Comeback

Donald Trump likes to think of himself as the comeback kid. So does Bill Clinton. For that matter, so does Microsoft, IBM and even the GAP.

What is a comeback? Well, in the context of a small business, a comeback is when a small business that was left for dead, is able to reinvent itself, makeover its image, and through innovation, risk, focus and patience able to work its way back into the good graces of its customers and clients, and restore its image and reputation to the public.

Not every business can make a comeback after reaching the precipice. Donald Trump is a business onto himself and he will tell you that when things get really bad, and when he gets really low, he never loses faith that somehow he can pull through it. He is a born optimist, probably. He sees the glass half full. And when there is a shit storm of things going wrong around him, he looks beyond the storm (rather than get caught up in it) to find a solution to whatever is ailing his business. Like right now. Even his gambling outfits are in trouble. His building in Chicago is in the red the last I heard. But I am not worried about the Donald. I look to him for inspiration, and for pulling the cat out of the bag. He's inventive. He's going to come up with something.

How does a small business get beyond, say, this economic train wreck? By being futuristic in its thinking. By acting as if it is Donald Trump. And by never losing focus of the vision for the company. No matter how bad it gets, just know you can always make a comeback. And keep active. Stay busy. Do not stop to even think about this mess. Look beyond it because it, too, shall pass.

DNA

I once knew a guy who I will call “Wall Street Tycoon.” He had dreams of starting a hedge fund on Wall Street. So what did he do? First, he got really good stationary. And then he went out and he recruited about ten of his friends, acquaintances and associates from his private club and then he asked them to come aboard his newly formed corporation. Now, the only vetting criteria he used is where they went to school and what their resumes sounded like. PHD in French Literature from Standford? Check. BA in political science from Yale? Check. Former Harvard Law School Dean of Students? Check. You name it, he got every elite school grad he could find and he asked them to join his company.

And he got really good stationary and really good paper. Then he proceeded to set up a hedge fund that traded heavily in real estate. Sounds good so far? It was. The only problem is, for all their PHDs and impressive educational pedigree, not one of these people understood the fundamentals about starting or running a hedge fund. Many of them did not know for sure what a hedge fund did. Actually, the only person who knew anything about hedge funds was Wall Street Tycoon.

I was getting pretty fed up hearing him bad mouth everybody when deal after deal fell through. “But why did you bring this guy aboard in the first place?” I asked one day in exasperation. “He knows nothing about what you are doing and you knew that from the start.” Wall Street Tycoon got really angry and impatient with my ignorance. “This guy is a PHD!” he rasped.
“Yes," I concurred. "But PHD in what?!”

He was a real genius this guy, Wall Street Tycoon. He personally guaranteed about $5 million dollars using his house as collateral for the debt, and proceeded to spend money, a lot of money on things like sponsoring scholarship funds for major universities in the city in an effort to get on “the Board” so that he could be in the right circles, and get investors for his fund.

But when you really got down to asking him what exactly his company does and what his vision was for the firm and what his strategy was for accomplishing his vision and how any of these people fit into the mold other than to add impressive resumes, he got defensive and told you things like “this is very creative. You are not going to get it. I know what I am doing. This is what I do. I am a financial engineer.”

Well, I was not an engineer but I got a bad feeling about this company from the start. I told him he needed to sit down and do some root canal and figure out what it was his company was about, and give everyone clear goals, and surround himself with some people who knew how to run and maintain a hedge fund. In short, I was asking him to figure out the company’s DNA before going one step further.

Do I need to recount in numbing detail how this story ended?

The moral is, before you take a step further, figure out the DNA of your company. Believe me it is a lot more complex than fancy resumes and stock paper.

Momentum

It is all about the build up, and sustaining rhythm. As a small business owner, you have to build your company up from nothing, in a sytematic, logical way. As the visionary for your firm, you have got to get a certain rhythm going that leads to the ultimate fulfillment of your vision for your company.

Stop go, hot cold approaches don't seem to work as well as really sitting down from the get go and drawing the blue prints, creating the architecture for your vision, and then going out and taking steps and action that compliment that vision and those goals so that you can construct the building.

Momentum is about the rate of action, speed, motion, force, proportion, mass, rhythm and change of a person or object. So as a small business owner, its about how you do what you do to make your business work, to achieve that breakthrough, no matter how brutal the process and path. It is almost always a mistake to start off too fast, or too big. A gradual build up is best. Then crescendo, then plateau, then build up again...it's almost like surfing, riding the wave. It is the thrill of the thing.

