Posts in Promotion Tuesday

Your thoughts on planning

Business Coaching Business Consulting Leadership Meandering Genius Promotion Tuesday Strategic Planning Think Big

Businesses fail for many reasons. However, at the nexus of almost every reason — there was no plan.

Business owners know they need a plan, but 9 times out of 10 don’t have one.

Even for those 10% that do have a plan, most (70%) fail to achieve the strategic changes desired.

As I write my book, Think Big, Take Small Steps, help me see if these numbers are accurate.

I welcome your thoughts on strategic planning.

– Too difficult
– A waste of time
– Too ridged and not agile
– Don’t see the importance
– Takes too much time
– Don’t know how
– …

Your thoughts and engagement are much appreciated!!!

#business #success #incubator #coaching #consultants
#strategicplanning #thinkbig

Volunteer Leadership

Business Coaching Business Consulting Leadership Meandering Genius Performance Measurement Promotion Tuesday Stuff Tips

Want to be a great leader…learn to lead volunteers.

In 1992, a mentor of mine, in the Air Force, got me involved in a volunteer leadership role with a professional military organization.

I completely failed in the position.

But, I didn’t quit. I stuck with that organization as an active leader through 2008 (my retirement). In fact, I’m still a life member and assist other leaders now and again.

When I started out as a volunteer leader, I knew nothing about volunteering or leadership — I was just a young junior enlisted member.

What I learned … unimaginable.

Today, I run two nonprofit organizations that my wife and I founded. We keep them small and serve niche needs in our community.

It’s our way we give back constantly to our community. Better than giving to a faceless charity with zero control on how your money and efforts are spent, huh?

Want to learn how to lead?

Lead volunteers.

Want to learn how to lead an organization.

Become a volunteer leader of a nonprofit.

The perfect place to start is Toastmasters International. Their nonprofit program has a leadership and speaking tracks that teaches you how to be a great leader.

What have been your volunteer experiences?

#success #incubator #business #coaching #consultants
#leadership #volunteering

Did you plan for COVID?

Business Coaching Business Consulting Change Management Leadership Meandering Genius Promotion Tuesday Strategic Planning Stuff Tips

Pre-COVID. Boss to Employee: “We don’t have time to plan right now — we need to get work done.

Post-COVID. Boss to employee: “We need to plan right now, or we won’t have any work to get done.

Planning…

That must be one of the scariest words in the Business Dictionary.

Why?

Because, so many shy away from it.

By this Friday, we are expecting it to start raining here in San Antonio TX. It’s forecasted to rain for the next seven days.

That means flooding.

I turned to my wife last night, after looking that the weather report, and said, “We’ll need to get the Flooding Checklist out.”

Is just one of our ‘plans’ that makes sure we are as prepared for the worst as possible.

You do that when you run a business. Ours is a 100-acre horse farm with 40 horses on property.

We didn’t have a “Pandemic Checklist.”

But, almost three months ago, we did pull out our Disaster Preparedness Plan and developed a list of actions.

These actions kept our business moving forward and helped since I was laid off on April 20th.

Did you plan for COVID?

Were you ready for COVID?

What are you doing Right Now about planning for the next crisis.

#success #incubator #business #coaching #consultants
#planning

Knowledge Management During Crisis

Business Coaching Business Consulting Change Management Leadership Meandering Genius Promotion Tuesday

Have you discovered the importance of strong knowledge management as companies laid off employees and the remaining employees all started working from home?

You might be thinking, what the heck is knowledge management?

Knowledge management is a process of defining, structuring, retaining, and sharing the information, knowledge, and experience of employees within your organization.

Normally, it’s important because it boosts efficiency, effectiveness, and decision-making ability in a company.

Now, more so than ever, companies are finding that knowledge management has become almost paramount.

Why?

Mainly because of two things:

1.  Employees have, for the most part, been forced to work remotely — working at home.

2.  Several companies have been forced to layoff employees fairly quickly to protect their cash flow.

But really why?

Mainly because most company file systems are completely disorganized, employees have files saved haphazardly in systems as well as their own personal locations, some still have paper files and paper-based processes today.

Thus, it’s extremely hard right now to find information that you are looking for.

How is your knowledge management?  Has it become a major issue in your company?

#success #incubator #business #coaching #consultants

That’s your marketing plan?

Books Business Coaching Meandering Genius Performance Measurement Promotion Tuesday Publishing Speaking Tips

🤔 Are you considering writing a book? 📖 Start with marketing it! 📢

On Facebook, this morning, I saw someone post, “I just published my book, can someone tell me how to market it.”

Too late! ⏰

If you are considering writing a book — I mean it’s a twinkle in your eye — start marketing your book first!

