Why People Matter More Than Profit in Small Business
A question I receive often from many small business leaders is this: Which is the MOST important when it comes to growing and leading a small business, people or profit? The reality of this question is you cannot have one without the other.
A small business does not operate without people, period. People play the part of representing your company, your brand, and your promise. People interface with clients, vendors and the community you serve. A company is nothing more than people serving people. Through this service and interaction, participants leave a mark on each other’s stories and paths. People invest themselves and pour into your company, your clients and the community, which will in turn produce profit.
Profit is the lifeblood of a company; a fuel that propels your company forward. Profit creates runway for your business vehicle to travel down. Run out of runway and your vehicle crashes. Profit must be retained and guarded with ultimate concern, as this profit pours into your bank account as well as the bank accounts of the people who ultimately helped produce it.
So, which of the two is the MOST important? Which of the two do you ultimately pour into and invest in growing?
People, hands down.
I spent the first decade of my entrepreneurial journey focusing on and ultimately placing the most importance in profit, and as a result, I was very profitable. I climbed a mountain of financial success very quickly, achieving the goal of becoming a millionaire before the age of 30.
However, the celebration was not so sweet. When I arrived to the top of my million-dollar mountain, I realized I did not elevate, inspire or lead the people who helped me get to the top. I did not focus on people like I should have because I did not know how; I was never given a blueprint. At this point, I had two options. Keep climbing, alone or come back down the mountain, and face my people. It would have been much easier to keep climbing along the path I knew, but something inside of me knew this was not the right thing to do.
When I came back down the mountain, I committed to getting a PHD in people. Before doing so, I had to face the fact that some of the people who had helped me were gone. They were no longer there, nor willing to come back. Some bridges were burned.
Moving forward, I learned everything I could about leadership, team building, and understanding humans and what makes them operate at their core. I invested in and poured into people with every resource I had both personally and professionally, and I am so glad I did! Today, I see a bigger mountain and a bigger climb ahead. I have bigger dreams, aspirations, and goals to accomplish.
There is now one thing very different about my dreams, goals, and aspirations. They are not MINE, they are OURS. We are now climbing. We are now trekking. We are now pursuing OUR dreams, OUR goals, and OUR aspirations together.
If you focus on the people the profit will come. If you focus on the profit, the people will run.
- Published in Blog, Tips & Advice
Stop Setting Goals and New Year’s Resolutions. Small Business Advice for 2018.
Want to know a secret? I stopped setting goals and New Year’s resolutions a long time ago. Have you ever set a goal for yourself and not accomplished it? I have. Have you ever justified and rationalized why it was okay that you did not meet your goal? I have. Why does this happen, and more importantly, who do you really let down when this happens?
The truth is, as humans we are okay letting ourselves down but we will not let others down. We make excuses that personal failure is okay, but we will not fail others. We justify that achieving 80% of our goal is better than 70%, even though it was not 100%. What about when somebody is counting on you, is this still okay?
Instead of setting goals for yourself, create and make promises, commitments and outcomes for others. Instead of losing 20 lbs for yourself, commit to your spouse and children that losing 20lbs keeps you healthier for them. Instead of setting a goal to double your income for yourself, commit to your family that twice as much money creates a better financial family tree and legacy for them.
Start off 2018 by making a commitment to your spouse, children, team members, the families that you and your company support, the young person you mentor, your grandparents, or parents; who ever this is for you, tell them what you are doing in 2018 and then go do it. You will not let them down.
What do you commit to and who will you commit to in 2018?
- Published in Blog, Tips & Advice
Coaching Empresarial Gratis. 3 Minutos con Mateo.
Hola soy Mateo Shoup, o en íngles Matt Shoup. Soy un padre, esposo, hombre familiar, emprendedor, autor, presentador, coach empresarial, aficionado de España, y un cinturón marron de jiu jitsu. Este serie de videos es completamente gratis, y estuvó creado para empresarios. En estos videos de coaching empresarial gratis, respondo a las preguntas más preguntadas de los clientes que sirvo. Me los respondo con ánimo, inspiración y consejos practicales que puedes llevar a tu empresa hoy. Siempre lo hago con menos pelo, más calvo y bien cafeinado todos los días.
- Published in Blog, Coaching Empresarial Gratis
Grow Your Business. Market Your Mistakes. Free Business Coaching. 3 Minutes with Matt
I am a keynote speaker for small business and speak on the topic of marketing and how to market to grow your business. Most entrepreneurs have been taught wrong when it comes to marketing. Business is as simple as humans serving humans. Understand humans, understand business. In this free small business coaching session of 3 minutes with Matt, I share why it is important to market your mistakes. I shared my painted baby story. You have one too. What is it? Capture, craft, and communicate it. Doing so will build real trust with your clients, team and community.
- Published in Blog, Free Business Coaching 3 Minutes with Matt
What is Your Unique Gift?
You have a unique and special gift that you and only you bring to the world. Do you know what it is? There is power in your story that when captured and communicated can change the lives of others for the better. Have you found it?
The world is flooded with information and things that keep us tied up and too busy to look within ourselves and find our unique gift within our story. Make time for yourself. Get real with yourself. To discover who you are, why you exist and what value you bring to others, you must first decide who you are not.
To get caffeinated with me on a weekly basis, click on the coffee cup to the right. When you do, I will send you a free business building tool kit packed full of resources to help you run your business and life with excellence.
