Getting into Business

Emerging entrepreneurs can be a different breed. They are excited about their business ideas and are driven by their passion… but it may also blind them to some degree. How do people start a business with their eyes wide open and set themselves up for success right from the start?

Passion is essential

First, passion and conviction are essential. You need to know who you are and what you want to do. Then there is the choice of business model and knowing your product or service inside and out. You want to be ready to eat, drink and breathe business ownership… and wake up and do it again the very next day.

Know your market

Even if you have the best business idea and you are confident in your ability to make a product or provide a service and set up a successful business model, the great arbiter of success is the marketplace. Your business concept must be viable, not just to you, but to the people who will be your target market. How do you know your business expectations are not fiction? To get the answer, you must talk to people, survey potential customers or clients, and test your assumptions.

Test your concept

Once you have an idea of the marketplace, you want to test the concept. You can pop up in someone else’s space or test your product or service at a street fair or makers fair. You can get friends to hold events and sell your product in their living rooms. You can convince a friend who has a retail shop to let you set up a trunk show. If all goes well, the experience will make you feel more secure that your business idea is a good one and that you want to own and run a business.

Can you now say YES to these 5 key questions?

Do I really enjoy being in business?
Can I attract the customer or client who will appreciate my business and will pay for it?
Am I good with customers and can I provide excellent service?
Does my business model make money or will it at least break even “soon”?
Can I envision myself persevering for the next 12 to 18 months to really establish my business?

Time for planning

Some degree of prior business planning is essential. To help guide you, you can take a class, read a book, or ask an experienced business owner for support. However you do it, the purpose of a plan is to define your business offerings, specify your market, outline the essential management skills needed, and create realistic financial projections with a well-timed series of action steps. Your final plan will be a useful document for potential investors, funders or business partners. But the primary purpose for writing a plan is for the process itself. It forces you to be objective and critical, identifying weaknesses, challenges and opportunities and setting benchmarks to track progress. Ultimately, it will give you confidence to get into and continue with the business.

Take the plunge

So you have made some initial sales, carved out time on weekends to work on the business and you are still excited about doing it. Actually, it is all you can think about. How do you take the plunge from part-time to all-in?

There are many different ways to do it.

Wait to launch until you have raised enough start -up capital – either through personal savings, bank loans or crowd fundraising.
Convince your friends and family to lend you money (perhaps with no interest) and agree that you do not have to pay them back for at least three years.
Approach your employer and negotiate to work only four days a week and use that extra day to work on your business.
Move from full-time employment to a contractual arrangement so that you can set your own hours and take time off when needed for the business.
Find an active or silent business partner with capital to invest in the new business and cover business expenses for the first year.
Marry well and/or use your future inheritance to support your entrepreneurship habit!
Quit your job and go all in right away, using credit cards to get you through the cash flow negative start-up period.

The path to small business ownership is unique for each entrepreneur. It depends on your tolerance for risk, your access to capital and cash flow, your skills and experience running/managing a similar enterprise, and your support systems.

Time, money and the prospect of failure are common hurdles for almost every small business owner starting out:

How do I find enough time to devote to my business?
Do I have enough funds to support myself while the business is developing/evolving in the first 6, 12 or 18 months?
Can I respond well to short-term failures as I navigate my way to long-term success?

You may struggle to find the right strategy to get your business off the ground but if you have passion for your business idea, some success from product or service testing, solid financial projections, and a strong support network… YOU CAN DO THIS!

Are entrepreneurs crazy? Sometimes yes. But that’s just what may be needed to jump in and swim! Some start in the shallow end of the pool and tip-toe down the stairs. Others lower themselves down the ladder until they are fully immersed but continue to hold onto the edge. And then there are the ones who leap off the diving board straight into the deep end. No matter your approach, just make sure you can see the edge and make your way back to solid ground as needed. But if you really want to swim in the world of small business ownership, you first just have to get into the water!

Business Exit… have you thought about it?

Many tech entrepreneurs think about their business exit from day one. Acquisition is central to their business model. But most small business owners don’t think about it… they are too busy getting into business! An exit plan should be a part of every entrepreneur’s business planning process — though this is the least understood part of the business plan, and often ignored.

