Let's all teach people to fish - design for business training needs to get real.

Every time I look at this picture, it warms my heart. A friend had taken me out to the country and was giving me a lesson in fly fishing. I didn't do so well. This photo does not capture how incompetent I really was. We had a remarkable time - taking me back to the fun outdoorsy stuff that I miss.


There's an old adage that says  "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day but teach him to fish and he will never go hungry."



I was given an opportunity this week to speak with stakeholders about teaching people to fish (become entrepreneurs) and how important it was that they be supported in that journey. Not just supported, but supported in the right way.

In the early days of my own entrepreneurial journey, I was adamant that I needed money to become a business owner. I really believed that having an influx of cash would get me started. But I was wrong. I didn't know what I didn't know. With a lot of humility I have learned tough lessons where the rubber hits the road. Some of those lessons have been very painful including the one where I recognized that I needed skills and not money.
I was a reluctant entrepreneur so I had no real desire to learn to fish. I needed to learn to survive and if it meant fishing, then I needed to learn. I also needed someone with the patience to teach me how. Even though I ended up teaching myself, it's a tough model - it's labour intensive, it takes too long and can wear a person down. Fortunately, I lived to tell the tale and so it has also become a gift. It has allowed me to gain insight that I wouldn't normally have been privy to had I not had that experience.

Here are a few of the lessons that I have learned where the rubber hits the road that continue to benefit me in designing business training:

1. Stop giving people handouts without ensuring that you also give them the supports they need to leverage the handout. Throwing money at a problem does not resolve the underlying problem. Support has to be intentional - tackling the issues that are front of mind for the learner.

2. Design matters -  the first business course I took taught me how to do financial management in business. I had no finances to manage and it all seemed so abstract. I couldn't figure out how to make my first $100.00 and someone wanted me to plug numbers into a spreadsheet that were higher than any numbers that I had ever seen in my life.

Having the right learning objectives in a program is as important as providing support for transfer learning. It's OK to take a course in a classroom but if you're left to your own devices when the program is over, then you're in hot water because learning is a vulnerable venture. Change is tough - doing it on our own is difficult. We need to have well designed programs that meet people where they are and then couple that training with the right support for transfer learning. Often when people leave the classroom, they don't have the supports in their lives to support the change they need to make. Make sure you offer an opportunity for support. 

3. Mindset matters - this is the hot button topic that permeates every class that I offer. It worked for the little engine and it works for us. What we believe matters. Learning is enhanced when we meet people where they are. Levels of oppression impact where the gaps are and how big they are. Money mindset, assertive communication, relationship building. All of these are core competencies in business. That's why I prefer to sprinkle every program with core competencies. It makes for a better, more engaged program. 

That's why people signed up for the 30 Day Sales Challenge after already being through it one time. They had results the first time around and when I offered the new and improved, they wanted to join again. I keep it real. We don't speak in abstracts - it's all about the hustle where the rubber hits the road. I like to meet clients where they are. This is essential to success in our industry. 

If you're in the business of supporting entrepreneurs, learn to give them what it is that they need not what you think they need - this takes courage. 

Want to book an appointment to talk about design?  

Asking a stupid question is a very smart thing to do!!!

It took a lot of work to get a degree in my forties. As much as I enjoyed learning, it was a bit of an uphill battle most days. Dang, it was tough getting there - dropping my daughter off at the sitter before taking the bus 90 minutes one way. But beyond that, it was tough doing the double duty that my brain endured because....frankly, I had no idea what the professor was saying half the time.

It was hard enough to learn new topics like Statistics and Sociology but to top it all off, there were new words used daily that made no sense to me. One day, I remember feeling extremely frustrated as I tried to keep up with the topic that day and the teacher uses a sentence with the word "extrapolate" in it.

That naughty little voice inside me screamed "WTF. Extrapolate this you SOB." But of course I didn't say that. What I did ask was "Can you please tell me what extrapolate means?" She - the professor - looked at me with a look that said....well, it doesn't matter what I thought it said. She looked over the top of her glasses as she scanned the room. I knew she didn't like me interrupting her. She went on to tell us what it meant. When we left class that day - a few other students came over and told me that they were glad that I had asked that question. They were also struggling with some of the jargon.

