Employment

Have You Thanked a Business Owner Lately?

November 29, 2018 By kwmccarthy

The small business owner (aka solo owner, solopreneur, SOHO, or solo) is the unsung hero of modern society. Their pursuit of a dream is epic, daring, and brave. Small businesses dot the business landscape, and in the years to come more people will turn to starting a business for additional income or to replace a lost job or create one. Profit making is alive and we all benefit from the efforts of solopreneurs.

What does it mean to be in business? Being in business is a high and noble calling!

I love what the opportunity to start and run a business brings in terms of

creativity
production
value-adding
improved standards of living
funding of worthy causes

People who start businesses have my respect. Regardless of whether they’re starting a home-based business, a family business, or a high-growth/high-potential venture, they’re pursuing a dream with boldness.

Small business people are heroes. Every business starts as a small business. Business owners are to the Knowledge Age what the farmers were at the turn of the 20th Century: men and women who are willing to lay the mantle of responsibility on their shoulders and pull the greater load in hopes of a greater gain.

Business owners risk much in hopes of gaining much and giving more.

Certainly, profits and a better lifestyle are part of the anticipated gain. But there’s more. The measured ability to create and control one’s life, schedule, and vocational pursuits is the height of healthy individualism.

Truth be told, if you want to mature and grow into a better person—start a business! Government doesn’t build businesses, people do.

Find a need and fill it! That is the mantra of the business owner.

Like ants scouring a picnic ground for food, entrepreneurs search the marketplace for a business opportunity or find gaps of need in the market through inventive initiative. All types of businesses are launched—service, retail, professional, manufacturing, industrial, and, the hot item today, an internet-based business. Opportunity abounds!

Business owners do more than employ people.

Business owners create jobs when they manage their businesses prudently. Most of the business owners I know are generous with those in their charge.

For many, employment is simply another form of ministry.

I’m not talking charity here. No, we’re talking about

mentoring and development of others
providing opportunities
raising up leaders
entrusting managers
training the unskilled

Business owners see, find, and act on the good in others because it is simply good for business and, even better, for life.

Who’s typically volunteering? Look around and notice.

You’ll find small business owners serving on boards, volunteering for coaching, taking their lunch hours to serve the poor, being active in a church, driving Meals on Wheels, and more. These are the backbone of society. They’ve chosen a different path from their corporate counterparts who must manage vacation days, punch a clock, or otherwise account for their time to their employers in terms of ROI, not altruism.

So do this: Thank a business owner today for improving your community and life.

As you prepare to purchase gifts or engage services, make the special effort to support a local small business person. Investing your hard earned cash into a sale in their business recycles into your community in ways you may never fully grasp. Be thankful for them, for you know not their struggles and thhe hardships it takes to keep the doors open to be there for you when you need them.

———

Recommended Resource: CLARITY FOR SOLOS

My colleague and Winter Park neighbor, Adam Dudley, has written a book. I had a few sneak peeks along the way in the writing process and I really liked what I read. While our writing styles and perspectives are different, we share a heart for the plight of the solo owner.

Adam, a huge advocate of yoga, brings a rather chill, yet focused perspective to the realities of being a solo. He gets himself out of the way to care for your needs. Adam is a thoughtful coach who listens well, processes in your best interest, and then offers wise counsel. Below his peaceful nature, the wheels are spinning as he’s thinking about what you need to succeed.

CLARITY FOR SOLOS offers great advice for solo and small business owners who are confused, stuck, or unsure about what to do next. It’s available on Amazon.com. Click the image to preview it.

How’s Work?

July 17, 2018 By kwmccarthy

How’s work?

There’s a question we often get asked. The typical response is something like “Fine” or “OK.”

But is it really?

For many people work translates into a job—a mere means of provision to support the family. A steady income doesn’t mean a steady life.

Work isn’t necessarily fulfilling or rewarding at a deeper level.

It is just a paycheck on the way to the weekend where real life is lived. In today’s economy, it is easy to look around and feel lucky just to have the regular income.

A sad reflection of this reality is the current trend of companies offering work-life balance programs in the workplace. But work-life balance is a myth. These programs, regardless of how well intended they are, reveal a sad reality on both the employer and the employee side.

