August 2011

If You Don’t Like Planning Your Business …

by Tim Berry on August 31, 2011

Do you like planning a vacation? Do you book the flights, reserve the hotels, and look at the restaurants?Does having that plan lock you in, or cut into your flexibility?
Do you like planning a party? Do you plan the meals, drinks, entertainment, and who’s coming? Does having that plan lock you in, or cut into your flexibility?
In your business, do you plan events? Marketing? Product launches? Meetings? Does planning these things improve them? Does it improve the results?
Are you in business for yourself because you like what you do? Is your business supposed to make you happier? Do you like working in your business?

If you answered yes to some, most, or all of those questions, then let me ask you these two related questions:

Do you think about your business a lot? Do you care about doing it better, improving it, making it better?
Do you plan your business?

The disconnect here is that too many people think of “the business plan” as a daunting unpleasant task, and its results as a document. I say planning your business is something you should like to do, but it shouldn’t be as hard as the big document. It should be about strategy, milestones, activities, responsibilities, and projected sales, profits, and cash flow. It’s not a document, it’s what’s going to happen.

If you don’t like planning your business, keep your day job.

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Build a Business Not a Job.

by Susan Solovic on August 29, 2011

MYTOP is an acronym I created to describe a key strategy business strategy. I’ll explain what it means and how it works momentarily. But first, I need to preface why the MYTOP theory is a critical element for business success and sustainability.

With unemployment rates at unprecedented levels, more and more Americans are finding the best path to a new job is creating it themselves. As a result, we’re seeing an increase in the number of self-employed individuals. Whether you label them as consultants, independent contractors, or freelancers, they are in business for themselves and by themselves.

But I ask, “Have these people really started a business?” I would argue that they have not. There is a difference between creating a job for yourself and starting a business. When you create a job for yourself, once you stop doing what you are doing, the business — or income — stops too. By contrast, when you establish a business, the company eventually becomes bigger than you alone and can survive without your daily contributions.

Now to explain the MYTOP theory. MYTOP stands for Multiply Yourself Through Other People. In order to build a sustainable business, your service or product offering needs to be easily taught to and followed by others. Otherwise, you will always be “the business.”

At this point in my life, I own and operate two companies: Susan Solovic Media and ItsYourBiz.com. Susan Solovic Media is all about me. It’s a business I launched because I have certain business initiatives that are personal to me. While I have three part-time employees working with me in the company, it will never be a sustainable business model because without me, there is no product.

However, ItsYourBiz.com is a company I helped launch that has the operational processes in place to become a sustainable business with a clear exit strategy. My partners and I wanted to build something with value beyond the three of us. So today, ItsYourBiz.com is a strong organization supported by a team of talented individuals who know how to provide a consistently quality product to our market — without my day-to-day operational involvement.

Why is this distinction so critical? Because building a business is hard work. It’s a major commitment of your time, financial resources, and intellectual capital. If you are “the business,” when you want to retire or sell the company, it will have little if any value. Without you, there is no business.

Conversely, a business organization that’s functional without you has ongoing value. Your exit strategy may be to pass your company on to your heirs. I’m seeing many businesses continuing with second- and third-generation ownership. Another possible exit strategy is to give your employees an opportunity to buy you out. Finally, you can always sell to an unrelated third-party or competitor.

There’s no right or wrong answer to these business scenarios. Some people are happy with a consistent income stream and don’t want to grow their business beyond that point. However, it’s important to recognize the limitations of that decision early in your business development. I’ve met many dissatisfied entrepreneurs who were unable to sell their businesses or practices because they allowed themselves to become the business.

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You can pre-order Susan’s new book, It’s Your Biz, right now!

Check out her website for some fun extra’s too!

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That’s What Tim Said…

by Chelle Parmele on August 27, 2011

Did you miss any of Tim’s great posts from the last week? Never fear, we’ve got them listed out below. Click to your hearts content!

