The BusinessOwner’sChampion6 Winning Practicesto Build Your Nerveand Your Business

A N C H O R A D V I S O R S

by Brad Farris

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I’ve never worked for a publicly heldcompany. The biggest office I everworked for had just over 300 people init. I’ve never worked more than threelayers down in an organization (e.g.,my boss’ boss’ boss was the BIG boss).So, I’ve always been able to see, prettydirectly, how my work impacted thecompany.

I’ve worked for a lot of different kinds ofcompanies, from a venture-funded start-up, to two brothers who ran theirbusiness “like a family.” I’ve worked forpeople who were billionaires and workedon $100 million deals, but I’ve also workedfor founders who scraped together cashfrom their friends and families and puttheir inventory on a credit card. Thesecompanies made aerospace parts,automotive components, awnings,intercoms, garage door openers … the listgoes on.

As different as these jobs were, therewere similarities. The best jobs I ever hadwere ones in which I worked with teamsof excellent people. I worked with peerswho were so good at what they did that I

was fired up to go to work every day, notwanting to let them down and lookingforward to what I might learn from themthat day. At my favorite jobs I workedhard, not because anyone asked me to,but because it made a difference. Thesebusinesses were large enough to havestructure and process, so that we all knewwhat to do each day and how our successwould be judged; but they were smallenough to allow us to make meaningfulcontributions and to see the fruits of ourlabor and how our efforts each day helpedto make progress.

This type of opportunity is more prevalentin privately held, founder-led businesses.These types of businesses are in thebuilding stage, creating opportunities forgrowth for the company and for thoseworking inside of it. There are no layers ofbureaucracy, or rules and red tape thathold smart, creative people back frominnovating solutions to problems andseizing opportunities. You don’t have tofight through turf wars and entrenchedbureaucrats to bring a good idea to life.There are always new challenges, new

customers and markets. Invent a newservice today, sell it tomorrow, and it’s onthe homepage next week!

But, not all founder-led businesses havethis dynamic. Some businesses aremicromanaged, with no freedom orinnovation outside of the founder’s.Others have so much freedom that noone knows which way is up. Maybe thefounder has the control right, but hasn’tfound the right niche. Or, he doesn’t knowhow to communicate the value thecompany provides so the business isstarved for resources and is working hand-to-mouth. Others have all the work theyneed, but they haven’t priced it right, orthey can’t manage the clients’expectations so they always run 100 milesan hour and get nowhere.

Are these types of business owners awareof their shortcomings? Yes, they arepainfully aware; whether they will admit itoutloud is another matter. Of course, agood day will push them to think they aresuperhuman without any faults at all. Butthen there are the not-so-good days,when they’re struggling to make

Introduction

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payroll or dealing with a personnel issue,and they feel like they don’t deserve tohave their own business. They think, I’mnot the smart, successful business ownereverything thinks I am. What if everyonefinds out that … I’m … a … fraud?

First of all, making a mistake here orthere, unless it involves breaking the law,doesn’t make any business owner a fraud.But when all eyes are on you and youcan’t perform, it’s easy to draw thecomparison. Further, your team expectsand wants you to know everything, butyou can’t know it ALL. So, when theydiscover you aren’t omnipotent, it canreally smart. Believe me, I know. I’m asmall-business owner.

But what business owners really feel isfear – fear that they can’t build a businessthat they love, filled with a team of peoplewhom they respect and whom earn thema fair return on their risk. This feardebilitates them, causing them to make aseries of other fear-related missteps intheir businesses.

Here’s what you don’t realize: Running asuccessful business doesn’t require anMBA, or a PhD, or even fancy math. Itdoes require you to be honest withyourself, to get good constructivefeedback from your customers, yourteam, and some outside people whomyou trust, and to commit yourself tomaking some changes that will feeluncomfortable. And most of all, it requiresthe confidence to do all these things.

Confidence and fear are at the oppositeends of the spectrum. How do you gofrom being a fearful business owner tobecoming a confident business owner?I’m glad you asked! You’ve come to theright place for your answer.

As you read along, you may find yourselfidentifying with some of the scenarios Iuse. You may be reading this as one ofmy past clients or as a business ownerwhom I’ve met once or twice, andwonder if I am talking about you or yourbusiness. I assure you that the dynamicsI refer to in this book are common tomany smaller, founder-led businesses.

