand, step in when someone is struggling, take the time to show and teach and be kind. Do the right thing, regardless of who is watching.
5. Mentor. I encourage team 834 to work with our interns or first-year associates to help them become accustomed to our culture, processes and brand. By setting up others for success, you yourself succeed in gaining valuable experience in leadership.
6. Self-effacing. Don’t claim attention for yourself, share the love. RBG did this and she is a Supreme Court justice. Being a narcissist never turns out well, as history will soon show.

There is so much more to leadership, but these are the six things I try so hard to incorporate into my daily life. A leader isn’t a manager, a leader is who others strive to be.

How do you want to be remembered?

“Someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability. And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has. To do something, outside myself. ‘Cause I’ve gotten much more satisfaction for the things that I’ve done for which I was not paid.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a true leader

Change is inevitable; we have all heard it before – but many of us seldom do anything about it. I had the opportunity to hear Josh Linkner speak last week at the Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM) Leadership Council Summit and it was a great reminder that business owners need to focus on reinvention to remain relevant.

Josh wrote the bestselling book, The Road to Reinvention which discusses how businesses fail to reinvent with disastrous results. I started 8THIRTYFOUR to introduce an alternative to the traditional agency model. We focus on deliverables, not hours. We strategize, then implement. We leverage all communication mediums to deliver integrated measured results. At the time, the concept was unique and hard for people to wrap their heads around, in fact it took years building relationships and delivering results before it paid off.

Imagine if your competitors had the same exact product as you and all of you delivered it the same way – how would you stand out? What makes you different?

If we, as business owners, don’t take a different approach and innovate, then how do you ensure your business will be there tomorrow or 3 years from now?

Josh used the example of Kmart and their Ship My Pants campaign. Kmart was struggling to stand out from competition and remain relevant when competing with the likes of Amazon and other online giants. The campaign did exactly what it was designed to do, create buzz. Kmart had a HUGE opportunity, to build on the momentum and improve the online user experience, customer service and more. They didn’t. Change was too hard and they held onto their antiquated retail model…and well the rest is history (no really – they are history).

Dedicate time and resources to big picture ideas and don’t be afraid to take a risk – it could pay off in dividends.

I have struggled with how to share this news, I have avoided it in part because I don’t want to admit to myself that he is gone. You see, Jimmy, was more than my best friend, he was an important part of 8THIRTYFOUR culture and, dare I say, community.

Jimbo came into our lives 6 or so years ago, after I saw him on the Vicky’s Pet Connection Facebook page. He was a part of their Senior Paws program, which focused on finding homes for older dogs that no one seemed to want. He was loved since day 1, when he would express himself by hopping and barking at you for attention. He had a way about him.

He was such a staple at 8THIRTYFOUR that we named him our Chief Happiness Officer. Anyone who visited our office asked for Jimmy and I am certain he was key in us landing several accounts. When he decided to head out on an adventure at 9:00 p.m. to visit Graydon’s Crossing, the entire community came together to find him. Because of you, the couple that picked him up, recognized him from social media and returned him to us that very night.

How do you fill a Jimmy size hole in your heart? I’m told time will help ease the sadness and maybe that is true, but one thing is for sure – he was extremely loved.

To all of you, thank you for loving Jimmy.

We’ll see you on the other side buddy.

If you would like to make a donation in Jimmy’s honor, you can do so here.

I had a great conversation this past week with good friend of mine, who is in an influential and important role in Grand Rapids. She was looking to amplify her brand, meaning raise her profile in the community. Although she is very involved in the community, which is a huge part of her job, not a lot of people realize her level of engagement or the breadth of that involvement. Why? Because if it didn’t happen on social media, then did it really happen at all?

I know this sounds utterly ridiculous and in some ways it absolutely is, however we now live in the digital age which affords us a lot of opportunities but also takes away anonymity. Unfortunately, you can’t have it both ways.

My advice to my friend on increasing her visibility within the community, was the following.

• Utilize social media to educate, inform and share your life. There are multiple ways to do so, which I’ll cover in the next few bullet points. Start with Facebook and Instagram, Twitter is a time suck and the network is losing the relevancy it once had.
• When you attend events, go to meetings or are giving a presentation; be sure to check-in on social media with an explanation of what you are doing. This broadcasts your involvement to the community and also allows those attending the same event to find you and network.
• Share photos of your adventures. If you are walking in downtown Grand Rapids, grabbing coffee, attending an event, grab a photo and share with your followers. This showcases you are out and about and involved. I realize this may seem silly, but how often do you check social media in a day? 12 times? 15 times? Too many to count?
• Post articles or blogs you have written or feel will educate on a certain issue that is important to you or relevant to your job. This will help position you as knowledgeable, informed and thoughtful.
• Take advantage of either Facebook or Instagram Stories. Have fun with it! Show a more personal side, take pictures with your dogs, put on those damn bunny or dog ears/nose, make a video, get your emoji game on…the possibilities are endless.

