General Archives - Greg Harrod

How To Build Your Side Business By Keeping Your Day Job

Greg Harrod — Sun, 18 Jul 2021 13:00:00 +0000

If you want to build your side business, you may be tempted to think of your day job as an obstacle between you and your success as a business owner.

If you could only free yourself from the daily grind of your nine to five, you would finally have enough time to fully pursue your dream job.

If that’s how you feel, I encourage you to pause before you submit your resignation.

Stay curious for just a bit longer as Michael Bungay Stanier encourages leaders to do and consider a new perspective about your current position.

That day job you’re so eager to escape can actually provide you with benefits you may not recognize. Benefits you can use to build your side business.

And, these positives of staying where you are in addition to the obvious reasons you’re going back to your workplace day after day.

The obvious reasons for keeping your day job

If you’re thinking about making your side hustle your full time job but haven’t taken that step of faith yet, I bet I know at least two reasons why.

First, you need a steady income. And, second, you need health insurance you can afford.

There may be other drivers keeping you at your day job, but these are the two big ones for most aspiring entrepreneurs. And, for good reason.

If you’ve been an employee of a company that offers benefits, you know the security of having health care insurance as a part of a group policy. The cost is likely higher than you want, but it’s almost always cheaper than what you’ll pay when you’re purchasing insurance on your own.

And, of course, having a paycheck arrive consistently week after week, month after month, year after year provides stability you might not initially have when you go out on your own.

These reasons for staying in your current job are obvious and important.

But, there are other, more subtle benefits of staying in your day job. And, once you recognize them, you may choose to stay in your current role a little longer.

Or, when you understand how what you have in your current position can contribute significantly as you build your side business, you may even decide to stay indefinitely.

3 ways your day job can help you build your side business

These three ways your day job can help you build your side business are based on my personal experience and the wisdom I’ve heard from many other successful entrepreneurs.

This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list. But, I hope it helps you shake off what might be a negative perception of your current position and have a more positive mindset.

By viewing each day you remain with your current employer as an opportunity to learn, you’ll position yourself to be a more effective leader in every role in which you serve. Whether that’s in the company you’re with now or in the business you own.

Here are three strategies to get you started.

1. Credibility

When you start your own business, you’re the founder and the owner. Those are impressive titles. But, they will carry much more weight with your prospective clients when you’ve been in business for a few years.

As you get started, the fact that you are the owner of your business doesn’t mean much until you’ve completed some successful projects and delivered results for your customers.

But, the title you have in your day job and the results you’ve delivered to earn and keep that title, give you credibility.

What you’ve done has allowed you to secure a position that reflects your reputation as a competent, trustworthy leader. This perception serves you well with your employer and with the customers in your side business.

You don’t have to have an executive position with a C-level title to have credibility, although that will definitely give you a voice with other executives if that’s who you want to serve as your customer.

It may not have occurred to you, but the simple fact that you are employed can help you in your side hustle.

Your employment is a reminder to your customers that another business owner or a company trusts you enough to give you money for the work you do.

It gives them assurance that they can also trust you with their money.

This may give you an edge over a competitor who is just getting started and hasn’t yet built a self-employed work history. And, technically may be unemployed.

Not only that, but if you are open with your employer about what you are doing, they may even be willing to serve as a reference for you.

That leads to the second way your day job can help you build your side business.

2. Connections

In your day job, you likely have coworkers. You may have hundreds of them or just a handful. Either way, you’re not alone.

But, when you first start your own business, you most likely won’t have any peers. That’s why they call it “going out on your own.”

You’re not flying solo in your day job.

If you are serving faithfully and leading with kindness, you are probably surrounded by colleagues who trust you. They want you to succeed in everything you do, including your side hustle.

So, why not let them help you?

When you are interacting with your coworkers each day and having normal conversations, what you are doing in your business will likely come up. They will share with you what they’re doing in their life outside of work, in the evenings and on the weekends. And, you’ll do the same.