Ideas: Evolutionary Computing and Internet As Brain

Call it coincidence, serendipity, synchronicity, or just random, but last week I was accidentally exposed to two seemingly unrelated ideas that ended up seeming very related to me. And they gave me a fascinating whack on the side of the head. I thought artificial intelligence had run its course, but computers that learn could be much more important.

5 Questions About Power vs. Control vs. Results

Have you ever looked at the difference between power and control in leadership and management? Here’s what I’m guessing.Power and control are quite different and sometimes in conflict. The more control you have, the less power. Does that make sense? I’m just guessing here, not studying the literature.

When Your Gut Screws Up Your Analysis, Shut Up and Listen

True story: my wife and I wanted to move but we weren’t sure where. In true MBA fashion, I set up a spreadsheet to compare candidate locations for a series of factor including outdoor sports, weather, smog, traffic, lifestyle, public education, crime, and so on.

Long-Term Successes Don’t Leave Out Investors

For an investor in a startup, return on investment is as simple as writing a check now and depositing some related money later. And since startups are risky, you’d expect to hit big when you win because you’re so much more likely to lose. Does that make sense?

What You Call Management I Call Ownership

I was shocked when my friend said his bosses complained he “took too much ownership” as a department manager in a 20-employee service business. They cut his role in the company, and bruised his ego. All the time I was running my own business, 20+ years, what I wanted most from my team was ownership. And his bosses were complaining.

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Parking Space or Small Business?

by Chelle Parmele on August 26, 2011

Photo from Flickr User JeffK

I read this story on Huffington Post about Charles Mysak and his curbside bookselling business. The video embedded with the article is from a student filmmaker who was fulfilling a documentary assignment for class so you need to keep that in mind when watching it. (Also an advisory for some salty language here and there!)

The first part of the video and Charles story is what I’m most interested in. (The story of his law career and what brought him to this point in his life is interesting, but not for this particular subject.)

Here are a few facts about the business side of his story.

Charles pays the parking meter $36 dollars in quarters each morning to keep his car parked on a busy New York City street. He admits in the video that after a drive from his home in New Jersey, it takes him around 4 hours to set up. If he arrives around 6:15, (which is what he says in the video) that means he isn’t open for business until 10:30 am or so. We can assume that he stays open until at least 6:00 pm or possibly later. Then another 4 hours to repack the books and magazines back into his car and drive back home.

He has to battle the birds in the trees over his stand, the dogs in the street who do their business sometimes to the destruction of books he needs to sell to stay in business. He has to survive not only the cold of winter but the rain of spring and the heat of summer. He has to battle parking tickets, disgruntled flower planters and any number of other various obstacles.

And he’s been doing this for 11 years now.

11 years.

My first question after reading this was why? How much profit can he really be seeing with this type of business model?

On the plus side, his costs are probably super low. Let’s call the $36 dollars “rent”. That’s $1,080 a month (approximately) without any taxes, insurance or utilities. In downtown NYC. I would assume he gets his books from library sales or wholesalers. His next highest costs would have to be the gas to and from his “shop”. But unless I’m missing something. That’s it.

So is he a small business? Or, as some of the comments suggest, is he a vagrant who has found a way around paying taxes?

Would you have a different opinion of him if he was standing beside a food cart selling hot dogs?

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Upping Your PR

by Cidnee Stephen on August 25, 2011

Have you ever opened up the paper or turned on the TV only to see your competitor being quoted as an expert? Are there times when they are up there speaking to your target audience, when you think, “I know more than this person. I should be up on that stage!”

Well you’re right. If you are in fact exceptional at what you do, have a ton of experience or are sitting on a leading edge breakthrough it’s time to start adding some PR to the mix.

What exactly is Public Relations?

According to Wikipedia, it is “The practice of managing communication between an organization and its publics. PR provides an organization or individual exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that provide a third-party endorsement and do not involve a direct payment.”

That’s right, public relations is when a third party endorses your public interest and news stories for FREE! It differs from a referral which refers your products and services and differs from advertising because you don’t pay for it. But it can be one of your strongest tactics for attracting and closing business.