For this blog, I focused on social media as a tool to increase your visibility, there are so many ways to do so, but all roads lead back to social media when it comes down to communicating what you are up to.

Looking for more resources or articles on personal brand, check out the below blogs.

• Why you can’t afford to ignore personal branding
• The value in speaking
• Make your own opportunities
• Becoming the salesperson of you

Back in September the news out of D.C. was the reversal of the pay gap rule put in place by the Obama administration. After reading about it, I started thinking about women in the workforce and what it means to be a female leader in this day and age.

As much as I would like to tell you that I have never been treated differently due to my gender, I can’t.

There are situations I look back on now, as a business owner, and I know that if I was of the opposite sex the outcome would have been much different.

There were times, I would ask a male colleague to go to a meeting with me for a prospective client because I knew he would have their respect by just walking into the room. I, on the other hand, would have to earn it. They would direct questions to him and I would answer them, they thought nothing of it.

I’ve been asked to schedule appointments, take meeting notes, coordinate something with an admin, work outside the contract, have a ‘feelings’ meeting because my to-the-point communication style offended an employee of a client…I wish I was making this up. Each of these alone seems minuscule but when they all pile on top of each other, it starts to really wear on you. I have owned 8THIRTYFOUR for 10 years and have been asked questions a male business owner would never be asked.

I am proud to be a women-owned business and the opportunities that has afforded me far outweigh the negative. The lesson in all of this is that we can only control how we react to situations. Don’t let them see you sweat.

Small Biz Saturday is coming in hot on November 25th. The ‘holiday’ was created by American Express and shines a much-needed light on small businesses. Michigan small businesses employed 1.8 million people, or 50.2% of the private workforce in 2013, according to the 2016 Small Business Profile released by the Small Business Administration.

In September The National Small Business Association (NSBA) released its 2017 Mid-Year Economic Report which showed the small-business outlook on the overall economy is at its highest point in seven years despite growing frustration over elected officials’ inability to enact needed reforms.

According to the NSBA Mid-Year Economic Report, some of the biggest challenges facing small businesses are:

• Politics or should I say politicians. More small businesses today say “partisan gridlock in D.C.” is the number one challenge facing their business than at any point in the last four years. Small businesses need Congress and the Administration to work together across party lines.
• Health care costs are seen as a major challenge as it relates to growth and survival.
• Obtaining financing for growth is difficult for small businesses. This effects hiring, expansion, employee benefits and inventory.
• Heating, cooling and lighting are the biggest energy costs for small business. The overwhelming majority (85 percent) of small firms are somewhat or not at all confident about the future of low, stable and reliable energy costs.

Small employers comprise 99.7 percent of all employer firms in the U.S., however, our system caters to large business. Regulations, taxes and health care costs can and do cripple our ability to grow and survive.

So…on Small Business Saturday, take the time to visit a small business or show your support on social media. Your voice helps us fight for change as we work towards economic stability while urging lawmakers to tackle the major issues facing our country.

Source: National Small Business Association, 2017 Mid-Year Economic Report.

I have a Mac, an iPhone, an Apple TV, an iPad and all the accessories; suffice to say I am an avid Apple product user…however I cannot possibly fathom paying $999 for a PHONE. Writing this is blasphemy to all other Apple consumers but it’s time to stop the madness (said in a very dramatic British accent).

Releasing a new phone every year, when the existing models are so buggy and we all dread the ios update, is a backwards business model. Obviously, Apple will go out of business soon, it’s not like they have billions of dollars or anything.

Here are my suggestions of the top 10  (8 – I ran out of ideas) things you can do in place of buying the iPhone X.

