Joe Sorge understands business because he is a business owner, with a handful of restaurants and event places in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He and I share that background in bricks and mortar business, and we share many similar opinions about business.
He invited me to be a guest on Kitchen Table Talks with Chris Brogan so we could share some of those views on business.
If you don’t see the video, click through to Small Biz Survival.
Joe pointed out that the average business person simply doesn’t have the discipline to have contingency plans, to weather the storms of business. He asked how can people learn and apply discipline in their business everyday.
The average business person doesn’t have that discipline, and they won’t last that long in business, I replied. But living through life and death issues in the cattle business gives me perspective on how life and business really are brutal. All of us will have business failures, and I certainly have had my share of business failures and maybe even someone else’s share.
Discipline is something we all have to develop, because we’re all really bad at it. The first key is to recognize that you don’t like the pattern of behavior you’re currently committing. Instead of focusing only on the next second, we can learn to pay attention to quarterly goals and how what we do next fits into our annual goal.
It’s just a process and you learn it step by step. Another trick is micro-goals, which is the “just for today” outlook. Just for today, can we be frugal in our business? Just for the next hour, can I concentrate on what matters most?
Steps like that change how you feel about yourself and how you deal with your business.
If you like these ideas, you might like a free sample from my book Small Town Rules.
That’s just one snippet from the hour long show. If want to see the whole long thing, here it is:
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Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