Who are your Publics?

Typically a small business owner is trying to position themselves as an industry leader to:

Customers
Prospects
Circles of Influence (Peers, Media, Strategic Partners, Industry leaders)
The general public, and possibly
Investors and/or employees

There are 4 key activities you can leverage to reach these publics. Some or all of these may apply depending on your personality, speaking skills and level of expertise. They are:

Speaking online (webinars, videos) and offline (conferences, associations)
Writing online (blogs, online publications) and offline(magazines, newspapers, newsletters)
Working with the media
Social media engagement

Let’s have a look at each of these.

Speaking

Unless you are looking to become a professional speaker, speaking should be a way for you to capture leads (see Speak for Leads). Speaking allows an audience to not only get to know you, but to determine if they like what you have to say and if they think you really know your stuff. If you are worried about your speaking skills, look into public speaking courses through associations like Toastmasters. Chances are there are plenty of industry and special interest groups that can benefit from your wisdom and a lot of stressed out events people who will be relieved to have a great speaker for their audiences. Speaking can take many forms. It’s not only about being invited to speak to a group live. It can also include recording yourself with a webcam or smartphone and posting it on YouTube, your site and other company’s sites. You can be a guest on a webinar, or blog radio show. The possibilities are endless and the other great bonus is, it provides you with new content you can use for our next section…..

Writing

You’re hearing it everywhere now, and I know I keep saying it over and over. Content is king. For service based companies this is how you SHOW your expertise. Even product based firms can benefit in sharing product specs, testing and demos. Start by creating your own articles for your own newsletters and posting those articles:

On your site
Via your social networks
On your blog
On article submission sites, and
Via strategic alliance channels (newsletters, sites)

Don’t shy away from approaching free magazines and publications (online and offline), to see if they might like to make you a regular contributor.

Working with the media

The first key step to working with the media is to identify exactly who you should be talking to. This means you need to start collecting the names of Newspaper reporters for relevant sections, TV and Radio Producers and editors of magazines and publications. Don’t forget those important thought leaders online as well!

Secondly start to listen and follow these media sources. Set up RSS feeds for their name in Google News Alerts, follow their blogs, connect with them on social media sites and lastly subscribe to HARO.

The third step is to start communicating with them via their blogs, social media, online press releases and through pitching them your ideas. Share new trends, an interesting angle to a topical, major event, awards or recognitions or new innovations.

Once you get coverage, you can post this on your site and share it with your networks for even more credibility power. Don’t forget to also follow up and thank them for the coverage and measure your results.

Social Media and Online

While I’ve touched on this throughout the article, you should be looking for ways to increase your own star power via Social Media. A great place to measure where you are and where you need to go is through a site called KLOUT. Find influencers in your industry and look for ways to get more engaged online. Many of today’s top experts are products of a strong online presence. It shouldn’t be an area you overlook.

Upping your PR may be adding some major to-do’s to your list or to the list of an already overworked employee, but these are important and effective actions every company should take. Assuming you are passionate about what your company does for a living, doesn’t it only seem right that you should be educating the public on the benefits you can offer to others and the problems your products or services can solve? Find a way to get it done!

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Does Every Business Plan Include a Marketing Plan? What’s the Difference?

by Tim Berry on August 24, 2011

What’s the difference between a marketing plan and a business plan? Doesn’t a business plan include a marketing plan? Why would anybody do one without the other?

Good questions, and since I get them a lot, I decided to answer them here:

A business plan covers the entire business, including overall strategy, financial plans, target markets, sales, products and services, operations, and how they all relate to each other. A marketing plan, in contrast, focuses on the marketing: marketing strategy, target markets, marketing mix, messaging, programs, etc. Cash flow is vital for a business plan, but not usually included in a marketing plan
Yes, a business plan almost always includes the marketing portion. Emphasis varies, and I’ve seen some plans that focus much more on product or service than on marketing. But those are unusual.
Lots of people do marketing plans rather than business plans because their job or their attention or their focus is on the marketing, not the whole business.