What you will be sharing, however, will be the vision and status of your business.

You’ll naturally be talking about the products you are developing. The services you offer. And the type of customers you seek to serve.

In the course of these normal conversations, your coworkers will naturally think of their connections you may be able to help.

And, because you’ve demonstrated your competence and character in the workplace, your colleagues will be eager to connect you with their family and friends.

Once you leave your day job, these easy conversations you have throughout your day become much less likely to occur. And, the connections with customers these conversations can produce will be more challenging to build.

So, before you walk away from the steady flow of income, recognize that you are also walking away from a source of recurring connections with potential customers to build your side business.

And, there are other highly valuable opportunities you’ll be leaving too. But, if you’re not aware of them, you won’t realize what you’ve missed until you’re gone.

3. Education

One of the most valuable benefits of your day job is the education you’re gaining.

This learning may take the form of formal training.

If your employer offers instructional courses to help you in your role with the company and might someday apply to your side business, take full advantage of this opportunity.

By viewing the training material not only as an employee but also as a business owner, you may find it even more valuable and interesting.

Once you’re on your own, you will have to find and fund training like this yourself.

So, why not do what your employer wants you to do while also getting the added benefit of preparing yourself to be more successful in your side hustle?

It makes sense for you and it doesn’t take advantage of your company.

In fact, your increased attention and interest in a course will make you a more engaged student who retains more of the information you’re given. You’ll be more likely to apply the training in your role within company and in your side business.

Formal training isn’t the only education you receive in your day job that will help you in your personal work.

Every task you’re given or can observe someone else doing, is an opportunity to learn.

Because you will be the owner of your business, you will need to understand every aspect of your company. You most likely don’t have that broad responsibility as an employee.

But, someone in the company does what you will need to start doing when you’re in charge of your entire operation.

Your current colleagues know what you need to know.

That’s good news for you as you build your side business. But there’s better news.

Those experienced coworkers are probably very willing to share what they know with you.

If you just ask, they may be happy to stay after work for a few minutes to help you learn something new.

But, if you don’t stay at your day job, you won’t have this opportunity to gain this education to help you build your side business.

And, who knows, you may learn a new aspect of the work that’s done within the company and decide to pursue a new career path without leaving to make your side hustle a full time job.

You might decide you want to stay because you see a new way you can add value for your employer and for yourself as you build your side business.

And, that brings me to an important point.

As long as you are earning a paycheck from your employer, you should always be striving to add as much value as you can.

Serving your employer while you build your side business

I tried to make it clear in the examples I used in this post, but I want to be crystal clear just so no one misunderstands.

These three ways your day job can help you build your side business are NOT meant, in any way, to take advantage of your employer.

In my opinion, your side hustle should be a positive not a negative for your employer. This Harvard Business Review article supports my position.

If you are committed to working for yourself and your employer with full integrity, which I’m sure you are, there should not be any inappropriate conflicts of interest.

What you learn as a business owner will make you a better employee. And, as these three points demonstrate, your service to the company will equip you to better serve your customers.

So, I encourage you to pursue whatever side business you’ve started. Or, start a new one. It’s a great way to develop new skills and improve your existing capabilities.

But, don’t let your zeal to be your own boss prevent you from leaving your day job too early.

Make the most of the opportunity to build your side business while you’re still working for someone else.

Recognize these three ways you can learn and grow in your current role and look for others. Once you’re on your own, you’ll be thankful you made the most of the time you had working for someone else.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

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Embrace These 3 Awkward Words To Be A Better Leader

Greg Harrod — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 01:56:23 +0000

Great leaders do things others are afraid to do. For example, those who embrace these 3 awkward words others don’t typically use will distinguish themselves in their organizations.

What are these 3 awkward words leaders need to embrace?

Well, let’s just say most people might expect to find them on the resume of a grandparent not a business leader.

3 awkward words leaders need to embrace

When you read these 3 words, what images appear in your mind?

