Role Power

Featured

Posted on by
Reply

Role Power is the power you, as the owner, have over your staff because you have the title of Owner. Have you ever told an employee to do something they didn’t want to do or tell them to do it a certain way with the only explanation being “because I said so” or something along those lines. That is a version of expressing your Role Power. The use and misuse of Role Power can have a long standing impact on a relationship, and if that relationship is a business one, a long standing impact on your business.

The use of Role Power needs to be as limited as possible. Some would say limit using it to when you are in crisis mode only and once the crisis is over you should go back and explain why you had people doing the things you had them do. If you have to resort to using Role Power, something broke down along the way. Employees that believe in their company’s leadership, mission, and direction don’t have to be “forced” to do much. Getting them to believe in the company involves having excellent direction and communication coming from the top, hiring the correct personnel, and getting rid of employees that don’t buy in.

Should I Get Involved with the Industry

Featured

Posted on by
Reply

Absolutely! Being involved with the industry gives you a chance to help shape the future of cheerleading and dance. Whether its participating in meetings, such as the NACCC Meeting in Doral or the USASF Regional Meetings, serving on a board or committee, or submitting proposals for the next rules cycle, you should get involved to make sure your voice is heard and your vote is counted.

In addition, sharing your ideas about the industry helps people get to know you. People within the industry feeling like they know you and feeling like you are approachable is good for your business. At a minimum it get’s your name out there so people are already familiar with you when they are searching for someone who offers the services you offer. As a maximum it can lead to new business and job offers, something I can attest to personally.

Two things are coming up you can start with. First is the USASF National Advisory Board elections (NAB Nominees), which should open voting in January. The second is submitting proposals for the next rules cycle. Proposals are due May 1st and the process is outlined on Spirit Post. Either of these is a great way to start making your voice heard and getting involved in shaping the direction of our industry.

Should My Company Be On Facebook?

Featured

Posted on by

Over the past couple of years I’ve had several people ask if their company should be on Facebook. If your company is in the Cheerleading and Dance industry the answer is a definite YES. Why? Because your customers, existing and potential, are using Facebook.

Facebook has over 500 million users, which is a great audience to share your business with. The question should be how to use Facebook, not whether or not to use it, and we’ll help address that question at a later date.

Should My Company Attend Worlds?

Featured

Posted on by

Yes, your company should attend Worlds. Networking is an important part of the Cheerleading and Dance industry, making events such as Worlds “Must Attend” events. Worlds is the only event that will be attended by every major Event Producer, Gym, Dance Studio, Choreographer, Music Producer and Vendor in our industry, giving those attending to network with everyone in a single weekend. You’ll also get to see the best cheerleading and dance routines of the year.

As a Coach, would you like to see the top routines and meet the people that put them together? Would you like to schedule them for your teams or do you want a new sound for your teams? As a Choreographer, do you want to meet the Coaches and Gym Owners that could be your next client? Do you want to see the top teams in action to get your wheels turning? As a Gym Owner, do you want to meet the Event Producers that have events in your area? Do you want to meet other Gym Owners to see if there are any partnerships that can be formed? As an Event Producer, do you want to meet the Vendors that can that can help you improve your events?

The are other places where some of this can be done, such as JAM U or the Varsity Gym Owners Conference, but none will have as many people in one place as Worlds.

How Should My Company Use Facebook?

Featured

Posted on by

With over 500 million users and being the website people spend the most time on, Facebook can be a great tool to reach your existing and potential clients. The question many businesses struggle to answer is how to use Facebook. We have a few suggestions to get you started:

  • Give recognition to clients. As a gym or studio you can highlight individuals that gain new skills and win awards. As an event producer you can congratulate individuals for showing exceptional skill and teams for how they place and awards they receive.
  • Games and Contests. Facebook can help facilitate contests such as the Hit a Ray contest or those involving taking pictures in your gym, studio, or event producer clothing.
  • Re-Distribute information posted on your website. Many of your clients check Facebook several times a day. They probably don’t check your website nearly that often so you may want to use Facebook to let them know when you’ve added something important to your website.

This is a follow up article to Should My Company Be On Facebook?

Gym & Studio Rentals

Featured

Posted on by

A couple weeks ago I had a few conversations with gym owners about gym rentals and how the work at their gyms. I took a few different things away from those conversations:

  • Always charge for rentals, with the possible exception of teams that are already consistent clients of yours. Even then the consensus was still to charge, but charge less.
  • Things to consider when setting a price is what the space would be used for if not rented, if the rental will extend hours for any staff members, and if the rental is something that will improve your relationship with a customer or expose new customers to you.
  • Have them sign a Rental Agreement accepting responsibility for whatever happens during the rental time.
  • Make sure you are covered by insurance, whether it’s via your insurance policy or by being named as an Additional Insured on their policy, or both.

Dealing with Late Accounts

Featured

Posted on by
Reply

One of the things that seems to be consistent across gyms is accounts being behind, especially this time of year. As an owner you have to keep overdue accounts under control in order to avoid paying for things your athletes are paying for and driving yourself out of business. Control starts with having a policy regarding overdue accounts. It could range from having a policy that prevents anyone that is behind or a certain dollar amount behind from participating to requiring a card on file, but regardless of the option you go with you must apply it consistently. The final part is applying it consistently to everyone. Firmly enforcing the option you choose will let your parents know you are serious about the business side of things and give them faith you’ll be around for the long run.