A few days ago entrepreneur.com published my 5 steps to creating a marketing plan, my most recent column there. I’m including a summary here:

Step One: Your identity as a business.

Create separate lists that identify your business’ strengths, weaknesses and goals. Put everything down and create big lists. Don’t edit or reject anything.

Then, find priorities among the bullet points. If you’ve done this right, you’ll have more than you can use, and some more important than others. Kick some of the less important bullets off the list and move the ones that are important to the top.

This sometimes requires input from your managers as well. For example, your management team thinks being conservative on spending is a weakness but you don’t. That might be something to drop off the list.

Step Two: Focus on markets.

The next list you’ll need to make outlines your business’ opportunities and threats. Think of both as external to your business — factors that you can’t control but can try to predict. Opportunities can include new markets, new products and trends that favor your business. Threats include competition and advances in technology that put you at a disadvantage.

Also make a list of invented people or organizations who serve as ideal buyers or your ideal target market. You can consider each one a persona, such as a grandmother discovering email or a college student getting his or her first credit card. These people are iconic and ideal, and stand for the best possible buyer.

Put yourself in the place of each of these ideal buyers and then think about what media he or she uses and what message would communicate your offering most effectively. Keep your identity in the back of your mind as you flesh out your target markets.

Step Three: Focus on strategy.

Now it’s time to pull your lists together. Look for the intersection of your unique identity and your target market. In terms of your business offerings, what could you drop off the list because it’s not strategic? Then think about dropping those who aren’t in your target market.

For example, a restaurant business focused on healthy, organic and fine dining would probably cater to people more in tune with green trends and with higher-than-average disposable income. So, it might rule out people who prefer eating fast-food like hamburgers and pizza, and who look for bargains.

The result of step three is strategy: Narrow your focus to what’s most in alignment with your identity and most attractive to your target market. In other words, focus on the area that is shared by all three lines in the diagram here.

Step Four: Set measurable steps.

Get down to the details that are concrete and measurable. Your marketing strategy should become a plan that includes monthly review, tracking and measurement, sales forecasts, expense budgets and non-monetary metrics for tracking progress. These can include leads, presentations, phone calls, links, blog posts, page views, conversion rates, proposals and trips, among others.

Match important tasks to people on your team and hold them accountable for their successes and failures.

Step Five: Review often and revise.

Just as with your business plan, your marketing plan should continue to evolve along with your business. Your assumptions will change, so adapt to the changing business landscape. Some parts of the plan also will work better than others, so review and revise to accommodate what you learn as you go.

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What Drives You to Bring in More Traffic?

by Dave Thomas on August 23, 2011

As a business with a Web site presence, are you doing everything necessary to drive traffic to your company’s site?

It should be a no-brainer that Web site traffic directly correlates with sales, so analyzing the visits on your site is very important as a pre-cursor to how well your company is or will be doing down the road.

Get that Engine Running

Business owners need to remember that how they market their site is very relevant to having a positive experience. The goal here is to increase your site’s page rank on search engines like Google and Bing; have a strategy in place ahead of time so you’re not doing things on the fly.

Among the best ways to steer traffic your way is having focused keywords and accurate links.

If you are dealing with life insurance for instance, utilize keywords geared towards that segment of the market like life insurance sales, life insurance, life insurance policies, life insurance plans etc. By doing so, you should are more likely to increase your Web site traffic and in turn accrue greater sales.

Content Proves Key

Secondly, having relevant and useful copy on your site once people arrive there through keywords and links is crucial.

As a person who likely visits other sites yourself, are you more apt to hit sites that are informative and easy to use or sites that offer little reader friendliness and really serve you little purpose? Visitors are most certainly going to spread the word about your site if it has worthwhile copy and is easy to load and navigate.

Links play an important role in bringing traffic to your site, so focus on this matter too.

If your Web site is short on inbound links it is very unlikely it will appear high on the list in searches. You want to be sure your site is noted in industry directories along with on industry portals. Getting those first link-backs can be a tad challenging, but be creative and put the time in to witness the likely benefits.