"Sustainable transformation follow a predictable pattern of build up and breakthrough. Like pushing on a giant heavy wheel, it takes a lot of effort to get the thing moving at all, but with persistent pushing in a consistent direction over a long period of time, teh wheel builds momentum eventually hitting a point of breakthrough."
-Unknown source

Creativity

To be creative is to be like Edouard Manet, the French Impressionist of the late 19th Century. His was a style that was innovative, bold, transparent and visionary. He “broke new ground in representation and technique” and was both focused and flexible.

As a small business owner, these are qualities that will serve you well. Your first task is to figure out what your customers want then you’ve got to experiment, look to emerging trends as a guide, be willing to change to capitalize on the trends, and steadily build momentum towards making your vision manifest.

Being creative means using a certain calculus and “visionary leadership” to form strategy and to execute strategy using cutting edge methodologies rather than using a sort of haphazard approach, doing things willy nilly with no rhyme or reason just because it is the status quo. Creativity, therefore is not a euphemism for a lack of discipline. Nor is it an excuse for a totally laissez faire attitude. It is really a "juxtaposition of innovation and imitation." It is where “scandal meets triumph.” It is art.

So get that adrenaline pumping, be true to your values, mission and goals. Creativity, as Manet came to realize, is about purity, a willingness to boldly act on ideas and vision in such a way as to challenge pre-conceived ideas, and the old way of doing things, and to do so with a healthy degree of transparency. It is about risk, daring to “look for the grand light and grand shadow.”

Advisors

Small businesses need good advisors. If possible, the business may even need an advisory board. But getting people to sit on your advisory board may not be all that easy if they don't perceive there's anything in it for them. Even just getting a mentor is hard. People want pay offs and pay outs for their time and advise. There is no free lunch.

What is a small business on a budget to do? Well, depending on the type of business you are, advisors are probably not a negotiable lot. You need them. Period. Certain tech start ups for example, need people whose experience has been vetted that they can call and ask questions, people who can advise them on management issues, strategy, methodologies and ideas for implementing their vision for the growing company.

You may just have to pay them a stipend if it comes down to it. Or offer them stock options. Or try some sort of barter. If you are an attorney, for example you might trade legal services for management advice. It really depends on what your strengths are, and what they do.

But definitely think about an advisory board. They are often worth their weight in gold.

Vision

When you hear the word “vision” what comes to your mind’s eye? In the context of your company or business? How do you literally see your business flourishing and becoming successful? What is it that you have to do? And more than that, what kind of business do you see yourself running?

Vision is a very broad concept. For the small business owner it can be one of the biggest tasks, tapping into vision, and growing a company based on what you see and visualize when you do all your turbocharging and brainstorming.

What are your values and how do they impact the type of company you want to run? How big do you want to expand? What exactly do you want to do? How do you want to do it? Innovation is an important skill. What innovative strategies do you have in mind? What type of people do you want to work with in creating the type of company you want to have? Why do you even want to have this company? Why do you exist? Why does your company exist? Where is your company located? How do you bring your product and services to your customers and clients?

Is your company “green”? What is the mission of your company? Have you formulated a mission statement? At the end of the day, can you visualize a scenario where you are running an enterprise that is successful? Can you have fun doing whatever it is you are planning to do? Does your personality match the kind of business you are running and want to run?

Strategy

What is your strategy? What is your business about? What are its values? What is it's mission? What is your brand image? How do you define your company? Why do you exist as a company? Are you adding value to the industry you are in? Why should a client or customer come to you and not the other small business down the street? What is your purpose for running this business? And you. Are you a good leader? No strategy can be implemented without a good, appropriate leader and project manager. How are your managerial skills? What is your vision for your company? What are your specific step by step methodology for the implementation of your strategic goals? What is the "DNA" of your mission and strategy? Have you broken down what you are trying to accomplish to its nucleus and have put each component together to visualize a architectural prototype for success? Have you given yourself a time frame to accomplish your objectives? Have you set measurable goals? Do you have an organizational chart? Have you done your research? What role will you play? What will be your business personality? Ally? Provocateur? Apprentice? Boss? Arrogant? Confident? Humble? Cut throat?