In late 2020 Pete had the opportunity to sit down with Samuel Thimothy for his awesome series called Coffee with Closers to talk about how processes and quality improvement are the backbone of our business. Whether you write it out or not, everything in business is some kind of a process. You have a goal, and a way to achieve that goal, and a time you want it completed. With the landscape of business constantly changing, we have to update our goals and processes along the way. We can learn so much from studying other great business leaders, and I want to share what I've learned with others, including what most caught my attention from this interview with Pete and Samuel:
Everything we do is a process, and you have to have the correct tools to make the process run smoothly. The video below goes into detail, but here's a sample of the tools we discuss:
Goals: There are things you ALWAYS have to have, like goals. You also need a way to get to that goal, like a scope, budget, and schedule breakdown. Consider it your roadmap to success.
Self Awareness: The ability to recognize what you're good at and what you're not. Knowing your strengths is a key tool to running a successful business.
A Good Team: Business is personal. I want to serve the team (our employees) and clients, and I want my own life to be enjoyable. Genuinely enjoying your work, and those you work with, will translate into a well run business with a drive to keep your employees and clients happy.
Delegation: Delegate what you're not good at, and focus on what you're best at. For me, that's systems and processes.
Productivity: Finding ways to make your life easier isn't cheating! Not ALL work has to be difficult.
My favorite productivity hack is the Pocket App - it reads articles to me while I check other items off my to-do list.
Team Management: Get the right people into the right positions and DON'T micromanage. If you want your company to grow, there will always be a point where you can no longer manage every aspect of your business, and having a team you can trust is a huge part of that.
Role Models: I've learned a lot from other great businesses and their leaders, like Amazon's Jeff Bezos or Apple's Steve Jobs. Take what they've learned and make it work for you.
Growth: Quality is the key. Have a process to improve what you do, including peer reviews and hold points to check the work before it goes out the door.
