Connecting intrigues me. And connecting in a way that really matters compels me.

Throughout my career it is the one question that, well, uh, mattered. Peeling back the layers of time (not so easy for an old guy like me) it becomes clear it’s what my parents attempted to teach me by not just giving me work, but giving me work that mattered and explaining to me why it mattered. It’s what Bill Wallace tried to ingrain in my head as I lounged in his Current Events class. “You’re not a bump on a log so stop acting like one! Do something that matters!” he continually chanted. The image of him stalking the classroom aisles, demanding participation, expecting excellence, extolling the virtues of knowing what was going on in the world so we could make a difference in the world is imprinted on my mind.

Our ability to connect the dots as business owners is one of our greatest challenges. Take a moment and reflect on your work. Can you clearly make a connection between the work you are doing today with your defined strategic objectives? What about everyone else in the company? If you can’t connect those dots then your daily tasks likely don’t really matter. The connection appears to be an elusive one for most companies to make!

The following statistics are presented by Ascent Global in their booklet “Executing The Work Itself.”

100% of workers need a systematic process to help them execute strategy.
73% of workers do NOT think their organizations goals are translated into specific work tasks they can execute.
56% of workers do NOT clearly understand their company’s most important goals.
69% of workers do NOT think employees should be trained on how to execute organizational goals.
87% of workers are NOT satisfied with the results of their work.

Creating & communicating your company objectives is important but ensuring every worker’s daily tasks are aligned with objectives is critical!

Up until I was about 17 years old I didn’t have to learn too much about failure. I was one of those “blessed” kids that swings through school like it was Saturday morning cartoons. My last year of high school I met a teacher who recognized me for what I was, someone who had never gotten knocked down. What did he do? He gave me the first D of my life. I was shocked, I couldn’t believe that I had done so poorly! I had prepared! Reviewing my paper with another girl in the class I saw that she had done something very similar and gotten a much better grade. I went to my teacher and he explained that I had not risen to my full potential, and that he measured everyone on a scale of what he thinks they can do, not what they have done in the past.

That semester was full of D’s and C’s and yes, even some F’s. It was awful- but I soon learned to embrace what seemed to be my biggest obstacle. I spent the time to get it right, I challenged myself in new ways, and, resultantly, ended up with the grade I wanted and a new understanding of how to push myself. Funny- years of success had resulted in mediocrity, but a few months of failure gave me a chance to find out what I was made of. I’m just grateful that I had that first experience with failure in the playpen of high school instead of in the real world.

What can your failures do for you? As a business owner you won’t get it right all the time. Occasionally you’ll hit a wall- what then? It starts with your attitude. Don’t let your failures define who you are. Just as my failing grades didn’t make me a failing person- your failed business or decision doesn’t mean you are incompetent. It just means you’re human.

There’s another side to embracing failure that requires you to take action. After a failure you can’t just pat yourself on the back and move on. You need to reflect, understand what went wrong, and change. Rich has shared this with me on a variety of occasions, a couple of times in the context of mountain climbing. When trekking in the Himalayas understanding your failures is not something you put off. Making the same mistake twice could mean you’ll never get out- instead, it’s essential to be grateful for survival, and to take immediate action to make sure you’ve changed.

Long story short? Don’t come out of any situation empty handed, whether it be a success or a failure. Make your failures work for you.