Gentle
Gracious
Kind

Do images of your workplace and your boss and coworkers fill your mind? Or, do you have thoughts of home and family time with your parents, your grandpa or grandma, and those you love?

If you’re like most people, these terms seem appropriate in our personal lives. For many of us, this type of language is part of our vocabulary because of our faith. They are common in our places of worship.

But, in the workplace, these 3 words are not commonly used. They seem awkward.

We don’t tend to include them in our conversations with our teammates. And, most of us don’t embrace these 3 words and intentionally make them a regular part of our discussions as leaders.

This creates an opportunity for those of us who want to make a difference in the lives of our teammates, for those who want to lead with kindness and confidence.

We can distinguish ourselves as leaders as we step out of our comfort zone and embrace these 3 words.

It will seem awkward at first, so prepare yourself. But, don’t let that stop you.

The results will be worth the discomfort.

Trust me.

Better yet, don’t just trust me. Trust other experts on this topic too.

The experts agree

Gentle

Gentle is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “free from harshness, sternness, or violence”.

I hope we would all agree that a great leader should not use harshness, and definitely not violence, to motivate people.

Michael Hyatt, bestselling author and leadership expert, would add fear as another tactic leaders must avoid. In the place of fear, he recommends gentleness.

In his blog post, “How to Lead with Gentleness, Not Fear“, he says this.

Instead of fear-based tactics, mature leaders use gentle power.
Michael Hyatt

Hyatt also describes three tools leaders can use to put gentleness into action.

Tool 1: Courtesy

Treat others the way you would want to be treated. This is a rare behavior in an increasingly impolite culture.

Tool 2: Candor

Telling your teammates the truth demonstrates respect by communicating you believe they can handle it.

Tool 3: Challenge

Believe in the people on your team. Give them tasks that let them show their skills and shine.

Gentleness is not a character trait or a behavior reserved for grandparents.

All leaders (including grandparents) and the people they lead benefit when gentleness is valued, practiced, and applied.

Gracious

One of my favorite books on leadership is Gracious Leadership: Lead Like You’ve Never Led Before [affiliate link] by Janet Smith Meeks.

This book provides an inspiring example and solid evidence from the perspective of a gracious and highly successful leader in the health care industry.

She shares practical lessons to help others have the courage and confidence to follow in her footsteps.

Gracious leadership works. It produces results while caring for and respecting all people in an organization.

The foreword to this outstanding book includes this statement from Mike Slubowski, President and Chief Operating Officer, Trinity Health.

“There is indeed something divine about a great leader; each of us recognizes the magical ‘presence’ of gracious leaders and how special they are when we have been blessed to experience them.”
Mike Slubowski in the foreword to Gracious Leadership: Lead Like You’ve Never Led Before by Janet Smith Meeks

In my post, “Can A Kind Leader Be Successful?“, I provide many more valuable resources from Janet. I encourage you to take advantage of her wisdom through those resources and subscribe to her blog.

As with gentleness, a leader who is gracious is a blessing to their organizations and the people they interact with.

Kind

I’m not quite comfortable declaring myself an expert, but I feel compelled to follow my own advice from my blog post, “Want to be an Expert? Act Like a 5th-grader.“

I know more about leading with kindness than someone so to them I am an expert.

This blog is dedicated to providing evidence and examples supporting my strong belief that leaders can be successful and confident when they embrace kindness.

I encourage you to explore my blog and build your confidence in embracing kindness as a behavior when you lead. And, by “lead”, I don’t only mean in a position of authority.

I firmly support the The Kansas Leadership Center belief that “anyone can lead, anytime, anywhere”. Check out my free guide, 5 Simple Ways to Lead when You’re Not the “Leader” to learn more on this topic.

Gentleness and graciousness are not behaviors we need to be shy about. The same is true for kindness.

And, we certainly don’t need to be hesitant or embarrassed to incorporate these skills into our leadership style.