Our lives and our work are so dangerously enmeshed that we need help separating ourselves from our work.

We’re workaholics in jobs that don’t really matter to us all that much. In other words, fear of loss motivates us more than what we have to gain. Too many of us are resigned to an unhealthy settling for work-life balance as an easy compromise over developing a healthy work-life integration. Have we just given up hope?

Isn’t all this talk of work-life balance code for “my job is sucking the very life out of me, but I need it to pay the bills, so I guess I will die trying to make it work”?

Fortunately, someone in HR has figured out that if we can equip you to learn work-life balance you won’t burn out or die as quickly on the job. This means you’ll keep being productive and won’t be such a drain on the company health care benefits program for a while longer.

Is it just me or is there something horribly skewed in this picture?

What if life and work are true blessings where work is a high and noble expression of our calling—and a steady income? Is this possible?

Can life and work be meaningfully integrated instead of separated and balanced?

Tell me if I’m wrong.

Why Do You Work?

May 31, 2018 By kwmccarthy

How many times do you say, “I’m off to work”?

Does saying that conjure up emotions of joy and excitement, or do your teeth clench and does your stomach churn and turn?

Your answer to this question goes to the heart of your life, health, and well-being in your spirit.

Are you one of the fortunate people who loves their work and has skillfully integrated (not “achieved” a work–life balance) the lines between work and life?
Have you become so fully integrated that you are on-purpose in business and in life? Are you compromising or being conditioned for your next great assignment?
Are you selling your soul or sailing along on-purpose?

Lots of questions for you to ponder.

Does thinking about this sound like work to you?

Sooner or later you will either answer the questions or pay the price for not answering them.

Got a comment to make? Go for it below. Let me hear from you.

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

What Is Your Cost of Pride?

May 10, 2018 By kwmccarthy

We businesspersons tend to be an independent breed.

We take pride in our work ethic, standards for excellence, and accomplishments. This is often what it takes to start a business, to persevere in the challenges, and then thrive.

There’s often (not always) a downside to this self-reliant trait.

This On-Purpose Business Minute invites you to consider the cost of pride especially in light of the subtitle to The On-Purpose Business Person: Do More Of What You Do Best More Profitably.

How do you know if your pride is costing you?

After watching today’s On-Purpose Business Minute, invest 159 more seconds to assess yourself with the following 10 questions:

Here are the 10 questions about pride:

Do you describe yourself as a helper?
Are you a low-maintenance friend or employee?
Are you apt to say, “It’s just as fast to do it myself“?
Do you believe “If I want something done right, I have to do it myself”?
Are you one who hates to burden other people with your problems?
Are you the person most people turn to for advice, wisdom, and counsel?
Do you find yourself being more and more burned out and then bitter towards others?
Are you easily frustrated that others can’t do what you do as fast or as well?
Do you say, “I can’t afford to hire the expertise I need, so I have to learn how to do it myself”?
Do you say, “I know what I need to do. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet”?

The more questions you answered with a “yes,” the more likely it is that your self-reliance is costing you more than you imagine. You are pushing people away from helping you and shouldering too much of the burden yourself.

Determine your cost of pride.

It could include job loss, slow business growth, long hours, stress, high turnover, ill health, strained relationships, being passed over for a job/raise or a hundred other costs. Do a quick assessment of your cost of pride. You may be stunned.

Share your assessment with a trusted advisor or friend. Invite them to identify what you’ve missed or where you are blind. Ask them for their opinion, be quiet, and avoid being defensive.

The simplest and most comprehensive action to take is to adopt and live into the On-Purpose Approach of Doing More of What You Do Best More Profitably.

Keep this adage in the forefront of your mind. You will prosper!

Do You Have A Business Blunder To Share?

April 12, 2018 By kwmccarthy

Image of baby. Putting your foot in your mouth is only cute with babies! — “This sucks!”

Now and then we’re inclined to suffer by inserting our foot in our mouth with negative consequences! It is cute when a baby does it, but not so pretty when we’re adults. In the world of business, these gaffes can cost you a sale, a client, an account, a job, or—heaven forbid—your business.

Hopefully, however, you can look back with a sense of humor as I can in this On-Purpose Business Minute.

Some blunders can be tragic, and it really isn’t a laughing matter.