“If it feels or sounds familiar,it’s because your problems are

common. So if you find yourselfnodding, and looking over yourshoulder, rest assured, you are

in good company.”

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The Business Owner’s Champion by Brad Farris

www.anchoradvisors.comChaptersA N C H O R A D V I S O R S

1. Share

2. Assemble

3. Trust

4. Delegate

5. Manage

6. Enforce

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How many late nights did you spendgetting your business started? Maybe itwas working on a client project ormaybe it was worrying about how youwere going to meet payroll. At first,didn’t meeting a new client, going to anetworking event or selling yourselfcompletely terrify you? Starting yourbusiness and building it to this pointhave probably cost you a lot of sleep.You took risks and years of your lifewent into making this business thesuccess it is now.

And then your employees walk in therelike they own the place, like it wascreated just for them! They think theydeserve comfy chairs, juice in the fridgeand dinner at home with their families.No one appreciates how hard it was toget here! My people are just walking inhere and they haven’t proven anything.Don’t they know they have to earn this?

They do take it all for granted. Theydon’t treat your business like theprecious thing it is. That’s because it’s ajob to them, not a baby! They don’tcome to work thinking they have to

earn your trust or prove they care.They come to work believing they havesomething to offer to you! They shouldearn your respect through the sacrificesthey made to learn a skill that you canuse to serve your clients and makemoney. They want to work hard,contribute to building your business andserving your clients, AND get recognizedfor their contributions – even if theydon’t involve the sacrifices you made andthe risks you took.

People who start their own businesseshave to have a healthy-sized ego. Youhave to believe you have somethingvaluable to offer to the world and havethe courage to offer it, and offer it, andoffer it, before someone finally pays you!Running a business does require strengthof ego, and I don’t want you to give thatup. Nevertheless, ego can get in yourway when it causes you to trust toomuch in your own ideas and decisions,and value your contributions more thanthe contributions of others.

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Business owners whose egos get intheir way have a few common traits.How many of these fit you?

• Are you too critical of the talent inyour company?

• Is there more criticism than praise inyour office?

• Do you talk with distain or derisionabout some of your key teammembers or customers?

• Do you hire supportive teammembers who are not likely leaders?

• Do you avoid adding team memberswho have the potential to be better,or are smarter than you are?

• Do strong team members leave aftera few years?

• When you talk to clients, do you usethe word “I” more than you use theword “we”?

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• Do you blame staff members whenthings go wrong? Do you take creditwhen things go well? Do clients thinkyou did everything on a project, evenwhen you didn’t?

• Has it been more than a month sinceeach team member has heard yousay, “Thank you”? Have they everheard you apologize?

• Is your business named after you, ordoes the brand contain your name?

• Are people constantly waiting for yourapproval or edits before they cancomplete their work?

• Do you frequently rewrite or reworkthe deliverables that your teamproduces?

• Do you have clients that are “your”clients? Do they ask for you whenthey call, and other team membersjust can’t seem to make progresswith them?

If you looked at these questions honestly and answered “Yes” to morethan half of them, your ego may be getting in your way.

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If you want to build a thriving businessthat goes beyond what you can do, youneed to check that ego. For somebusiness owners, it’s ok the businesscompletely relies on them and they areessential to every project. But if youwant to do things like take a vacation,go home when you’re sick withoutthreatening the business, or focus ondoing the part of the business you love,the truly creative and visionary tasks,you need a team – and you need to getover yourself.

Jim Collins, in his landmark book, Goodto Great, identified the concept of theLevel 5 Leader. The Level 5 leader wasmost often identified in thosecompanies who made the leap fromgood to great. These leaders coupled afierce resolve and drive for excellencewith a clear understanding that it wasnot about them. In fact, a hallmark ofthese leaders is that they drew on theinsights and influences of many minds toget the best ideas to drive excellentoutcomes. When things go well, theylook at what others have done to

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contribute; when things go poorly, theylook at what they could have donebetter.

It’s important to have strong peoplearound you. But, strong people aredrawn to smart, successful people whocan share the spotlight. As yourcompany grows, you don’t always needto be in the limelight. In fact, it’s ok ifyou’re never in the limelight. Now, Iknow that you have worked hard andtaken extreme risks to get to the pointwhere you can have the spotlight onyou. No one – not your clients or yourteam members – know how hard youhave worked or the sacrifices you havemade to get here. But the truth is, theydon’t care! The strongest teammembers will be anxious to learn all theycan and grow with you; but if they sensethere is never room for them in thespotlight, they will leave. The team thatwill take you to the next level isn’t goingto tolerate you looking over theirshoulder all day. They want to have thefreedom to send an email without youproofreading it (and likely rewriting it!).