The experts agree. Gentle, gracious, and kind leaders can be highly successful and respected by their teams.

But, we need to do more than just live these traits out. We need to talk about them.

Embrace these 3 words by saying them out loud

I strive to be transparent as a leader. My goal is to not only model the behaviors I consider valuable, but to also talk to people about those behaviors.

This approach is especially important with soft skills like gentleness, grace, and kindness.

It is not enough to simply let people see us being gentle, gracious, and kind. To help others develop as leaders, we need to talk about what we are doing and why we are doing it.

We need to use the words “gentle”, “gracious”, and “kind” as we mentor developing leaders. These words and others like them need to be included in our hard conversations with our peers.

We need to embrace these 3 words, and many others like them, to increase our impact on the lives of the people we lead.

As we include words like “gentle”, “gracious”, and “kind” in our working vocabulary, other similar words will naturally be added too. Words like “caring”, “respect”, and “honor” find their way into discussions as well.

These words will become common with leaders in your organization as they hear you use them with confidence.

Over time, the values these words bring with them influence strategies and communications. Gradually, the culture of the organization is influenced for good.

A lesson from the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion movement

If your organization has a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program (and I certainly hope it does), think about how those 3 words are becoming more common in the conversations you are having.

Of course, just saying those words is not enough. But it is a start.

With time and focused effort, the people’s lives are positively impacted through initiatives started with conversations that included the words “diversity”, “equity”, and “inclusion”.

The same is true for “gentleness”, “graciousness”, and “kindness”.

Saying these words out loud can be the first step of an important journey to create a much better culture in your organization.

Getting started

Try these scripts as starters to embrace these 3 words and incorporate “gentle”, “gracious”, and “kind” into your normal conversations.

Gentle (When meeting with your mentor):

I’m struggling to be gentle but firm with my team when they aren’t meeting their commitments. How do you keep from being harsh with your team when they’re struggling?

Gracious (When meeting with your mentee):

It sounds like you’re going to get some hard questions during this presentation. Have you thought about how to prepare yourself to be gracious when you get challenged?

Kind (When planning with your peers):

This decision is going to impact several people’s lives significantly. Have we done everything we can to be kind and respectful in how we communicate the message?

Embrace these 3 awkward words and set yourself apart

Let’s be honest.

Using the words “gentle”, “gracious”, and “kind” may sound easy when we’re reading a blog post. But in reality, it can be awkward at first. That’s why most people don’t use words like this with their teams.

But no one ever said leadership is easy. I encourage you to be uncomfortable for a time. It will get easier as you practice.

Embrace these 3 awkward words. Say them out loud.

Your efforts to lead with kindness and confidence in this way will be rewarded as others follow your example.

Be brave. Be courageous. Have a positive impact on your organization and the people on your team.

You can do it.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

Discussion Questions

What other awkward words do you think need to be used more often by leaders?

How do you incorporate words like gentle, gracious, and kind into your normal conversations?

I’m interested to know how you put this into practice in your life. Please share your experiences in the comments section so we can learn together.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

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Leadership Lessons From My Home Repair Projects

Greg Harrod — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 03:04:14 +0000

Do you own your own home? If you do, you’re familiar with how I’ve spent the last several weeks. I’ve been doing repair projects to get our house ready to sell.

This isn’t my favorite way to spend my time, but while I worked I realized that home repair has taught me some important leadership lessons. Here are a few I’d like to share with you.

Having the right tools is important

Having the right tools can turn what seems like an impossible job into easy work.

My garage isn’t fully loaded, but I generally have the right equipment when I start a job. This hasn’t always been true.

Over the years I’ve collected quite a few tools to do a variety of tasks. When I did a job for the first time and realized I needed a tool I didn’t have, I bought it. Or, if I couldn’t afford it at the time, I rented or borrowed it then bought it later.

I now have hammers, screwdrivers, drills, and drywall tools, as well as electrical and plumbing equipment. I’ve gathered the basics I need to do most of my own repairs.