A special emphasis is given throughout the book, and here in the office, on priorities. Rich and Ron believe whole-heartedly in the idea of always keeping priorities straight throughout the entrepreneurial roller coaster. Life is not constant, and never will be. But our priorities should be. There will always be something else that we could do, another opportunity or responsibility that can come up, that can cause us to push the important people and things into the background. Often we think it is just temporary, but many times it can become a permanent negligence. Especially in the world of entrepreneurship where so many sacrifices have to be made, it is so important that there are certain things we are never willing to sacrifice. For Rich and Ron, these things include the safety and security of their families, their relationships with their spouses, and very importantly, and frequently neglected in our world today, their relationships with their children. They are both so intimately involved in their family’s lives, and no matter what happens at work, continue to keep those relationships strong.
I learned personally the importance of this concept this last week, as I lost my cousin in a tragic car accident. She was only twenty-two years old, and was returning to Utah after spending Thanksgiving with her family in Seattle. The loss of someone we love seems to always cause us to re-evaluate our lives and our priorities. Seeing a life cut short so unexpectedly has made me reflect on my life, and truly face the fact that I may have neglected relationships, goals, and many things I enjoy. And what do I sacrifice these things for? It seems always to be something that is only temporarily important, but that takes priority. Maybe I don’t see an old friend because I have to study for a test. Or I have put off spending time with my brother and sister because I feel too stressed with work. As I have reflected over the last few days, the most important thing I have realized is that it should not take a loss so great for us to see the important things more clearly. We should not regret that we did not spend more time with someone only after we have lost them.
As Rich and Ron discuss in the book, the goal of entrepreneurship should not just be making money. In life we need to have a drive for the things we do. When we have pure motives for our actions, such as desiring to be successful in order to provide security to our family, or in order to participate in humanitarian causes, our most important relationships will not be sacrificed, because they are the reason we work so hard. The death of someone so close to me will never be easy to understand, but it has helped me to think about my motives for doing the things I put my time into. I have learned how important it is that I commit to keeping my priorities, no matter what comes up. The right priorities shouldn’t just be important when we have time for them to be.

As an entrepreneur, it is your right and privilege to decide your company culture! Do you provide free food for your team? Do you set goals and rewards for individuals, and offer personal recognition? Maybe you’ll have office lunches more often than board meetings to discuss weekly or monthly agendas. Your business means what you want, how you want it.

Today our office is all going out to celebrate a birthday lunch with our executive admin, Shanna. Shanna and I have been asking Rich questions about differents forms of investment and savings accounts- and he said that we’d take some time at lunch to go over it a little more. Our company culture is one of openness, questions and answers, and goals and rewards. Rich and Ron have set it up as a place where we are all meant to contribute in our own area of expertise, but can also learn more about other aspects of what goes on around here, as well. As a result, we can all wear a few more hats, not to mention sound a little more knowledable on the phone.

We were huddled around the whiteboard for a couple minutes this morning when Rich burst out of his office exclaiming, “the fun has just begun!” A new venture is gaining momentum, and we spent a few minutes talking about the new task division, focus, and hopes for the next couple of months. He also shared his ultimate “dream” reward, a Lotus. There aren’t many offices where the converstaion between the owners and the team is so open and candid, but it’s our culture.

What will yours be?

So! We’ve had a bit of hiatus here.  I’ve spent the past few weeks in the process of last-minute wedding preparations, actually getting married, and then a trip back home to my side of the world with my new husband.  As I walked back into the office yesterday, it felt like 2 days had gone by.  Really, it was more like 20.

When I left, we had just finished up with our first, big goal.  10 chapters of the book down, about the same in front of us.  Bootstrap Business is coming along.  Soon we’ll finish some planned updates to this site, including more information on the upcoming book.  You can look forward to some sneak peaks and also an opportunity to pre-order your copy!  Our main goal with bootstrapbusiness.org is to allow entrepreneurs to talk to each other.  Entering entrepreneurship on your own can be terrifying.  What if you had someone, or a group of “someones,” available to talk to and discuss difference choices with?  If you’ve had a lot of entrepreneurial experience, we’re sure you’ve got a lot to offer.  Conversation is key in entrepreneurship.  You need to ask good questions and listen to experienced answers.  Working here for the past few months, I’ve learned a lot about small businesses and entrepreneurship.  This blog, so far, has been my own discovery process as I work through the principles in the book and watch how this business grows and develops.  Our hope is that you will participate!  Ask questions, seek answers.  See what you can glean from the entrepreneurs around you.  It doesn’t matter if you are completely new to entrepreneurship or if you’ve been doing it forever- sometimes a fresh angle on something makes a big difference.

Today (once again) we had a bunch of bright, talented engineers in the office.  They have the skill set and the drive, but what they don’t have is business experience.   They let an amazing opportunity pass them by, and hardly realized what they had lost!  We all go through this as we begin our own businesses.  However, with more experienced people on your side, you can minimize the loss and the wasted time, and make sure your venture will make it.

What do you have to contribute?  Consider this a formal invitation to make this blog your own sounding board- to comment and leave your own ideas and questions.  Make sure to include links from your site so we know where you are coming from, and how we can get in touch with you!