Bookmarks, PPC and More

Businesses are also advised to use social bookmarks with their most valuable web content, which should open doors to having countless visitors driven to the site.

Some other options include directory submission and Pay-Per-Click (PPC).

Directory submission is an option for some link building while others are used for generating viewers to your site. While many of the directories come with a cost, the expense can be well worth it in giving you a great local marketing tool.

When it comes to PPC, don’t just throw money at the wind and expect to see net results automatically.

One key area to understand with such a campaign is negative keywords; save money and frustration so your company and its Web efforts are not left spinning their wheels.

Finally, decide what amount of time and effort you want to put into your enhanced traffic efforts.

Some companies hire full-time individuals to handle these tasks while others go the part-time or even consultant routes to fill the needs.

Decide which is best for your company and roll with it. In doing so, you will hopefully find the roads to your Web site full of traffic, something no business is going to sit around complaining about any time soon.

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PR/Media Exposure Campaigns: How Long Should They Be?

by Todd Brabender on August 22, 2011

When it comes to generating publicity/media exposure for a product or service, trying to determine the amount of time it might take to launch and maintain a successful media exposure campaign is a hard nut to crack. What is the optimal length of a campaign and how much effort will it take to get the job done effectively?

In my PR career, I have launched campaigns that needed the blast of just a few weeks of publicity and I have also maintained lengthy campaigns that generated media exposure for years. I can tell you that a single distribution of a media release is rarely effective. Most times, editors and reporters are working on multiple stories at once and need some time to consider your pitch. Although your release may indeed be interesting and newsworthy, the editor may simply not have the space to use your pitch at that point in the media outlet’s editorial calendar. So make sure he/she sees it again when that editorial calendar opens up a few weeks down the line. Keep in mind also that because media outlets receive so many media releases and story pitches these days, it can sometimes take them weeks before they actually get to something you may have sent their way. That’s why it’s important to conduct extensive media follow-ups over the course of several months to ensure media reception, proper media digestion and hopefully media acceptance of your release or pitch.

I always tell my clients, “No PR agency or publicist can FORCE the media to use their releases, but they CAN make sure that by the end of the campaign, the media has seen or heard about your message in one form or another – which will lead to solid media coverage.”

One of the keys to determining the length of a successful campaign is knowing when you have fired all your publicity bullets; when it’s time to re-pack the chambers with new ammo; or when you should move onto other marketing targets. Over the past several years, here’s how the campaign lengths have broken down for my clients:

1-2 month campaigns: 9%
3-6 month campaigns: 38%
6-9 month campaigns: 37%
9+ month campaigns: 16%

A) 1 – 2 month campaigns are most often timely, date-sensitive campaigns — a release or message tied to a current event that may be outdated in 6 – 8 weeks. We can launch a campaign a few weeks before the event and generate some great spot coverage in newspapers, TV news shows and internet news sites nationwide — the campaign are finished in about 6-8 weeks.

B) Most new product publicity campaigns are best suited for the 3 – 6+ month time frame — allowing for the often drawn out lead-times of some media outlets. Having said that though, some product campaigns can be extended for several more months based on media reaction and subsequent consumer interest. For instance, a recent consumer electronics product publicity campaign started out as a six-month program, but that was stretched out over a year because of the sales fervor and popularity of the product.

C) The longest campaigns are for those clients whose businesses or expertise are “evergreen and regenerative” – meaning they are not tied to the shelf life of a new product launch; aren’t linked to a specific date; and can be re-stoked for a new round of media interest every few months. One of my longtime clients is a “tradeshow specialist”. Her expert advice is newsworthy anytime of year and can be covered editorially year after year – especially in business and trade magazines. That lends itself to multiple articles and features month after month in a wide array of media outlets. Remember — creativity and media pitching ingenuity can help add months of success to your publicity campaign.