Regardless, every blunder holds a lesson (or two or three). Some may even hold blessings when we search long and hard enough and the healing is complete.

As you’ll see in my video, time tends to lend perspective and insight that pays dividends later in our life and career. After watching this On-Purpose Business Minute, please share your business blunder and the lesson(s) you learned. You will help us all by not being off-purpose.

Are You A Purpose Driven Person?

March 20, 2018 By kwmccarthy

Today, let’s explore the difference between being purpose driven and purpose called.

Let’s start by defining our terms.

What does it mean to be driven?

Mules and horses are driven by the coachman or whip, as he’s called. For many of us it is too easy to get on a track at work and in life, lean into the yoke, and just keep pushing forward day after day trusting that in the end, it all works out for the best. Is this a healthy way to live?

One day we will reflect and look back over days, years, or decades of being a driven person. We’ve been pushed from behind, compelled to do something that may not be the right fit for us. Often we’re motivated by influences outside of ourselves. Such extrinsic motivation works for a while but it is hard to sustain.

To be called is to answer to a higher power.

It is ours to respond to the calling or ignore it. Most of us think of clergy as having a calling. In fact, every person has a calling, a purpose, a design and gifting that is uniquely fitted into a neat package called YOU!

We are not purpose driven. We are purpose called.

Instead of being driven, what if you were leaning into your calling? It may be the same load, but we’re choosing to accept the burden differently.

Here’s a secret about your calling.

You have to be still and listen. It is a calling, not a shout or a holler or a scream. It is subtle, gentle, a small still voice in the wilderness that is never demanding or pushy.

Implied in being called, is being called by name. In a manner of speaking, your 2-word purpose is your spiritual name. So when you hear or recognize it, you know you’re being called and you can answer it.

God calls us by name.

Purpose is one’s identity or name that God uses to call us. We then offer a response of yes or no. When we say yes to our purpose, we are being on-purpose or answering our call.

Here’s a great article on the difference between a job, career, and vocation from Fast Company magazine founder, Alan M. Webber. I remember reading this article in 1998 and nodding my head in agreement.

Watch today’s On-Purpose Minute. You may find it alarmingly disturbing to your “well-ordered life.” Perhaps you’ll find it amazingly comforting as you pursue a calling that seemingly defies logic and reason to everyone except you.

Have you heard about Type A Personalities? These men and women have traits in their personalities that thrive on stress, pressure, multitasking, and … (drum roll) premature death due to heart attacks, high blood pressure, and other stress-induced diseases. Being a driven person and exhibiting Type A behaviors are related but it need not be a death sentence.

Are you ready to begin the cure from being purpose driven?

Here it is: it has nothing to do with your personality—Theory A, B, X, or Y. It has to do with your worldview. You’ve adopted or adapted to a driven personality style.

The cure is to recognize that you are called, not driven. Your purpose forms the words of your identity by which you are called and, once known, you are better capable of recognizing and appropriately responding to your call.

Please let me hear from you. Share your story in the comments section below and you’ll be putting voice to your thoughts and desires. More importantly, others will read your post and glean insights and better self-awareness. You can make a difference this way that can alter the course of another person for good.

Be On-Purpose (called, not driven)!

Kevin

P.S. I’m often asked what I think about Pastor Rick Warren’s best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life, which came out many years after the original release of The On-Purpose Person. First, no he didn’t “steal” my stuff. I get that question all the time. Second, we use purpose differently. He uses purpose to describe what are really the five missions of the church. He hasn’t asked me to re-title the book, but if asked, it would more properly be named “The Mission-Driven Life.”

Is Your Career In The Midst of A Tough Shift? (part 2)

February 15, 2018 By kwmccarthy

Career Advice?

Early in my career a well-intended business person told me, “Keep your personal life and your business life separated.” At the time, I remember questioning that advice. Perhaps if I had pursued a career in Corporate America that Industrial Age advice might have served me well.

I ignored that advice and followed my heart with the guidance of my head.

Today, I wholeheartedly believe just the opposite is not only true but the healthiest approach to living life and having well-being in your person, work, and relationships.

I’ve been a business owner for over 50 years.