My first year in university I purchased 3 dictionaries. No kidding - my sister and I used to share new words and they were coming at me fast and furious. I think I needed to take a separate course called "Unnecessary Words We Will Use So That We Look Smart".

"Why say marmalade when you can say jam?"

I still love plain language - oh, don't get me wrong - I can speak complicated language but I prefer to include people when I can. The words we use sometimes exclude people. Using too much jargon without explaining what it means is unnecessary. I also continue to be smart when it comes to asking questions that may make me look stupid. After all - asking those questions have opened doors for me. Some of the smartest people I have ever encountered have never spent one day in a university classroom. They don't use big words when we speak - but we get what they're trying to say.

Be the person who asks too many questions. As an educator, I take ownership of the lessons delivered. If the student doesn't get it, I like to deliver it in a new way. If I'm paying you to teach me something, I need to get what you're trying to say. I'm going to interrupt so that I can get it and follow the lesson.

They say there's no such thing as a stupid question - maybe/maybe not but I prefer to say that the only stupid question is the one you didn't ask.

5 things to consider if you're planning to borrow money for business..

Are you thinking about borrowing money for business? If you are, I think there are a few things you need to consider before signing on the dotted line.

1. Do an accurate set of financial projections. This can save you a ton of grief. On the one end of the spectrum, without going through this exercise, it's possible that you won't ask for enough money. I worked with a client a while back who thought they needed X amount of dollars but when we looked at the project, they actually needed to borrow 3 times that amount to do what they planned on doing. Sometimes when we're acting from pure emotion, we don't have that level of objectivity to see the hidden costs. If numbers aren't your thing, work with someone who has strength in that area. 

2. Know thyself. If you're someone is so passionate that you just jump into all kinds of risk without even thinking about the financial cost - slow it down a bit. Knowing yourself is a good thing. If you're someone who spends frivolously on everything that catches your eye, you may want to rethink why you're borrowing money. 

3. Be honest with yourself. Don't kid yourself into believing that you're borrowing money for growth when you know you're borrowing money to pay down debt. If you're the last of the big spenders and don't pay attention to what you're spending, don't borrow. One of the problems that people have is that they're in denial about where their business is. If you are someone who never looks at your balance sheet, has no idea what YTD stands for or keeps everything in a Sobey's bag for 3 years, I'd be reluctant to borrow money just so you have cashflow. Don't lie to yourself.

4. Include the family in decision making. Here's a trend that is happening more often than we like to think. One person is the business owner - the spouse takes a hands and eyes off approach to what they are doing. Often there's overspending going on - borrowing from Peter to pay Paul until one day, the well dries up. Then the shit hits the fan and there's no option but to come clean. Sad when it happens and marriages have failed as a result. So, if you're new to business, don't go down this path. I'm not certain what the solution is but mis-representing your cash position to a spouse is not a good thing. Maybe including the family in decision making is a good idea. Maybe not! You get the idea. 

5. Know when it's time to wind up. This is a sad reality. Sometimes when you hold that mirror up to people and they get a good hard look at the realities of their business -- the writing is on the wall. You don't need to borrow money. You need to think about a new line of work. It's a hard pill to swallow for sure!!!

If you take all of this into consideration before you borrow - you may make a better decision. 

Don't let your mindset undermine your hard work!!!

Are you out there pounding the pavement trying to sell your products and services only to look at that balance sheet at the end of the month and wonder why you even bother?

You're not alone - there are many entrepreneurs out there working way too hard to make a living. Ever wonder why that is? Ever wonder whether your mindset supports your success goals?

A sinkhole happens when the ground under a paved section can no longer support the weight. No matter how much asphalt you put on this hole, the hole will keep coming back until you deal with the underlying issues - erosion, lack of preparation etc.

That's like mindset - you can write the best copy, have unlimited financial resources to put into your business, but if you don't have the right mindset - the results are inevitable. Your mindset determines results.

Congruence between your actions and your mindset is key to achieving your goals. It takes work to change a mind that has been operating on autopilot for decades. It takes reflection, challenging your own assumptions and sometimes working against the majority. Mental toughness is needed to change a mind but if you want to achieve success, you can't ignore it. You have to take action or you'll continue to get the same results.

Check in today - what's going on below the surface?

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