So if this is a problem for you,here are 6 steps you can take?

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Start small; say thanks.

Be grateful every day for somethingor someone. I made it a daily habitto write a note to a person whomade me grateful that day. Try it.When a client compliments yourfirm’s work, ask him to send a noteto your team member, or forwardthe email or VM along to your teammember or even to the whole team(with specific thanks to the teammembers who did the work). Makesure the team member hears andexperiences gratitude from you andyour clients. Don’t wait for yourteam members to be perfect beforeyou thank and appreciate them.Even when they are imperfect, theydo things that need to berecognized and appreciated.

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Don’t go anywhere alone.

Once you’ve learned that you don’thave to talk all the time, take teammembers wherever you are going –to new business pitches, networkingmeetings, client debriefs, wherever.You want them to see you in action(so that they can learn) and youwant to see them in action (so youcan learn).

Try not talking.

Go to a client meeting and bring theteam that worked on thedeliverable. Now, don’t talk! Let yourteam do the talking. Of course,prepare them for what you’re doing.This is going to be tough! You willfind that they may make somemistakes, and there will be thingsyou need to train them on, butultimately the meeting will go fine.And if you are really honest, you’lladmit they did a little better thanyou would have in some parts. Mostimportantly, your client is nowbuilding a rapport and relationshipwith your whole team instead ofjust you.

Listen to your employees aswell as you listen to yourclients.

If you got this far in business already,you must have learned how to listento what your clients need and want.Now, use that skill to hear what youremployees need and want. Manybusiness owners will bristle at this:Why do I have to listen to myemployees? They need to listen tome! Yes they do, but if you neverlisten to them, if you don’t see themas adding value with their own ideas,they will not be engaged in yourbusiness. They may show up and filla chair, but their best work will begoing somewhere else.

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The Business Owner’s Champion by Brad Farris

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Make two to three times more positive comments than negative ones.

This one is hard. If you are in the habit of being critical, you have to make some radical changes in order to shift the balance. First,you must compliment – their clothes, their smile or their ability to always turn their work in on time. Now that you have rampedup the positive comments, skip some of the negative ones. Think before you correct. How serious is this mistake? What is theconsequence? Of course, you can’t let things go out that are wrong. But, if it’s just a matter of style, or if you want to improve it alittle bit, you are showing that you want to put your own mark on everything and to make it yours. Check your ego.Avoid this if you can.

Eliminate the use of “I” from your conversations with clients. It should always be “We.” Always.

Changing the way you talk will change the way you think. After all, the team, hence the “we,” contributed mightily to that client’sproject and its success didn’t they? To say “I” in that case doesn’t just diminish the value that the client got from your team, but italso undermines your integrity.

Your years of hard work, late nights and risk-taking may never get recognized. But which is more important to you – recognition orsuccess? The irony is, if you give up looking for that recognition, if you take a backseat role instead of the front seat, you may findpeople will be more interested in just how you got to this place – and you may find the recognition and appreciation you have beenmissing all these years.

For Further Reading:

Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolveby Jim Collinsfrom the Harvard Business Review July/Aug 2005

The Death of the Charismatic Leader (And the Birth of an Architect)By Jim Collinsfirst published in INC magazine October 1997

Like what you’ve read so far in The Business Owner’s Champion:6 Winning Practices to Build Your Nerve and your Business?There’s plenty more!

In the chapters that follow, author Brad Farrisaddresses the six practices that can help youbuild your confidence, which in turn can helpyou build your business. Confidence is what getsyou up in the morning. It’s what makes themagic happen in front of a client or prospect.Confidence gives prospects the confidence tobuy, and it gives your team members theinspiration to do great work. It attracts peoplewho will want to help you. It allows you tofocus on success, instead of all the reasons youmight find for failure.

How do you develop your confidence as abusiness owner? It requires a combination ofsix practices that will lead not only to aprofitable business, but to an added perk –!ifyour business is running smoothly, your lifeoutside of the business can stand to improveas well.!