If you wait…your too late!

The first step is to define and hyper-focus on your audience — write the book for them.

Build your social media connections around that audience and develop qualified leads as you write.

Close to final draft, start building excitement with updates, videos, and snippets. Pull pre-release readers to test your book. Send it to someone influential for the Foreword.

Have a pre-release party and make the book available for pre-sale and become a bestseller prior to release.

Have big social fanfare, public service announcements, presentations, and book signings at final publication.

How do I know all this? I did the same as that person in 2012 when I published One Dead Marine, my first book.

#success #incubator #business #coaching #consultants
Crosscutter Enterprises
www.crossctr.com

Connections on Social Media

Blogging Business Coaching Meandering Genius Promotion Tuesday Stuff Tips

🧐 How do you grow your connections 👥 professionally on social media? 🤔

What do you mean, “professionally?”

Not all social media connections are created equal. Aside from friends, family, and coworkers, you should pick and choose wisely when building your network.

Often, we simply start adding connections from the recommendation list the platform provides us. It’s easy, but not the best way.

You want to be connected to people that actively use the social media platform. These are the people that engage on topics that you like to talk about.

Find a person, business page, or group that has a lot of connections, is active on the platform, and is aligned to your train of thought.

Find a post from them with a lot of engagement (Likes and Comments). These people obviously like the same thing you like and they are active on the platform.

These are the people you want to send connection requests to.

Chances are they will also engage with you. And, that’s the kind of professional connections you really want.

How do you connect with the right people on social media?

#success #incubator #business #coaching #consultants
Crosscutter Enterprises
www.crossctr.com

Stuck in the Mud?

Business Coaching Business Consulting Innovation Meandering Genius Performance Measurement Process Improvement Promotion Tuesday Strategic Planning

What do we do when we’re driving in the rain and get stuck in mud? At first we rock back and forth, saying, “I got this,” and we often succeed in getting more stuck.

Then we get help to push us out…

Not just any help, right?

If we saw a couple of young kids on the corner, they might be willing, but they’ll just get covered in mud trying and you’ll be more stuck.

No, we look for big burly guys to push us out.

But then along comes this one guy with a big truck. See, this guy…he knows everyone gets stuck here in the mud, so he hangs out with his truck when it rains. He’s not the biggest and baddest guy out there, but he has experience and the right tools. Unfortunately, he also charges a lot to get them unstuck.

Little does everyone know that this guy also has a store before you get to this section of road. There is a big sign out front that says, “All Season Tires For Sale! Helps Prevent Getting Stuck in Mud!”

No one ever buys these inexpensive tires from him, but almost anyone will pay for him high dollar to pull them out of the mud.

This is how business planning works. It’s fixing your roof when the sun is shining and its bringing in the expert who has years of experience at fixing roofs.

You Are Not Alone!

Business Coaching Business Consulting Meandering Genius Promotion Tuesday

Being an entrepreneur can feel like this.

You’re stepping from the light, into a very dark room.

It also can be the complete opposite…its like you just walked through the gates of a circus and you’re being hit from all directions–most just want to take your money.

This is why having an experienced and knowledgeable business coach and consultant is extremely helpful.

Crosscutter Enterprises is your personal and professional business coach and consultant with 30 years’ experience. Your success is my business.

I guide you in the dark, protect you from the circus, and handle the tough stuff!

You can’t afford not to have a coach! Email me today at John.Knotts@crossctr.com and let’s discuss your business success!

Planning, Communication, Marketing, Leadership, Management, Improvement, Training, and Facilitation.

Coach vs Consultant

Business Coaching Business Consulting Innovation Leadership Meandering Genius Organizational Commitment Performance Measurement Process Improvement Promotion Tuesday Strategic Communication Strategic Planning

When people ask me what I do, I tell them that I am a Personal and Professional Business Coach and Consultant.

But isn’t a Coach and Consultant essentially the same thing? I don’t believe so.

If you know who Tony Robbins is, you’ll appreciate his breakdown:
https://www.tonyrobbins.com/coaching/coaching-vs-consulting/?gclid=CjwKCAjwiN_mBRBBEiwA9N-e_r9iYZdJVc4U2jQgJDs5KXqGQZ_dbrTFKCCX6FRZ0iD0CiNanUYsQBoCIl8QAvD_BwE

However, here is my simple definition of differences…

A Coach guides and advises you on taking action to solve problems, overcome obstacles, and achieve success.

A Consultant takes the action for you.

It boils down to two things: Capacity and Capability. Capacity means that you have the time and resources to take the action yourself. Capability means that you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to take the action yourself.

You coach someone when they have the Capacity and Capability. When they don’t have one of the two, you step in as a Consultant.