Don’t wait. Think about a business exit now.

No matter how successful you are in business and how much you love our work, you should think about what will happen to your business when you no longer actively manage or run it. At some point down the road—a couple of years or decades from now—you will leave your businesses (or your businesses will leave you). Personal circumstances might change or burn-out could happen. You may be ready to pursue a new endeavor or want to retire. Or someone could approach you about buying your business.

Business exit options

You may not be able to predict your business’ success, your future interests, or the direction of the marketplace. But you can start thinking about the business exit options that could be a good fit for you.

There are a variety of ways to exit your business. You could pass it to a family member, partner, employee or other business stakeholder. You could sell it to an outsider. You could liquidate it and sell the assets, or you could file for bankruptcy.

How will you figure out what is best for you and your business?

Envisioning the future

We encourage you to think about the future of your business and what it might look like when you are not at the helm.

Is your goal to create a legacy business that will last forever?
Do you ultimately want to pass the business on to a family member?
When you are ready to stop running the business, do you hope to sell it?
Would you want the business taken over by an employee(s), partner or other internal stakeholder or would you want to sell to an outside party?

The vision for your business will change as your business develops and circumstances change, but thinking about your business’ trajectory, including your exit, is a key part of strategic planning and business growth. (If you are in a business partnership, it is important that you have an ownership agreement, from the beginning, that spells out what will happen if one or more partners wants to exit the business.)

Planning your transition

When you are ready to think seriously about transitioning away from your business, you need a business exit plan. Just as a good business plan is an important part of business start-up, a good exit plan is key to a smooth transition away from the business.

We help our clients through the transition planning process. This includes identifying or clarifying your motivations and goals, assessing the current strengths and weaknesses of the business, and creating a role transition or business sale timeline with clear benchmarks. We then help business owners stay accountable to their plan.

Our goal is to help small business owners feel ready for their next steps, with a feasible and straightforward plan to guide them through their transition. Learn more about our ownership transition consulting services.

Launched!

There are many small businesses that launch every month in the San Francisco Bay Area. Each launch is proceeded by months (if not years) of hard work, detailed market research and fundraising before the new business owner can “open the doors”. A number of our business planning students at Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center launched their businesses in 2014. Show your support by visiting them and spreading the word!

Calibur

Sean Patrick and his business partner opened a new burger and fries place in San Francisco’s West Portal neighborhood featuring burgers, fries and milkshakes made from 100% organic ingredients sourced primarily from California. (They even have a veggie burger for me!) Check out their recent San Francisco Chronicle review.

Pinhole Coffee

JoEllen Depakakibo just opened a new coffee shop on Cortland Street in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood. The curated space features a variety of coffee roasters and other locally made goodies. Check out this recent profile of JoEllen and her new business.

The Good Hop Bottle Shop

Melissa Myers opened her bottle shop and tasting room on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, offering hundreds of craft beers from around the world, with mostly local beers on tap. You can enjoy your brew on site or take away, and attend their classes and monthly events.

Hoi Polloi Brewpub and Beat Lounge

Viet Vu opened his brewpub with his brother and wife on Alcatraz Avenue in Berkeley. The pub features a variety of beers, including their own creations, and all beer comes with popcorn drizzled with truffle-oil. Check out this recent San Francisco Chronicle review.

Communitē Table

Michele LeProhn opened the doors to her neighborhood restaurant in Oakland’s Laurel district this December — seasonal American comfort food to eat there or to take home. Check out this recent article about Communitē Table in the East Bay Express.

The ReCrafting Co.

Andrine Smith opened The ReCrafting Co. as a crafter’s resource for quality recycled crafting materials, supplies and tools. The shop also offers crafters a convenient opportunity to recycle their surplus crafting material and supplies on consignment for cash.

Liquid Gold

Tim Lee’s bottle shop and tap room opened in lower Nob Hill the Fall of 2014. The focus is on locally sourced beers and wines. In November, Liquid Gold made Zagat’s list of the 12 hottest new bars in the United States!

Urban Putt

Steve Fox and his team have created Urban Putt, the City’s first and only indoor miniature golf course in San Francisco’s Mission district. It is a playground for people of all ages with organic and locally-sourced food and drink. Thrillist calls Urban Putt “quite possibly the best thing to happen to the Mission.”