I’ve found this to be the case in my work leading projects as well.

I started out with basically no tools. But, over the years, I either created what I needed or borrowed a useful tool from someone who was more experienced.

I now have spreadsheets, scorecards, project schedules, meeting agendas, email templates, and many more tools of the trade.

So, when I start a new project, I can go to my toolbox and get what I need to do the job.

I encourage you to consider the things that make your job as a leader easier as your tools. Take care of them. Know where they are. So, when you need to do that leadership job, you can quickly go to your toolbox and get what you need to efficiently and effectively do your work.

Learning is important too

Having the right tools doesn’t do you any good if you don’t know how to use them.

I’ve had to refresh myself on how to do many of the things I’ve had to do to our house recently. And, I’ve had to learn some new skills.

I’m pretty handy, but there are many things I don’t know how to do. But, I try not to let that stop me.

With an endless supply of training articles and videos on the internet, we can learn to do just about anything. For the repair jobs I hadn’t done before, I took advantage of online resources. And, I also talked to several people who had more experience. They gave me some tips and tricks that saved me a lot of time and money.

This same approach serves us well in leading teams to deliver results too.

No leader knows how to do everything. But, every leader can learn.

The same strategy I used to figure out how to fix a problem with my house can be used by anyone who encounters a problem.

Seek out training online. Ask advice from someone who has done what you’re trying to do.

Most importantly, don’t be afraid to at least consider doing something you’ve never done before.

Take the time to learn what must be done to solve the problem. You may find a job that seems intimidating at first really isn’t that hard. Or, you may release you need to invest in the right tool and you can do the work easily.

You won’t know until you take the initiative to learn.

Even our unpleasant experiences are valuable

Over the years of owning a home, I’ve gained some experiences I really didn’t enjoy at the time.

I’ve had to fix toilets at inconvenient times. I’ve done tasks I would have much rather paid a professional to do but we didn’t have the money at the time.

Some of my experiences have been enjoyable. Others have been frustrating. Some have been infuriating.

Working on a house can be a pain in the rear at times. And, leading people can be too.

But, this month as I completed repair project after repair project, I saw the value in my past experiences. Even the ones that weren’t enjoyable at the time. Because I had done the work before (even when I didn’t want to), I now had the option to do it myself or the wisdom to hire someone else to do it.

Those experiences, pleasant and unpleasant, served me well. I was thankful I had the experiences I did.

So, just like with learning, I encourage you to take the initiative to gain new experiences.

Volunteer to do something you haven’t done before. You will gain a new skill and you will learn whether this task is something you want to avoid in the future or seek out.

Remembering the value of our past experiences can also help us have a good attitude when we have to do things we would rather not do.

If we can envision a future time when we will look back and appreciate the experience we have, we can get through even the most difficult challenges.

Things get done when you set a deadline

I’m sure I’m not the first one to say this, but this is one of my favorite sayings when it comes to getting things done.

Nothing stimulates action like a deadline
Greg Harrod (although I’m sure I’m not the original source)

My home repair experience the past few weeks reminded me of this truth.

I did projects this month that really should have been done years ago. I knew repairs had to be made. But there was nothing that required me to do it. There was nothing to drive urgency. That all changed when we bought another house and needed to sell ours. Now I had a deadline. And, those projects that I had put off for years? They got done.

I’ve found this to be universally true. When we set a deadline for a task, it will most likely get done. Without a deadline, it may be completed or it may not.

So, if a task is important, be sure to set a date when it needs to be completed.

Leadership lessons from everyday life

When it comes to completing projects, the same principles that allow you to keep a house well maintained will help you lead teams with confidence. These are just a few of the many leadership lessons I observed as I did what needed to be done in my life.

I’m sure you see lessons that help you be a better leader as you go through your regular life activities as well. I would like to hear from you.

What leadership lessons have you learned in your everyday life?