- Published in Blog
How I Found My Purpose
We get one shot to live life and live it well. Finding purpose and significance is a journey we all take as humans. When I found mine, it completely changed the trajectory of my life. Finding my purpose was no easy task; it was and still continues to be a journey. Things have been revealed to me that I know I must lean into, and some things are still being revealed.
Many people have asked me how I found my purpose. Here are a few thoughts to consider as I encourage you to take your own journey towards purpose.
- If you were given a billion dollars tomorrow, what would you eliminate from your life?
- What fills you with so much joy and happiness that you would do it all day for free?
- What are your talents and unique wirings?
- What story do you want to leave behind? What impact do you want to leave for this world?
- What value do you being to the world that only you bring?
- What part of your story and life makes other’s stories and lives better?
These questions are just a starting point in your journey towards purpose. The question now is this: are you ready to take the next steps of the journey?
To get caffeinated with me on a weekly basis, click on the coffee cup to the right. When you do, I will send you a free business building tool kit packed full of resources to help you run and live your business and life with excellence.
- Published in Blog
How to Close More Sales
Entrepreneurs must sell something for business to happen. We sell a vision, an idea, a product or a service. Creating an environment where sales happen and the sales mentality is ingrained in the company culture is required for a business to thrive.
Here is one simple way to close more sales and to get the big ‘yes’. Go for ‘no’! Go for ‘no’ as many times as possible. As entrepreneurs, salespeople and humans, we get a little tinge of personal offense and stinging when somebody tells us ‘no’, or at least this is the case for me. We can at times be scared to ask for fear of being told ‘no’.
Sales is about creating and fostering relationships, serving others, and offering a product or service that eliminates a pain and makes a life easier. As that happens, sales can be tracked, measured and scaled with ratios. There are always a certain number people who say ‘no’ before someone says ‘yes’.
Want to close more and sell more? Go for ‘no’, and/or ‘no for now’. When you do, you will get one step closer to the ‘yes’ you are looking for.
To get caffeinated with me on a weekly basis, click on the coffee cup to the right. When you do, I will send you a free business building tool kit, packed full of resources to help you run your business and life with excellence. Let’s do business and life on purpose and with purpose.
- Published in Blog
Do You Listen to Nasty Entrepreneurial Voices?
Entrepreneurs hear voices. Some inspire and empower us. Some are nasty, uninspiring, and ultimately take us off our journey of moving towards purpose and success. Being an entrepreneur is an uphill battle and an amazing, inspiring adventure all at the same time! As we take that journey, make sure you never listen to these nasty little voices that creep into your mind, life, business and heart.
Have you ever heard these?
You are going to fail! You are a failure! Quit now before you fail big time! You are not good enough! People are not going to buy what you are selling! Maybe you should go back to working for somebody! This thing is not making money, why do you keep doing it! This is not really your purpose! Quit while you are ahead! Look at your bank account, your net worth is your self worth! You are worth nothing! You don’t bring value!
I have heard these voices in my life and journey as a man, leader and entrepreneur. At times, they scream loudly, at times they are a faint whisper.
Do you listen to these voices? What happens when you do? How do you capture them and eliminate them form your life?
To continue to get caffeinated with me on a weekly basis, click on the coffee cup to the right. When you do, I will send you a free business building tool kit, packed full of resources to help you run your business and life with excellence. Let’s do business and life on purpose and with purpose.
- Published in Blog
What Drives You as an Entrepreneur?
There is no doubt that entrepreneurs are driven. What we do on a daily basis, many view as insane. We push the limits everyday, take risks, and assume the consequences. Here is a quick question to ponder as we do this. What drives you as an entrepreneur? Last week, I wrote a blog discussing the successful traits of an entrepreneur. It is one thing to possess one or more traits of a successful entrepreneur, yet another to have one of those traits be your motivation.
Last week, I had a good friend ask me what was in my box. He said, if I were to be known for and have one thing that drove me in life and business, what would it be?
What drives us will be our focus, and what our focus is will be our destiny and legacy. Are you focused on people, passion, purpose, or profits? If you were to have only one thing in your business and life you could focus on, which one would it be? Do you believe that focusing on one would allow all the others to follow? Do you believe focusing on one would hinder the other? Be intentional about what you focus on and what is in your box.
To continue to get caffeinated with me on a weekly basis, click on the coffee cup to the right. When you do, I will send you a free business building tool kit packed full of resources to help you grow you business and life with excellence.
- Published in Blog
How to Help an Entrepreneur Through Adversity
Entrepreneurs face adversity every day. Have you ever been in a conversation with another entrepreneur and it’s clear that both of you are going through a struggle or adversity? Have you ever left this conversation knowing that something should have been talked about that was not? After doing so, did you wonder if you could have helped your peer more, or they could have done the same for you?
As we face adversity, not just as entrepreneurs, but as people, having others to help us navigate the storm is very important. Unfortunately, too many times we cover it up, tough it out, hide the truth, and just don’t plain come clean with whatever it is we are going through.
Want to help another person struggling with adversity? Share first, go first, be first, get vulnerable, first. When one person decides to be brave, drop the walls, share with ultimate vulnerability, it lifts the vail of small talk, and creates an environment to have real conversations about life, love and leadership; conversations that really matter.
Are you willing to go first?
To get caffeinated with me on a weekly basis, click the coffee cup to the right. When you do so, I will send you a free business building tool kit. It is packed full of resources to help you grow and run your business and life with absolute excellence.
- Published in Blog