Baseball and small business… oh the similarities!

I’ve been a fan of baseball ever since Willie Mays roamed center field for the New York Giants. When I played Little League in Vancouver, Canada my teammates and I all had heroes who played our position in the Majors. I was a center fielder so Willie was my hero. I moved to San Francisco over 30 years ago and re-connected with my love for Giants baseball.

The recent Giants World Series win (woo hoo!!) has me thinking about the similarities between playing Major League baseball and running a small business…

It takes specific skills and years of practice
A baseball player must spend years in the Minor Leagues honing his craft and developing the skills, strength and confidence to perform well. He also has to get noticed.

Similarly, in the world of small business, successful entrepreneurs are those who have had a lot of practice developing the skills relevant to their product/service. By educating yourself about your industry, doing thorough market research, working for others, and starting with a pop-up or a simple business model that can grow with time, you can set yourself up for “major” success.

Success comes from trying, failing, and trying again
An excellent batter in baseball is only successful 30% of the time. Occasionally a batter might get on base with a walk or because of someone else’s error but he has to face failure with each batting experience. It is very hard to hit a small round ball hurdling through the air from 60 feet away at 90+ miles per hour!

A small business owner won’t be able to make a sale with every customer or client interaction. Being successful means putting yourself out there and reaching out to customers and clients over and over. You may have to contact a potential client 5 to 10 times before they are convinced to “take as swing at your pitch”. Yet with every business “failure” you will gain experience and confidence.

It is a team effort of stakeholders
The pitcher needs to throw fast and get the ball over the plate, the catcher needs to catch the ball, and each infielder and outfielder needs to be ready for every pop-up, fly or ground ball. Everyone has to work in coordination to keep a runner from scoring. That coordination and synergy is central to success—both for the offensive team and those on defense.

As a small business owner, your most important asset is your team. First it starts with you as the leader. Then there are the people you hired and trained who work hard alongside you to make the business a success. Most business owners can’t do it all themselves. Even if your business is too small for employees, there are professional support people, vendors, investors, clients and customers that all have a role to play. They are all stakeholders in the business.

It requires fans
Nothing feels worse than going to a baseball game with lackluster support in the stands. The fans are the 10th “player” on the field. Their enthusiasm and encouragement (and sometimes discouragement) can make a huge difference in the course of the game.

Businesses don’t just need customers and clients, they need enthusiastic and loyal customers and clients. They need fans who will “cheer loud” and spread the word—write positive testimonials, refer the business’ products or services to friends and family, and get others excited, too. Consistent contact and positive messaging to your fan-base is needed in both baseball and in small business.

You need a great coach or advisor
Bruce Bochy is an amazing manager—coaching the Giants to three World Series in five years! As a coach, he decides who plays each position, the batting order and when the pitcher will change. His attention to detail throughout the game can affect the outcome. Players on the team also take on the role of “coach”—helping to keep their team members motivated and working together. Hunter Pence or Buster Posey play this role with their constant encouragement to their teammates.

In business, the owner is often the “coach”—training new employees, guiding staff and creating at atmosphere of trust so employees feel welcomed, supported and motivated to take risks to grow the business. But small business owners need their own coach, too. This could be a trusted business advisor or mentor or it might be peers who are grappling with similar business challenges and opportunities. (PTA plays this role for many of our clients.)

You must take a position and play to your strengths
Some baseball players have an outstanding pitching arm, others seem to always connect the bat with the ball, while others are super fast on their feet. Players must play positions best-suited to their skill-sets.

Small business owners must play to their strengths, too. First, it’s important to understand what skills are needed to run your business well. Then, to be honest with yourself about what you do well and what you don’t (and what you would rather not do). Others should be hired to fill any gaps.

There are the stars
The Giants had some real stars this season, like Madison Bumgarner and Hunter Pence. They performed well under pressure and made the magic happen.

Small business owners and managers need to be stars, too, by “performing” well in every customer and client interaction. You must know your products or services inside and out and consistently rise to every challenge, be they complaints, delivery issues, employees who quit, or other unexpected emergencies.