A large number of hours will be spent planning and shaping your publicity campaign for the media market. The preparation of the media market research and the polishing of the media release may seem painstaking, but when done right, they are well worth the effort. After the initial launch of the campaign, be prepared to spend at least a few hours each day maintaining it: conducting numerous media follow-ups and making new media pitches, (emails, faxes, mailings and phone calls); fulfilling media requests (forwarding product photos, media kits/product samples, arranging interviews) and tracking/clipping articles and features.

If you have the time, staff and expertise to launch your own campaign, then take advantage of the media and get your message to them. But if your expertise lies in another area, and you or your staff lack publicity generating skills (or have little or no experience in dealing with the media) it might be best to hand it off to someone who can make sure its done right – the first time. Ask yourself these questions when deciding whether you can handle your own publicity campaign:

Do I have the expertise and time to get it done effectively without hampering my current workload or that of my staff?

Do I have the writing capabilities to put together a media release or feature pitch to which editors, reporters and producers will respond?

Do I have the resources to conduct the media research and distribute my release to those media outlets?

On a timely note… with all the uncertainly surrounding the economy recently, many entrepreneurs and companies have been challenged by shrinking marketing budgets.

I believe that we entrepreneurs need to band together as much as possible to help as many as we can through this rough patch and back to solid growth.

To that end, I am now offering to discount my media exposure campaign service fee for the entire 3rd quarter of 2011 to help entrepreneurs with their tighter budgets and help them prosper once again into the 4th quarter and beyond.

If you or any entrepreneurs or businesses you know would benefit from this discount and national media exposure please feel free to contact us.

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Partnerships: Six Things You Need to Know Before You Say “I do”.

by Susan Solovic on August 19, 2011

So you want to go into business with someone. Good for you. Maybe your potential partner is a family member, long-time friend, investor or business associate. Whatever the relationship, the start of a partnership is much like the beginning of a romantic relationship. The parties are euphoric and it may seem as though nothing could go amiss. But before you walk down the aisle and say “I do” there are critical things upon which you must agree.

Just as every personal relationship has its ups and downs, so do business partnerships. So before you tie the knot so to speak, you need to enter into what is known as a partnership agreement to protect yourself and your business. Below are some of the common elements which you should include in a partnership agreement, which by the way, must be in writing and signed by all partners. This is not meant to be an all inclusive list, so consult with your professional advisor.

Percentage of Ownership. You should have a record of how much each partner is contributing to the partnership prior to its opening. (People have short memories.) Typically, these contributions are used as the basis for the ownership percentage, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be. For example, one partner may put in a considerable amount of cash, with no plans to work in the business, and a second partner may not invest cash, but will provide the sweat equity to make the business a success. As such, the partner who works the business full-time may get a larger percentage or vice versa. That’s up to you.

Allocation of Profits and Losses. You must decide if the profits and losses will be allocated in proportion to a partner’s ownership interest — which is the way it is handled unless otherwise indicated. Also, will partners be permitted to take draws? (A draw is an allocation of profits from the business prior to the actual distribution among all partners.) Because money is the root of all evil as they say, you and your partner(s) need to make these decisions in advance. Financial disagreements often cause partnerships to fail quickly.

Who Can Bind the Partnership? Generally speaking, any partner can bind the partnership without consent from the others partners. Imagine if your partner, without your knowledge, signed a contract for a private jet time share. (Sounds cool, but not practical.) That’s certainly something most small businesses can’t afford and such a liability could be a significant risk to the financial stability of your business. So you must clarify what type of consent a partner must obtain before he/she can obligate your company.

Making Decisions. Making decisions in a business managed by partners is like trying to make decisions in a committee, nothing gets done. In fact, it can often stalemate a company which results in business failure. Therefore, you need to establish a decision-making process in advance so your business operations can move along smoothly. There needs to be a captain of your ship.

The Death of a Partner. What happens if one partner is deceased or wants to leave the partnership? To manage these situations you need a buy/sell agreement. This establishes a method by which the partnership interest can be valued and the interest purchased either by the partnership or individual partners.