Please share your experience in the comments so we can learn together.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

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Lack Confidence As A Leader? You Are Not Alone.

Greg Harrod — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 13:26:53 +0000

Do you lack confidence as a leader? Think you’re the only one who feels this way? That’s a bad place to be mentally because the feeling of isolation further erodes your confidence and makes the situation worse.

Ever had that experience or is it just me?

If you have, I want to help because I’ve been there.

So, if you get nothing else from this post, take this with you. I’m a leader. I assume you’re a leader. And, at times, we both lack confidence.

You are not alone as you face this challenge and neither am I. I’m right there with you.

So, there are at least two of us in the world. But, it’s not just us.

The reality is all leaders lack confidence at times, even highly successful ones.

To support my position, I want to introduce you to two women who inspired and encouraged me with their recent conversation. I’ll share some key takeaways so you too can be equipped to be a better leader through their wisdom.

Oh, and by the way, they are both highly successful entrepreneurs. And, they too lack confidence.

Even highly successful people sometimes lack confidence

It’s one thing for the two of us to say we lack confidence, but when someone who has influenced thousands, probably even millions of lives, makes that statement, it gets my attention.

That was the case with a podcast episode I listened to recently.

A valuable podcast episode for leaders who lack confidence

This is the podcast that caught my attention.

#302: From Lacking Confidence To Multi-Millions

Amy Porterfield

I knew quite a bit about Amy Porterfield from listening to her podcast. And, I had heard Tom Bilyeu, Lisa’s husband, on this Entreleadership podcast episode, but I didn’t know as much of her story.

I was curious what these two business leaders had to say about confidence.

I wasn’t surprised Amy Porterfield had a guest on to talk about this topic. Listen to her podcast once and you’ll hear her admit confidence is something she’s had to address.

Here’s what Amy says about herself in the introduction to her podcast.

I’m Amy Porterfield, ex-corporate girl turned CEO of a multi-seven-figure business. But it wasn’t all that long ago that I lacked the confidence, the budget, and the time to focus on growing my small–but–mighty business. Fast forward past many failed attempts and lessons learned, and you’ll see the business I have today, one that changes lives and gives me more freedom than I ever thought possible, one that used to only exist as a daydream.
Amy Porterfield in the introduction to her podcast, Online Marketing Made Easy

Even if you’ve never heard of Amy Porterfield, you know from her introduction that she doesn’t let a lack of confidence stop her. And, neither does Lisa Bilyeu.

Lisa Bilyeu

Never heard of Lisa Bilyeu? Maybe you don’t know her name, but if you like Quest protein bars, you can thank Lisa and her husband, Tom.

As Amy describes in the podcast introduction “Lisa is the co-founder of Quest Nutrition, and without any prior entrepreneurial experience, she helped grow the company by 57 thousand percent — that’s 82.6 million dollars in revenue — in just three years.

Lisa and her husband, Tom Bilyeu, have gone on to sell Quest Nutrition, a protein bar company, and have built a successful media company called, Impact Theory and Women of Impact.”

I encourage you learn more about Women of Impact. With this headline from their website, it’s sure to be a valuable resource for both men and women leading with kindness and confidence.

EMPOWERING YOU AND ALL WOMEN TO RECOGNIZE THAT YOU REALLY CAN BECOME THE HERO OF YOUR OWN LIFE.

Two impressive leaders who lack confidence and succeed anyway

Quest Nutrition sold in 2019 for 1 billion dollars. Yes, with a “B”.

And, as Amy says in her podcast introduction, she’s the “CEO of a multi-seven figure business.” If you’re not good with numbers, that’s a multi-million dollar business. Not with a “B”, but still impressive and growing.

Despite the level of success they’ve each had, Lisa made this comment that caused Amy to reply with an “Amen, sister!”

I lack confidence in everything I start.
Lisa Bilyeu

Wow. That’s comforting to know.

When we lack confidence, we are not only not alone, but we are in a group of outstanding leaders doing impressive work.