Support people make everything work
A baseball team can’t be made up of “starters” only, though. There must be a solid crew of players who can be counted on to play well and become utility players at times, pinch-hitting when there is a need. And we cannot forget about all the behind-the-scenes people who make each ball club function.

Successful small businesses also need support people to make everything tick. Even a one-person small business needs a bookkeeper, administrative services, legal and insurance help, and access to the banking community.

You must take breaks and time off to rest and recharge
For eight months of the year, baseball players practice, stay in shape and play hard. But it isn’t non-stop. They take breaks to recuperate and for intense positions, like pitcher, players won’t even play the entire game.

Small business owners are always go-go-go and do not usually get to work just eight months of the year—at least not right away. A fast and constant pace is often required to get and keep customers or clients and manage cash flow. But it is key to manage your time well, too, both on and off the job. Taking a break to rest and have creative time is essential.

When you close a deal and win, it is oh so rewarding!
Every year baseball players go through arbitration or salary disputes. Sometimes they have long-term deals for two or three years but they still have to close the deal, perform at a higher rate and sometimes move to a different team. (We will see how Pablo Sandoval does in Boston. Sometimes your competition convinces your best people to leave.)

As a small business owner, you also have to close the deal. You have to make the sale, hire or fire the employee, open a new store, bring in a new manager, and continue to meet the complexities of the business by increasing your management, marketing and financial acumen (or finding others to help). And every time you make a sale, hire a new employee, find a new location and grow, it is incredibly rewarding.

It is a lot of fun and it is hard work
Baseball players play hard and they get to revel in a great hit, catching the ball for an out, or scoring a run. After all, it is just a game!

As a small business owner, owning a business is the hardest work you will ever do. But it is also a lot of fun—you get to follow your passion, blaze your own trail, create jobs, contribute to your community, and make a difference.

Now, if only the pay rate for small business owners was in the baseball player “ballpark”, we small business entrepreneurs would have it made!

Motivating Others

If you are like most small business owners, you are self-motivated. You are passionate about your service or product and you are always focused on your business – attending to your customers or clients, fixing problems, thinking about how to grow your business, etc. You always want to provide impeccable service and impress clients and customers with your work.

But if you have employees, how do you motivate them to feel as passionately about the business as you do? How can you encourage them to “act like owners”, too?

Eight Tips on Motivating Your Team:

Create a culture of trust. People want to work hard for people they respect and trust. If they feel confident in their relationship with you (and with other employees) it will free them to focus on the work, instead of worrying about inter-personal work-place dynamics.
Share praise. When your employees are doing a great job, let them know. And let others know, too! It can be highly motivating to have one’s work acknowledged and appreciated publicly. Also, giving employees opportunities to take on more responsibility can be a great form of recognition, too.
Be more transparent. Openness is essential for any small business. Your employees need to know what is going on in the business so that they have the information they need to do their jobs well. They should also be getting regular feedback on how they are doing their job. It is particularly important to be transparent if there is going to be a change in the business that will affect your employees. People need to know how the change will affect them personally. Once that is understood, they may be much more likely to work with you through the challenge or transition.
Share decision-making. It is both respectful and practical to involve your employees in key decisions, especially decisions that directly impact their jobs. Often it is the people closest to the problem that have the best insight into possible solutions.
Give people space. It is important to let people accomplish tasks and make decisions independently within their area of the business. No one likes to be micro-managed. Focus on results instead of how the work gets done. (Your way may not be the only way… or the best way.)
Take time to talk and to listen. People feel more confident and energized to do their work when they fully understand what is expected of them, and know that you are available if a problem arises. If you give someone authority over a task, take time for training, communicate the constraints and boundaries of his or her responsibility, and the process for asking questions and getting assistance.
Take the long view — delegate. In the moment when something needs doing, it might seem easier (and faster) to just do it yourself. It can take a lot of up-front effort to explain the task and then that person might work slowly or make mistakes. But giving employees opportunities to take on new and challenging tasks will help them reach their full potential and will ultimately create a much stronger team for your business.
Keep things interesting! No one wants to do the same thing over and over. Every job has repetitive tasks but a part of everyone’s job should involve something interesting. Think about how employees’ tasks align with their experience, knowledge and skill-level, as well as their long-term goals and interests.