Letting an athlete get behind puts you in a bad position. If the athlete quits or you throw them off with an overdue account it will pretty much ensure you won’t be collecting what’s due. To mitigate this, the sooner the decision is made for the overdue account to no longer participate the better it is financially. On one hand you are no longer increasing how much you are owed and on the other hand you are no longer helping a family rack up debt they can’t handle. If you let the athlete continue with an overdue account, you are not just giving your service away, you are actually paying someone to take it. If you are paying fees, but haven’t collected the money from the athlete, you are paying everyone else in the industry, uniform companies, event producers, choreographers, music producers, but you haven’t paid yourself. You cannot stay in business this way.

I heard several reasons explaining why some athletes don’t pay. If you choose to allow this please understand the impact of doing so. On the positive side you usually get better athletes and can compete with closer to the maximum number of people allowed, increasing your chances of placing well. On the negative side you can offend the families that are paying, causing them to leave your program. Of course what is done is your choice, just make sure the decisions you are making are helping you accomplish the goals you have set.

Monitoring the Private Lives of Your Employees

Featured

Posted on by

I read an article in the New York Times titled Monitoring the Private Lives of Your Employees which made me wonder how much monitoring is appropriate and how it should be done. Many employers have policy’s regarding the image an employee portrays on social networks, but how far should those policies go? As a gym owner should you monitor your employees’ social interactions with your gym families or ban interaction altogether? Should you allow your employees to be “friends” with athletes at the gym or should you require your staff to keep their social media lives separate. Should you take the opposite approach and require everyone that works for you to be you friend on sites like Facebook, Google+, and Twitter? These are questions you’ll have to think about and answer to make sure your business is represented in the manner you desire.

Test of Genius

Featured

Posted on by

Earlier this week I re-stumbled upon this quote:

The real test of genius is not knowing best from worst, but knowing best from second best.

For some reason it really made me think about business owners this time. This is the real test of genius for a business owner, knowing best from everything else. Knowing where to put your resources so you get the most in return, not just a positive return. Knowing which qualified applicant will turn out to be a great hire, not just a good hire. Knowing which of the “good enough” options to choose is one of the keys to running a great business.

Tough v. Unpleasant

Featured

Posted on by

Many people confuse a Tough decision with an Unpleasant action. Tough decisions arise when you don’t know which option to choose because the options appear to be equal. You could be looking at several good options, like choosing between court-side seats or a luxury box at the game, or between bad options such as going through the rock or the hard place. Tough decisions related to our industry could be choosing an event schedule, who to hire among several great applicants, which music producer or choreographer to choose, when to move into a larger building, or which good employee to get rid of because employment is down.

There’s only one Unpleasant action I want to focus on and that’s firing an employee that needs to go. Typically by the time you are consciously thinking about firing someone the decision has already been made clear. The problem is it requires an Unpleasant action so you hide behind saying it’s a Tough decision. It’s not! As a business owner you have to be able to determine the difference between Tough decisions and Unpleasant actions and you have to be able to deal with both. Making Tough decisions and taking Unpleasant actions is an essential part of having a chance at being successful.

Leadership Success is No Longer Measured by Money or Power

Posted on by
Reply

Glenn Llopis published Leadership Success is No Longer Measured by Money or Power on Forbes. This article asks “What is Leadership Success?” and begins to answer it.

Historically, leadership success has been associated with money and power. The more you have, the more successful you are. This is a false idea of success. How many people do you know that have money and power that are also happy, ethical, and purposeful? Sure, there are a few – but only a few.

Doing the Math on Disappointed Customers

Posted on by
Reply

Jay Goltz published Doing the Math on Disappointed Customers on the You’re the Boss blog. The article talks about the cost of not taking the time, effort, and money to fix a customer’s problem.

And that was O.K. Of course, the next time someone asks me which company coated my floor, I will be giving a different answer. Here is the simple math. The touch-up kit can’t cost more than $10, including shipping. The cost of coating a garage floor is now, I’m sure, around $4,000. I almost certainly would have had occasion to recommend this company to a couple of other people in the coming years. Which means this will probably cost him $8,000 in lost business. And then there are all of the referrals from the referrals. Maybe $20,000? $50,000? Nice letters and warranties might get a sale, but standing behind your product or service will get the repeat business and referrals that make the business.

Everything I Need to Know About Startups, I Learned From a Crime Boss

Posted on by
Reply

Donald DeSantis published Everything I Need to Know About Startups, I Learned From a Crime Boss on GigaOM, in which he talks about lessons learned via organized crime. Those lessons are:

  • Don’t sell rocks when you can sell mountains
  • Cut out the middleman
  • Don’t shit where you eat
  • If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense
  • Closed mouths don’t get fed
  • Be a badass

How to Diagnose What’s Wrong With Your Business

Posted on by
Reply

Jay Goltz published How to Diagnose What’s Wrong With Your Business in You’re the Boss, outlining the things he takes a look at when a business is struggling. The first 3 relate to Marketing, the next 3 to Management, the following 3 to Accounting & Finance, and the last one stands alone:

  1. Targeting
  2. Advertising and Public Relations
  3. The Message
  4. Hiring
  5. Firing
  6. Operations
  7. Basic Accounting
  8. Pricing
  9. Financing
  10. Leadership

Leadership – Why “Yes” is a Better Answer Than “No”

Posted on by
Reply

Forbes published Leadership – Why “Yes” is a Better Answer than “No” by Mike Myatt. The article  points out how  saying “No” creates a negative culture, how “Yes” leads to a positive environment, and saying “Yes” is a sign of intelligent leadership.

Ask yourself this question – If as a leader you find yourself always saying no, what does that tell you about your leadership ability? It means your vision is not understood, your team is not aligned, and your talent is not performing up to par.