Even when faced with feelings of inadequacy and lack of confidence, these two women figured out how to achieve amazing financial success and change countless people’s lives for the better.

What are their secrets?

Here’s what they do when they lack confidence

Thankfully, through their conversation, they share what they know to help other leaders like us know what to do when we lack confidence.

Here are a few tips they share in their conversation.

Believe you can figure it out

Lisa encourages us, when faced with something we don’t know how to do, to simply believe we can learn how to do it.

We don’t (and shouldn’t) have any confidence that we can do something we’ve never done before.

But, if we believe we can figure it out, through teaching ourselves or getting more formal training, we can have confidence in knowing we will be able to do something in the future even if we can’t do it right now.

Embrace the reality that you will make mistakes

We all want to be perfect, or at least near perfect, right from the start. But, Amy and Lisa, remind us that this just doesn’t happen.

Just like we don’t expect a baby to run a marathon, we shouldn’t expect a leader (including ourselves) doing something new to get it exactly right the first time.

We need to keep getting up and taking the next step when we fall down. Just like a baby learning to walk

Learn from other leaders

Lisa encourages leaders who lack confidence to learn from others who have already done what we’re trying to do.

Amy highlights Patrick Lencioni as one of her favorite authors. If you’re regular reader of this blog, you know I share Amy’s respect for him. I wrote a series of posts on his exceptional book The Ideal Team Player [affiliate link]. I also created a free guide so you can quickly and easily get the most out of the series.

Click here to get a free guide to The Ideal Team Player Blog series

The Ideal Team Player Blog Series Guide

Invite and accept honest feedback

Lisa explained how she and Tom shipped free bars to start their company. With each bar, they included a note that said this.

“Here are some free samples. If you like us, please talk about us. If you don’t like us, please talk about us. All we want to know is the truth.”

That invitation to know the truth takes courage and thick skin because honest feedback will not always be positive.

However, even in negative comments we can learn something and improve.

Negative comments sting and can wreck our confidence. But, if we’re ready for them and get over our ego to see what is actually true, we will be better, more confident leaders.

And so many more tips

This podcast was packed with many, many more lessons. Lisa and Amy even share advice on building a strong marriage and working with your spouse.

This podcast is definitely worth the time to listen and learn from two women who have lacked, then built, confidence in many areas of their lives. They’ve done it using the techniques they freely share with us.

The biggest takeaway

To wrap up this post, I’m going to share Amy’s words in describing her biggest takeaway from the podcast instead.

A lot of times, … so many of you… will tell me, “I struggle with confidence,” and it’s like you’re supposed to have it. But you’re just starting out. You have no idea what you’re doing. You’re just getting going on this journey. You’re in your first few years, and you’re like, “I really need to get more confidence. That’s one of my biggest struggles.” What if we just owned it? and we said, “Of course, I don’t have a lot of confidence just yet. I’m figuring this out. So anything I’m new at, I don’t have a lot of confidence, that’s going to take time.”? And then you just ease into it. And as you take action, the confidence starts to build.
Amy Porterfield

That my friends, is great advice for all of us who lack confidence. I’m taking it to heart and I hope you do too.

Let’s lead with kindess and confidence.

Greg

Discussion Questions

What is your biggest barrier to being confident when leading a team?

If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing to give yourself more confidence, what would you change?

I’m interested to know how you put this into practice in your life. Please share your experiences in the comments section so we can learn together.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post Lack Confidence As A Leader? You Are Not Alone. appeared first on Greg Harrod.

Why I Don’t Want to Ask “Who Needs to Do What by When?”

Greg Harrod — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 17:00:31 +0000

I made my case for the power of asking this simple question in my post, Ask “Who Needs to Do What by When?” Drive results!

In that post I said I don’t ask the question often enough. Today, I’m going to explore some reasons why I don’t want to ask it.

I want to be clear. These are my reasons. Specific to me as a person, an imperfect person as you’ll soon learn.