If you have employees, they are an essential part of your business – you cannot be a success without them. By creating a more transparent enterprise, sharing praise and decision making, and taking the time to listen and to delegate, you will create a positive business culture that will help both you and your business thrive. When you encourage employees to develop skills and stay engaged with the business, you will be making the best use of your time and skill level, too!

Step in, step up, step out: learning to lead

May 5, 2014
Management
PTA
No Comments

In the first years of life we learn to roll over and then crawl, we learn to toddle and then walk, and we learn to mumble, repeat sounds and then talk. We develop new skills by watching, listening and practicing, by falling down and getting up… over and over. As we grow, we build our strength, self-confidence, skills and understanding about other people and ourselves.

Becoming the leader of a business can be a similar process. We step into the role (sometimes before we are ready) and we step up to the opportunity (even if we stumble along the way). Finally, we learn to step out of day-to-day management and into a leadership role. We develop the personal perspective and skills to take our businesses to the next level.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Your business will have different needs at different times. As a new start-up or a home-based business, you need to figure out what you are doing, convince others to buy from you, and close the sale. As you expand, you can go after more clients and customers and adjust your services and products to fit the market. As your businesses matures, you as the owner need to mature as well. You need to know when it is time to step away from the day-to-day running of the business and bring in additional support. This becomes a leadership opportunity.

LETTING GO
Giving up control over certain aspects of your business is one of the hardest things to do as a business owner. Yet it is essential if you want to grow your business. To be successful, your time needs to be spent on the future of your business, not just the day-to-day needs.

GETTING READY
But how do you recognize the gaps that you need to fill? How to define the complexity of your business and bring your business skills into alignment? How do you know you are ready to hire people and train them to operate the business the way that you have proven is successful?

As a small businesses owner, you may be forced to make quick decisions, reacting to opportunities as they appear instead of strategically setting your course. And, you may have to make things up as you go along, essentially “building the plane as you fly it”. Yet when it comes to hiring people, good preparation is key. It is critical to to first ask yourself why you need help, what type of person or skill set is best suited for the job, and how you will train, direct and assess new hires so that you can incorporate them smoothly into your business.

JUMPING IN
Here are six important tips to consider when planning to hire employees and step into a position of leadership.

1. Understand the financial impact
Before jumping into a hiring process, you need to be able to afford it. Financial costs and revenues forecasting comes first. Hiring the right person comes second.

2. Look for people who complement your skill sets
It is important to hire people who can do the type of work that is important to the business but that you don’t do well. Do you struggle to track your expenditures or manage your budget? Bring in someone with strong money management skills. Do you love making the product but shy away from reaching out to potential customers? Hire someone with great people skills and a sales or marketing background.

3. Spend time on training and then get out of the way
You might be eager to get a new person working as soon as possible but it’s important to put energy into training so the new hire not only understands how to do things the right way but also understands why it’s important to do them that way. Once a new person is trained, it’s time to get out of the way. The business is your “baby” and you may have been responsible for all tasks until now. But the only way a new hire can be motivated, loyal to the business and successful, is if you let him or her own some of the work, too.

4. Set the right tone and others will follow
You, as the owner, set the business culture. If you are motivated and happy in your role, if you are transparent, open, consistent and fair, then others will follow your lead. As the owner, you must be a good communicator and in particular, you must communicate your vision and goals with the people who work for you. Without clear business goals, it’s easy for everyone to get lost in the details and lose sight of the big picture. You all need to be on the same page.

5. Continually take the pulse of your team
A good leader takes time to give clear directions, solicit feedback and listen to suggestions. By scheduling regular check-ins, team meetings and performance reviews with your employees, you create a productive space for communicating goals, addressing concerns and answering questions. Your employees can then feel confident that they know what is expected of them, and you can feel free to give them the space they need to do their jobs well. How you communicate with your employees (and how your employees communicate with each other) makes all the difference!

6. Get help through the process
You don’t have to figure it all out on your own. We help small business clients all the time to assess their needs, make the right hires, create training programs to build strong teams, and implement better management systems. Your support network of advisers and other small business owners can be a guide or sounding board as you develop leadership skills and systems for better management.

