Imagine! The Joy of Backward Thinking!

Imagine that it is the year 2015 and you are in a courtroom. You are well dressed but your feet hurt. You are there to finalize matters with creditors at your bankruptcy hearing. Huh?!? How did THAT happen?

Imagine that it is the year 2020 and you are in a courtroom. You are well dressed but your feet hurt. You are there for the final dissolution of your marriage. Huh?! How the heck did THAT happen?

Take a few moments to consider what events most likely happened in your near future as the building blocks to the disastrous outcomes above. What could you have done to prevent these things? What is well within your control that you maybe neglect or get too busy for that may  prevent such dreadful outcomes.

For many of us, looking backward is easier than looking forward. I suggest you use this exercise to look back from your future. This is a great way to rethink your own behavior before it leads to disaster. The beautiful thing about this backward/forward vision is that you can utilize it to prevent failures and also to get you closer to your desired goals. 

Imagine that it is the year 2016 and your are writing the tuition check to your kid's college of choice for a full year. Today, you have enough in the college savings account to pay for a tank of gas. Visualize how you get there in just 6 years time. You can still do this, you have 6 years!!!!

Imagine the day you retire from the career you love. Visualize the hobbies and travel that can become your daily life. Now is the time to plan that future.

Companies routinely use this backward thinking in their strategic planning for future growth. See the goal and work backward, planning the action steps, resources needed, etc... to get them there.

The next time somebody accuses you of backwards thinking, say "Why yes, thank you!".

Mary Rogers

What's in a name? The Story behind Marigold.

The first time I saw somebody spell the name of my company "Marygold", I knew I had a problem. That was never the intent of the brand name. Sheer coincidence, I swear. If you are a gardener, you would understand.

Here was the idea for the company:

• Bring a lot of attention to women in business, a diverse and sometimes wildly individualistic group.
• Highlight their numbers, but accentuate their personal uniqueness and flair.
• Offer organization and structure to the group with out stealing the glory of the spotlight
• Deflect criticism of women in business in general, and of women business owners more specifically.
• Be a strong champion for others with well grounded financial structure for company growth.

Well, a gardener, familiar with Marigolds will see the analogy:

• Marigold plants make excellent border flowers, drawing the eye to the entire garden without being the showpiece. The flowers within the garden, delphinium, salvia, snapdragons, impatience, hollyhocks, geraniums, etc... are the showy, flamboyant, gorgeous centerpieces, they just need a structure to pull the viewer's focus together in an orderly fashion.
• Marigolds are considered excellent companion plants because they ward off insects from the other flowers in the garden.
• Marigolds are hardy suckers. It isn't easy to kill a Marigold! They are tenacious little workers requiring little to no attention.

We are almost 5 years into the Marigold Experiment, how well have we done to achieve what we set out to do? Love to hear your comments!

Your friend,
Mary Rogers

Zing Train Take-away

Marigold brought Zing Train to town last week and the 150 people who took part in all or some of the day have been raving about the content shared by Stas' and Ann from Zingerman's. I think each person had a different aha moment that they wanted to share as soon as they got back to their own business.

Mine was this: Customer service isn't just for customers. Customer service extends to employees, co-workers, vendors and yes, even competitors. How we treat other people and organizations contributes to our brand and reputation in the community.

If a co-worker is being crabby, instead of blowing them off or complaining about their bad attitude, maybe an offer of help would break their bad-day cycle.

• To the receptionist about to explode: "Looks like some one really teed you off, can I answer phones for you for 5 minutes so you can take a break?".
• To the vendor or supplier sounding overwhelmed by your order: "I know you guys are crazy right now, want me to call you back in an hour?"
• To your business partner who can't focus on your conversation: "I can see you have something important going on that's distracting you, should we shelve this project for a few days?'

In each of these cases we could legitimately complain that the other person was not being "professional" or whatever other derogatory term you choose. But haven't we all been there, when a kind word of understanding without a bunch of questions would have been sooo appreciated.

Unless this is a chronic situation, being helpful in their "moment" creates such a better environment for everybody.

Mary

Do the work, do the work, do the work?

If you were to ask me if I've read the U.S. Constitution, I'd say, "Well, not word for word, but sure I know what its about". Well, same thing holds for The E Myth. I have heard so much about the concept of this book that I assumed I "knew the book".

Well, I think I'd better go back and read the Constitution because when I finally did read every page of The E Myth Revisted, cover to cover I could only think that I wish I'd read it 4 years ago when I founded Marigold. I did not "know the book".

Who should read this book?
She who currently owns a business or is self-employed.
She who feels vulnerable to an oncoming Entrepreneurial Seizure (that moment when you decide to work for yourself or start a small business).

I will be blogging on the blessings of this book for the next several weeks, focusing on one concept at a time. Lets get started!


From the E Myth-
"It is critical that you understand the point I'm about to make. For if you do, neither your business nor your life will ever be the same. The point is: your business is not your life. Your business and your life are two totally separate things... An organism, you might say, that will live or die according to how well it performs its sole function: to find and keep customers". Michael Gerber, The E Myth

A sustainable business has the ability to function without you because you have designed and implemented systems and procedures that do not include YOU! Of course your business will include a lot of YOU at the beginning, but there should be a clear and definable time period after which YOU are not needed. You will be the owner of the business, not the business.

If you have a non-transferable skill or talent that you sell to others, you do not have a business, you work for yourself. Big difference. If you stop doing that work, the customers go away and so does their money. You will have lost your job. If you have taught your team how to do the work of the business and you have put systems and job descriptions in place with the right employees, your business survives and the revenues continue to flow regardless of your health. The business can be sold, transferred, etc... There is nothing wrong with working for yourself. Just don't fool yourself into thinking you have created something other that a different way to earn a paycheck. There is no equity from the relationships you have established with clients or customers. You have to keep doing the work, doing the work, doing the work.

Are you your business? Do you want the added responsibility of early stage business ownership? Can you see the business being attractive to a potential buyer? Do you want to learn a new way to approach your work?

The E Myth Revisited spells out how to achieve separateness from your business. It is not too late or too early. Lets get started.

Ask yourself a question

I was having a conversation with a mentor of mine about a possible investment in my company. This was not a large amount of money that we were discussing. He startled me by asking, "What would you do if I invested 10 times that amount of money?" Hmmm? I was somewhat speechless.

He asked me to give it some thought. This became a great exercise for me as a business owner. What would I do with $100,000 or even $1,000,000? This freed me to think big, really big. Once I had opened myself to the idea of greater resources, the ideas began to flow and so did the rationale behind the investment. Why not?

I highly recommend this idea to all business owners, it is NOT as easy as it sounds. But it makes clear the boundaries of imagination that small thinking creates. Go for it!