Resolving Disputes. What happens if you and your partners reach a point where you can’t agree? Do you head to court? Well, only if you want to spend a lot of time and money. My recommendation is to include a mediation clause in your partnership agreement which will provide a procedure by which you can resolve major conflicts.

As I noted earlier, these are some of the key elements which a partnership agreement should include. You and your partner(s) should schedule time to talk about these issues, but it is best to go to a legal professional who can draft the agreement for you. An attorney can help advise you about all the necessary elements or a partnership agreement so you can manage, protect and grow your business venture.

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How To Be Perfect Like Me

by Carolyn Higgins on August 18, 2011

Ok, now that I have your attention I have a confession to make: I’m not perfect. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can almost hear the collective, “NO SH*T” from all of you!) But seriously, there have been times I didn’t return a call from a prospect in time and lost out on a potential opportunity. Sometimes I forget that I’m standing in front a group of professional small business owners and not BFFs and let an expletive slip out of my mouth. And sometimes I show up to a networking event with melted chocolate all over the back of my pants. Sometimes my posts and blogs are full of typos and sometimes I just completely stick my foot in my mouth and stand there, face as red as a ripe tomato, and stammer; desperately trying to yank the foot out, all the while embedding it even deeper.

I think I’m the typical too-hard-on-myself, I-must-be-perfect entrepreneur. We work so hard and take everything we do so personally that it’s hard to give ourselves a break. It’s hard to be “ok” with being less-than-perfect.

Why are we so hard on ourselves? Why can’t we accept that we’re human beings – and not machines – and as human beings are going to make mistakes? As I pondered this question, I watched my dog Capone lazily get up from his comfy little doggy bed and slowly saunter across my living room and into the bedroom where I heard the leap from the floor to my bed. I knew he was sprawled out in the middle of my bed like a king. And I sighed, “Well, so much for my pretty new comforter….”

A lesson from my perfectly imperfect dog

Then all of his annoying habits flashed through my mind…. He chases cats with absolutely no regard to the arm on the other end of the leash that used to be attached to my shoulder, he stares at me while I eat (the silent begging), he sleeps all over my furniture like he owns it, he whines and stares and nudges me until I walk him (even if he just had a walk 10 minutes before), and he insists on sniffing every stranger we pass on our walks – especially the ones who are afraid of him.

And I thought; despite all of his imperfections and annoying habits I love that dog to death. I pondered, “How can I be annoyed at him? He’s just doing what dogs do… And how can I be mad at him for being a dog?” (Especially since I didn’t train him any better, but that’s another blog topic).

Does my dog have his faults? Yup! Is my dog perfect? Absolutely!!! He does exactly what a dog is supposed to do! He is 100% D-O-G. And that is what I love about him. I can’t fault him for being a dog – any more than I can fault myself for being H-U-M-A-N. So then, why do I constantly beat myself up for not being perfect all the time???

I began to reflect, “Why can’t I give myself the same defense I gave my dog?? After all, I just do what humans do…. I forget to turn the stove off, I eat unhealthy food, swear at inappropriate times, and I allow my dog on the furniture and didn’t train him not to sniff innocent strangers’ knees”. Am I perfect? Absolutely! I do exactly what humans are supposed to do; I make mistakes, I screw up, I embarrass myself. I then pick myself up, dust myself off and vow to do better next time. THAT is what makes me a perfectly imperfect human!

So, much to my displeasure I will never achieve my unrealistic idea of “perfection”. Nope; there will be plenty more faux pas (what the heck is the plural of that anyway?), slipped “F” words, embarrassing moments, and the sour tastes of foot on my bruised tongue. But I think I am finally realizing – and maybe even accepting – that I am human and will never be perfect. And as a small business owner and entrepreneur, I think the important lesson here is that I continue strive for perfection. We are human, our businesses are run by humans; our marketing, our customer service, our products, our bookkeeping, and our taxes may never be perfect – but as perfectionists we will always strive to be our best – and that is what makes us different from Capone!

What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!!