It is important to invest time, money and attention in your people. They are key to your business success!

Elements of effective mentoring

“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image,
but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.”
– Steven Spielberg

January is National Mentoring Month so it feels like the right time to be talking about small business mentoring — a key ingredient to success for every entrepreneur.

At some point, we all need guidance, a sounding board and a cheerleader to navigate through changes, growth and challenges in our business. Guidance can come in many forms — from a business “buddy”, through a peer support group, or directly from a trusted business adviser or a team of advisers. No matter the form, what is most important is that our mentors encourage us to look closely at issues and opportunities, and to maximize our potential. With their support, we can develop our business skills, take risks, and be successful.

Our support system must include people who have been in our shoes. We must surround ourselves with subject-matter experts and experienced small business owners who have dealt with similar challenges first-hand and can help us make sense of the clutter and make decisions with relevant, timely advice.

Though we believe that the best small business mentors are other small businesses owners, success in business does not qualify someone as a good mentor. That person must also be a skillful listener and motivator, know how to ask questions, and know when and how to give honest advice. In addition, the best mentors open doors to a wider network that can support us and our business.

To sum it up, we believe that effective mentors…

Listen carefully to what you say (and don’t say)
Understand your needs and respect your point of view
Ask questions and challenge assumptions
Guide based on their own experience/expertise
Share relevant and immediately actionable advice, and
Are accessible and supportive over the longer term.

Above all, the mentor-mentee relationship should be a partnership, based on mutual respect and trust.

Mentoring matters

What really matters to us as we move through life? For many of us, it is family, friends, good health and making a difference in the world through the work we do.

I recently read the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson and watched a documentary on his life and last few months. Jobs didn’t ever seem to give up. He pushed himself and others to be different and make a difference. He is an example of someone who had a passion for life, a commitment to make an impact, and a curiosity that never went away.

Jobs felt that “the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe to be great work.” He went on to say that “the only way to do great work, is to love what you do.” Do we all have this passion and enthusiasm? Are we committed to being a success no matter what stands in our way?

Most small business owners are driven… to do something our own way and to be a success. Yes, we want to be financially successful but other types of success matter to us, too: doing something unique, being remembered, teaching others, and leaving a legacy — something that will last.

But what happens when we get stuck? What if we cannot stay connected to the passion? What if success feels elusive and failures do not all become lessons learned? Innately, we know we must keep moving forward and that we will learn from our failures if we can figure out a different path. (Of course, trying to do the same thing the same way over and over is not wisdom, it’s insanity.) Success usually doesn’t just show up. We have to go out there and get it…tackle it, embrace it, own it.

Sometimes we have trouble figuring out the next steps on our own, though. There may be too many options. We may be spinning our wheels around one particular issue. We may hesitate instead of taking action. When we stumble and panic, who can guide us and nudge us forward? Finding someone we trust to mentor us can be critical.

I have a client who is a long-distance open water swimmer. When his group is on a long swim they have escorts in kayaks, rowboats and inflatable motorboats. As he explains, the escorts “look out for our safety, fending off other boats, telling us where we are, where to go, they feed us. They make sure we are okay in mind and body. They are our cheerleaders and companions in our journey to the goal.”

Small business owners also need guides through rough waters. We need escorts, cheerleaders and supporters as we deal with changes and difficulties in our businesses. We might be forced to move locations unexpectedly, have an important employee abandon us, or struggle to make the business financially sustainable. In these times, mentors are essential.

According to the Startup Genome Report, “having helpful mentors” is key to entrepreneurial success. This survey of 650 internet startups found that “the right mentors significantly influence a company’s performance and ability to raise money.” Though we may not have the data to prove it yet, I believe mentoring matters for all small businesses, both new and established. With great mentor support, we can all become the small business owners we want to be.

Remembering a great friend and mentor

As we celebrate another year around the sun, I have been reflecting on what matters to me most and, in particular, the important relationships and mentors in my life. I have been thinking a lot about my late friend and PTA associate, CeCe Phillips.

CeCe Phillips

CeCe and I were born the same year, just a few weeks apart. Our closeness in age felt like a special bond. I often joked with her about how she was older than me. She would always reply, “ Now Paul, you don’t want to go there!”