It started with selling candy on the school bus. I tended to eat my profits. My older brother did collections and my parents’ dental plan covered the cavities. Heading down and staying on a path of independent business ownership eventually led me to be in the business of helping clients integrate their work and life to be on-purpose. For over 25 years, I’ve been sharing that message with anyone who would listen. Today, the world is ready and hearing this message.

But what if your life feels compartmentalized, scattered, and struggling with a Tough Shift? Now what? The disintegration of life and work may be an effective (and necessary) survival tool for working ill-fitted jobs, but is dying better than thriving?

Integration of life and work is where it’s at.

On-Purpose can help you to live into your greater calling and find your happiness.

Put on-purpose business principles and planning to use in your personal and work life. As a business advisor my focus is principally on company growth through improving the business acumen and leadership capacity of the people within a well-defined business strategy. We help our clients create On-Purpose Business Plans. You can do the same for your career by creating a life and career plan, especially leveraging ONPURPOSE.me, the online 2-word purpose statement discovery tool.

Over the years, many a client has come to me seeking life and career advice.

Usually, the call comes when they’re in the midst of a tough shift—job loss or job dissatisfaction. Most of us struggle with time management, but that isn’t the underlying issue. We’re fighting financial worries, but that isn’t the true problem either. We’re trying to steady a shaken confidence, but that isn’t the problem.

The real problem is we haven’t identified what’s most important … really important–willing-to-pay-the-price-important.

We take on too much.
We spread ourselves thin.
We never develop our true strengths, passion, and purpose.

The idea of spreading our risks actually compounds it. Try excelling at something you’re not called to do. No amount of extra time, energy, and effort can produce a truly satisfying result. We’re simply off-purpose. What a waste!

If you find yourself in the midst of a tough shift, such as out of work, underemployed, on-the-fence about your future, or downright unhappy in your present job, then On-Purpose^® is a fun, workable process designed to free you to be true to who you are.

Here are some suggested resources:

Read The On-Purpose Person.
Run Want Lists and Tournaments to get very clear about what’s most immediately important. Use The Discovery Guide free preview.
Mary Tomlinson rocks as an On-Purpose Personal Leadership Coach
Hire a coach to help you. There are plenty of talented, capable “life coaches” available. Mary Tomlinson is delightfully exceptional at walking clients through the entire On-Purpose personal planning process using On-Purpose Peace. We also have other recommendations to On-Purpose Pros as life and career coaches.
Make appointments for your dream! If you don’t, no one else will. You’ll always be subject to fulfilling the dreams of others while your dream dissipates through the days spent instead of invested.

Go into this planning process with a focus on your life and you’ll come out with a life and career plan that informs your vocational aspirations.

Smooth out the tough shift and step your life into a higher gear—on-purpose!

Is Your Career In The Midst of A Tough Shift™?

February 8, 2018 By kwmccarthy

Job loss, underemployment, a part-time job instead of a full-time job, less pay for less rewarding work. Or perhaps you just don’t like the job you have. You are in the midst of or contemplating a Tough Shift™.

Don’t go through it alone! And, you’re not alone.

Stock market volatility, technology changes, and the gig economy might have you considering other career options.

When the U.S. economy catches a cold, the whole world sneezes! This unfortunate effect has many people spinning and caught in a round of chaos and confusion. Couple this with technology changes and the personal fallout from job loss and underemployment—it all amounts to a serious worldwide tough shift.

Change is never easy, but change under duress is even tougher.

Fear, worry, doubt, and anxiety creep into us. This affects us at some profound subconscious level and begins to be communicated. Our nervous vibe causes others to view us as desperate and risky. This perpetuates our greatest fears from the tough shift.

Is now the time to explore starting a business?

It can be an intimidating undertaking but there are many options to explore out there. For decades I’ve worked with business start-ups to design, advise, and guide the growth and development of the business plan and leader.

Don’t go it alone.

Find a business advisor or mentor who can see clearly into your blind spots. Yes, you’ll invest a few dollars, but you’ll gain time to market and create a more profitable and better working operation. There are no short-cuts to business creation, but why add unnecessary delays and detours out of your own inexperience?

So while you’re looking for a job you can be creating one, too … for yourself. Who knows, you may never have to go to work for someone else again!

This On-Purpose Business Minute offers some simple and calming insights.