Now it’s your turn to show some confidence,the confidence to keep going on this journey.

Buy the whole book nowfor just $24.79

It will take less than an hour to read, but you’llbe reaping the rewards for years to come.!

Buy The Business Owner’sChampion now.With a money-back guarantee,there’s nothing to lose –but plenty to gain!

Some highlights from theremaining chapters:Farris offers empathy …

“What business owners really feel is fear – fear that theycan’t build a business that they love, filled with a team ofpeople whom they respect and whom earn them a fairreturn on their risk. This fear debilitates them, causingthem to make a series of other fear-related missteps intheir businesses.”

… real-world scenarios …

“No one appreciates how hard it was to get here! Mypeople are just walking in here and they haven’t provenanything. Don’t they know they have to earn this?”

… some “tough love” …

“Oh, you must be so miserable! You have hired everyincompetent person in the whole industry, and to prove ityou let each of them fail catastrophically, and then YOUsaved the day by working extra hard. It’s like this is yoursentence, your fate. If I were in your place, I would becrying!”

… but most of all, direction …

“As you move from an individual contributor to amanager and leader, more and more of your time is goingto be spent with people and less and less with tasks. Youwill spend your time planning and coordinating work thatothers will be completing. That’s called leverage; yourplanning and knowledge enables the work of severalothers.”

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The Business Owner’s Champion by Brad Farris

www.anchoradvisors.comAbout the AuthorA N C H O R A D V I S O R S

About the Author:

Brad FarrisPrincipal, Anchor Advisors

As principal advisor of Anchor Advisors,Brad Farris has spent the last 9 plus yearsworking with over 100 businesses andbusiness owners to find new levels ofgrowth and success. Prior to joiningAnchor Advisors, Brad spent over 10years managing business units with salesof $2 million to $25 million for a privatelyheld conglomerate. During that timeperiod, Brad built and led teamsconducting product-developmentprojects, mergers and acquisitions,strategic planning processes, as well asquality and efficiency improvements.

Brad is married with 5 children and livesin Chicago, Illinois.

Find Brad on the web at Linkedin orfollow him at Twitter.com/blfarris orwww.facebook.com/anchoradvisors

Brad would like to acknowledge theinvaluable assistance of BridgetIngebrigtsen of Write on Command whoedited and rewrote this book. Withouther contribution, this work would nothave been possible. The whole team atAnchor Advisors, Ltd. contributed theirideas and encouragement, withparticular contributions from StacyFrench Reynolds, Kyra Cavanaugh andJulie Roth. But it is our clients whocontributed the most; their stories,struggles and successes all shaped theideas that appeared here. Thank You.

The Business Owner’s Championby Brad FarrisPublished by Anchor Advisors, Ltd.©2010 Brad Farris

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The Business Owner’s Champion by Brad Farris

www.anchoradvisors.comAbout Anchor AdvisorsA N C H O R A D V I S O R S

Anchor Advisors, Ltd is a Chicago basedteam of advisors dedicated toadvancing the state-of-the-art in theleadership of founder-led businesses.

Anchor Advisors works with businessfounders with 10 to 200 employees whohave seen growth and success in theirbusiness, but need to develop systemsand processes so that decisions can bemade at a lower level of theorganization, freeing the business ownerto monitor the results and apply theirtalents where they are needed most.

Developing these systems allows thebusiness to grow beyond the businessowner’s personal efforts by creating afully-functioning middle-managementlayer; often resulting in 30% to 50%growth. These systems also make thebusiness less dependent on the owner’spersonal efforts, allowing more freedomand flexibility for the owner and creatinga high valuation if the owner decides tosell the business later.

Ways you and your company can connect withAnchor Advisors, Ltd

* Sign up for our FREE monthly newsletter athttp://www.anchoradvisors.com/pages/sign_up_for_business_wisdom/26.php

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* Join one of our roundtable groups either in person or on-line.More information at www.anchoradvisors.com/pages/peer_groups/84.php

* Contact us about a consulting engagementhttp://www.anchoradvisors.com/pages/contact/7.php

* Telephone: 773-282-7677

About Anchor Advisors, Ltd.

Anchor Advisors, Ltd.5366 N Elston Ave Suite 203Chicago, IL 60630

Call 773-282-7677www.anchoradvisors.com

A N C H O R A D V I S O R S