I thought I was her best friend…at least that is how she made me feel. She was so supportive and always made it clear that she truly cared about me. We talked on the phone, exchanged e-mails, saw each other at business meetings, met for lunch or coffee, and often co-taught classes together. Many years later, when she was too sick to travel because of cancer, I would visit her. At the celebration of her life after she passed, it was clear that she had been a best friend to so many. She loved all of us and had a gift for treating everyone in her life as someone special.

CeCe was a great listener, a quality so important in a friend and mentor. She was curious about me, my family, and my small business. Every time we were together she asked good questions and gave me the space to answer. When giving advice, she was careful to say just enough and not more.

Paul and CeCe back in the day

CeCe was also quick to share with me how I was a support to her. I remember giving her advice once about what she could say in a speech to a small business group. Though she didn’t end up using any of my exact suggestions, she told me afterwards, “What you shared with me was in there. Your ideas helped me think through what I wanted to say. Without talking to you first, I might not have ever gotten there on my own.”

In the last weeks of her life, I called her every couple of days and we would talk while I did errands and she sat in her chemotherapy treatment. We chatted about family, business colleagues, and what we wanted to do next. (We were always planning our next big idea or business venture together.) We laughed together and shared stories. She continued to mentor and inspire me with her passion for life, even as life was ebbing from her.

Of the many lessons I learned from this remarkable woman, three stand out:

Listen closely and watch carefully when someone is talking to you.
Do whatever you can to empower and provide support to all the people around you.
If there is a choice between playing and working, always choose play.

It is hard to label many things in life as “perfect” but this may have been the perfect friendship. Thank you CeCe for being a wonderful friend, mentor and teacher. You continue to inspire!

A Birthday Reflection

No matter what we do, we get older every year! Our birthdays remind us of this fact and we can’t ignore it. It’s my birthday weekend so thinking about change is particularly on my mind.

Early birthdays came with exciting milestones: being old enough to stay out late, attend a concert without parental supervision, borrow and drive the family car, and finally get to vote. Now that I’m at an age when I get carded for senior discounts and asked to join AARP, birthdays take on a different kind of significance. Who is speeding time up?

I think we should celebrate birthdays at every age. There are all kinds of ways to do that — throwing a party, going out to eat with friends, or just sleeping in.

For a small business owner, it’s hard to take time off when the demands of the business are all consuming. Yet we must take a break …and once a year is a minimum! We need to find ways to create balance in our lives and birthdays are a great excuse and opportunity for reflection and celebration.

A Day For Myself
I have made it an annual tradition to not work on my birthday. If my birthday falls on a weekday, I do not schedule clients or teach classes. I spend at least part of the day alone, out of doors and, if possible, out of the city. I’ll go on a hike in coastal Marin, meditate at Spirit Rock or at the Green Gulch Zen Center, or just find a way to sit still somewhere. I reflect on the past year and think about the year ahead and what is most important in my business and in my life.

Getting away from my daily routine is often how I get the chance to think creatively as a business owner. On this annual birthday “retreat” I slow down to reflect on my life, my health, my family and every blessing no matter how small. This day of contemplation with fresh air and exercise does a lot for my spirit and helps me to recharge for the year ahead.

Celebrating the Season
My dear friend Cece, who has now passed, introduced me to the idea of a “birthday season” over a decade ago. It started for her by accident. Her many friends would call to take her out for breakfast, brunch or dinner on her birthday and she would get fully booked up for the day. Then she started making plans for the day before her birthday and the day after. Finally, she announced with great joy and laughter that she was officially celebrating her birthday season, which started 10 days before the date and continued for 10 days afterwards. She invented her own way to celebrate so that she could connect individually with all the people she cared about.

I love this idea and have enjoyed extending my birthday into a “birthday season”. I have introduced this to others and have implemented the concept for family members’ and close friends’ birthdays, too.

A New Tradition
My first grandson was born a year ago and it now makes the month of October even more significant to me. I’ve decided to start a new birthday tradition—spending special one-on-one time with him. This year it may be only a swing at the park but next year he’ll be ready to run the bases!

What is your birthday tradition?