I’m sharing my story with the hope that you may learn something about yourself as we discuss the challenges I have. Ideally, you’ll discover some practical ideas for overcoming your obstacles too.

Image by Ross Mann from Pixabay

What’s my problem, really?

The Who Needs to Do What by When? question is powerful. Easy to remember. It’s got a nice cadence. Rolls off the tongue.

Then why is it not coming out of my mouth? Why don’t I want to ask the question?

The shallow, easy answer is that I just forget. I’m busy taking notes or leading the meeting or actively participating in the meeting. Those excuses sound noble.

Or, maybe what I’m actually busy doing is avoiding things. Hard things.

Yeah. That’s more accurate. The truth is deeper issues within me are involved.

If you’re willing to consider that you might also have hidden barriers that are more complex and less obvious, I encourage you to keep reading.

We’ll learn something and explore some opportunities for growth together.

I might be the Who

I’ll just start with a confession. Sometimes I avoid work.

I hear the discussion in the room. I can clearly describe the work that needs to be done. It’s good work. Valuable work.

I just don’t want to do it.

I’ve got a million other good things to do. I don’t need another task on my list.

So I let the conversation drift and wander as the end time of the meeting draws near. Next topic. Move on. Run out the clock. Quickly please! Before someone else asks the dreaded Who Needs to Do What by When? question and realizes that I’m the perfect Who for the job.

What’s wrong with my approach?

Plenty. I’ll focus on two important aspects

I don’t trust my team.

Whoa! What? Don’t trust my team? What kind of teammate am I anyway?

A real one.

If I trusted my team, I would open my mouth. Share what I see as the What to be done. I would also share that I might be the right person but I don’t think I have time to do it.

If I’m going to be really vulnerable, I might even add that I probably do have the time to do the work. I just don’t want to. It sounds like a drag.

Think I’m going to say that out loud? Not unless I truly trust my team.

I’m arrogant

Think about what I’m really saying. No one else can do this work except me. I’m the only one who is qualified.

Really? I’m indispensable? If that’s not arrogance, I don’t know what is.

Maybe, just maybe, I should ask the question without thinking I’m the only one in the organization who can be the Who. Other talented individuals might just step up. They might even do the work better than I could.

Do I really want that? Yes. I do. My ego may not, but I do.

I Like Being Comfortable

I like comfort.

Doing my work at my own pace with no one expecting me to deliver by a certain date. Comfortable.

Everyone knowing what I’m working on and when I said I would be done. Uncomfortable.

I know. I know. The Who gets the credit. It’s worth the discomfort. But my way also has a bonus. It lets me be the hero.

I Like Being the Hero

I can work on the things I think are important without anyone knowing about it. When I get it all done and ready to present…

Surprise! I have the solution we need but no one asked for.

To make my method even more attractive, if I can’t get the work done, no one knew about it anyway. People don’t know I’m trying so they won’t know if I fail. Every good perfectionist knows this trick.

I’ll admit the obvious. These aren’t the behaviors of a perfect leader. They’re the struggles of a leader who is learning. This is the internal stuff I fight against. It’s not very flattering but it’s reality for me.

Ask It Anyway. It’s Worth It

How do I get through these realities of being a real, imperfect person and unleash the power of this simple question?

I need to just open my mouth. Let these seven words escape and be heard by the team.

I need to trust the people around me and speak up. Even if it’s hard because of the challenges within me. The team and our collective success is more important than my comfort.

For me this is easy to say but hard to do. You may feel the same way.

If you do, I encourage you to keep trying. Don’t quit. I’m a work in process and so are you.

Discussion Questions

What prevents you from speaking up and asking the question Who Needs to Do What by When?
Are there bigger issues that you need to wrestle with personally or as a team to overcome challenges related to trust and vulnerability?

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post Why I Don’t Want to Ask “Who Needs to Do What by When?” appeared first on Greg Harrod.