1. Purchase 2 or 3 refurbished or new ‘older’ iPhones. Give to a friend – like me, we’re friends, right?
2. Bring me out for 10 consecutive dinners or buy me 106 bags of pizza rolls (you’ll want to check my math).
3. Book a trip through Southwest, not only is this a company I hugely admire but they always have amazing deals available through their website. For example, book a flight + hotel package of $750 value and they’ll give you $200 in savings. Wouldn’t you rather a trip then a phone that will never take you anywhere? I’ll open my schedule up to ensure you have a fantastic time.
4. Launch a LinkedIn ad campaign that advertises how amazing you are. Grow your network and open up new career or connection possibilities.
5. Invite 1000 friends to subscribe to my blog. Currently I have 30 subscribers, was 31, but Mike unsubscribed last week – thanks Mike (I know where you work).
6. Donate $1,000 to charity – wait, I mean $999. Might I suggest Vicky’s Pet Connection? Jimmy Lab will thank you.
7. Sign-up to sell LuLaRoe – what is better than selling leggings (or whatever they sell – it isn’t Tupperware, is it?) I hear they are doing well for themselves.
8. Adopt a dog. Might I suggest adopting 4? $999 will go along way in buying dog food.

I feel there is a lesson in this blog post somewhere, but it escapes me. Perhaps it is that I am funny and we should be friends.

What do you think?

You’ve heard the saying “evolve or die”, well it couldn’t be more true. If you are a business you can’t continue to do things the same way year after year because you’ve always done it that way. No one cares what you want or what makes you comfortable, if you don’t put your customers front and center you won’t have a business to run.

Take Toys R’ Us for example, the company just declared bankruptcy which has taken a lot of us (ok, me) by surprise. I don’t have kids, so I haven’t kept up with the retailer as I have no need to buy toys…besides checking out the latest in Star Wars action figures. So…the news came as a surprise to me until I started reading the reasons behind it.

1. The company was resistant to e-commerce. To this I say, know your audience. If I was a mom, there is no way in hell I am bringing my kid into a toy store when I can easily order it online and avoid the inevitable temper tantrum.
2. All of your competitors are in the digital space, refusing to compete is just idiotic. If you want to compete with Amazon, Target, Walmart, etc. then you have to be in the space they are in.
3. Brick and mortar is becoming extinct, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for it but it can’t be the only facet of your business.
4. If your audience is moms or young familes then you need to consider their lifestyle, buying patterns – you know do the market research.
5. A quick look at the company’s social media revealed that there are a lot of rogue Facebook pages out there. It would appear there is no company wide policy for individual stores. On top of that, several posts all publish at once, there is no strategy around it. On September 15th, 3 posts went live at 9:00 a.m. – how the hell does that make sense?

The company had so much opportunity to get it right. I mean you are a TOY STORE, what could be more fun to market? I’m talking video, charity outreach, Facebook live, Instagram, Pinterest, influencer outreach, celebrity endorsements…the jingle “I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys R’ Us kid…” still plays in my head.

Toys R’ Us needs to grow up and fast. I hope they can turn this around.

It’s the most hectic time of the year, so how can you even think about 2017?

Since most business owners can be procrastinators it is a pretty safe bet to assume you haven’t mapped out your goals and strategies for 2017.

I know, I know, all you want to do is drink eggnog, sip champagne and eat that delicious fruit cake. Trust me though, it really doesn’t have to be such a hassle. Take a few days over break and map out a one-page strategy.

Follow the below simple outline and get cracking.

1. Elevator pitch. Review what you currently have, is it still accurate? Make sure all staff is on the same page and is talking about the business succinctly.
2. SWOT. Every year you should map out your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. These change from year to year. By understanding where your company stands, you can best plan for the coming year.
3. Goals. Map out where you would like to be at the end of 2017. What are your sales, growth, culture and financial goals? Don’t make this difficult, bullet point and move on. No one ever said you need to write a novel.
4. KPI. What are your key performance indicators? 834 focuses on client retention, conversion rates and retainer revenue.
5. Target customers. As you grow and evolve as a company, so will your clients. Perhaps when you started out your focus was in a different industry or size client. What does your ideal customer look like?
6. Industry analysis. This is a quick snapshot of the current market. What does competition look like? Is the geographic region you are concentrating your efforts on tapped out?
7. Competitive analysis. When you bid out jobs, what companies to you compete with? Spend time researching what they are currently doing and where there might be opportunity for your company.
8. Marketing plan. How the hell are people going to hear about you? Where will you spend your time? For 834, we concentrate on blogging, social media, networking and media relations. What is the best return for you?
9. Financial projections. More than likely, you have already projected 2017 revenue for tax purposes, so take those numbers and break it down into more detail. In this section of my plan I look at expenses, revenue and our internal processes. How can we improve?
10. Staff. In this section, I map out an org chart with current employees and then another one that maps out future positions. This gives me something to work towards and also determine if I have any existing holes.

This whole document should not be more than a few pages. You are not writing a novel, you are determining goals to work towards. If you write a 30 page business plan, do you really think you will ever look at it again? Oh hell no.