My Business On Purpose

For the last 9 years, my two sons and I have made a pilgrimage to Camp Ridgecrest in Black Mountain, NC for the annual father/son weekend camp.  A weekend marked by meaning, muscular pain, intentionality, and ibuprofen, this time may be the most momentous in our relationship as dad and sons.  The regularity, frequency, and repetition of daily life is wildly important, of course, and these dedicated moments of focused intentionality have bred special awareness. This year was different for two reasons. Both of my sons are now living away from home, each maneuvering through their own experience outside of the daily, in-person interaction of mom or dad.  Both were working as staff members of father/son camp for the weekend while I was able to participate as a volunteer cleaning floors and watching dads walk with their sons to play frisbee golf, hike through hornet's nests, and most meaningfully, sit and read what they had written. There is a tradition that has been manufactured through premeditated repetition; if

Owning and operating a business is a continual streak of tests that ultimately prove the trustworthiness of the business that built.  The business of scammers and hucksters fall apart over time forcing them to be in a state of constant reinvention and re-huckstering. Traveling various parts of our historic world over the past few months has reminded me of the longevity and duration of things.  Walking the streets of Rome flanked by artifacts from late B.C. and early A.D. eras has a way of sobering the hardships of your time. Walking through the carved caves of the Cappadocia region of modern Turkey sobers you to the challenges and hardships of previous cultures.  Every culture endures testing.  Every generation is put on trial so as to mark the trustworthiness and endurance of that generation.  Endurance allows for longevity and the hope of seeing the days that are hoped for. Without endurance, life is short and hope is fleeting. The ingredients of our words fuel much of the cocktail of what is continually be

Remember that Billy Joel song We Didn’t Start The Fire? It is a maniacal mantra sequencing decades of rage into a lyrical pounding intentionally crafted as a relentless onomatopoeia; the song feels like it sounds allowing us as listeners to likewise feel the chaos. That song could be the soundtrack for so many chaotic business owners who are on a remorseless campaign to find the next great marketing hammer that will crack open a whole new world gushing with leads and sales because, in their minds, sales solves everything. The myth of that last statement will have to be fleshed out on another date and time; for now, we need to confront the restlessness and confusion of marketing.  It is good to turn the volume down, or maybe off completely for a moment, and sit in the silence of what is rather than the snake-oiled and empty promises of what could be. We’ve said often that marketers are like gypsies and business coaches (a bit self-deprecating seeing that business coaching is our profession); the barrier to ent

Brent Whitaker Business on Purpose. I wanna dive right in. So we were sitting the other day with some folks, and, y'all have heard this song, “You can't always get what you want.”True. Well, you definitely can't get what you want if you never define what it is that you want. This came up because I asked a couple in real estate, and I said, Hey, what is it that you want? And it was like deer in headlights. Like I'd asked them some quantum theory question and they paused and said, I don't know. And I said, well, definitely can't get what you want if you don't define what you want. I said, why is that a, you know, difficult question for you. “So we're just so busy” Ask anybody how they're doing lately, man, I'm good. I'm just, just busy. I don't know if being busy is a good or bad thing, but they were so busy they haven't slowed down enough to ask that question. What do I want? So that's the question today is if you're driving, if you're sitting, I'd encourage you, if you're in your office to grab a pen, if you'

While in Turkey, we were struck with curiosity as to the various wars and struggles that entangled Asia Minor leading to the rules and regimes that have inhabited the intersection of the world in modern Istanbul. Netflix had an interesting historical presentation of the Ottoman Empire with a focus on Mehmed II that details how the Sultan empowered his forces with relentless raids on the impenetrable walls of Constantinople. They eventually took the city and rules the regions for centuries.  While watching Rise of Empires: Ottoman I was struck by the number of messages that were sent by couriers, or delegation of one side directly to the leaders of the competing side.   These were soldiers who had but one task; deliver a message from the leader in its exact form and for its intended purpose.  Mehmed II or Emporer Constantine were the originators of the message, and the courier its delegate.    Delegation is birthed from the Latin delegere and according to latin-is-simple.com  carries the idea that you are assi

Join Patrice Miles, BOP Business Coach, as she interviews Conner Fennell, BOP Intern. Discover Conner's experiences, the hiring process, DISC test insights, tasks for BOP, and how this internship is shaping his goals. Don't miss this valuable internship discussion! WATCH THE VIDEO to learn more! Are you working IN your business or ON your business? Do you have all of the foundational elements that will liberate you from the business chaos?  Take the assessment to find out which areas you can grow and improve on.  Take our Healthy Owner Business Assessment HERE ➡️ https://www.boproadmap.com/healthy SIGN UP for our Newsletter HERE ➡️ https://www.boproadmap.com/newsletter For blogs and updates, visit our site HERE ➡️ https://www.mybusinessonpurpose.com/blog/ LISTEN to the Business On Purpose Podcast HERE ➡️ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-business-on-purpose/id969222210 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel HERE ➡️ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbPR8lTHY0ay4c0iqncOztg?sub_confirmation=1

Join Patrice Miles (BOP Business Coach) and Jessie Barber (BOP Director of Client Experience) as they share essential tips on hiring interns. Learn the hiring process, overcoming obstacles, internship length, finding the right candidate, compensation, onboarding, and communication.  LISTEN HERE to learn more! Are you working IN your business or ON your business? Do you have all of the foundational elements that will liberate you from the business chaos?  Take the assessment to find out which areas you can grow and improve on.  Take our Healthy Owner Business Assessment HERE ➡️ https://www.boproadmap.com/healthy SIGN UP for our Newsletter HERE ➡️ https://www.boproadmap.com/newsletter For blogs and updates, visit our site HERE ➡️ https://www.mybusinessonpurpose.com/blog/ LISTEN to the Business On Purpose Podcast HERE ➡️ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-business-on-purpose/id969222210 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel HERE ➡️ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbPR8lTHY0ay4c0iqncOztg?sub_confirmation=1

It is my first day back and my mood is curious. Today is July 31st, on June 30th I sat in the Houston airport awaiting a flight to Paris, then Rome, and promptly deleted my email and Slack apps from my phone.  For the next 30 plus days I would not be available to the BOP team for any business-related items.   Of course, we could send some personal pics and updates, but no business communication.   While away the BOP team had a straightforward mission: grow the business by one client. After founding Business On Purpose (BOP) over 8 years ago in 2015, it was time to take an extended time away from the day to day of the business.   Ashley and I just navigated a string of massive life milestones; our daughter’s wedding, our final son’s graduation from High School, and celebrating 25 years of marriage all within two months of each other. I also wanted to test the sea-worthiness of the BOP ship with me not at the helm.   As I write this I still do not know anything that happened over the last four to five weeks, I

For too many business owners it is a pipe-dream scenario that would allow them to leave their business for one month while it not only continue, but also grow in their absence. We are in the middle of doing it right now. After a full Spring of 2023 of working as a team to liberate more clients from chaos professionally, and celebrating some major milestones for our family (daughter’s marriage, final child graduating, and 25-year wedding anniversary), Ashley and I made a decision a while back that we would setup an epic adventure to lean into our family mission of being a light and creating space through wisdom, adventure, and time around the table.  On the last work day of June 2023 we left; and will not return until the first workday of August 2023. By leaving I mean that I, the owner, have no availability to the business team at all.  Email… deleted from my phone.  Slack…deleted from my phone. The only correspondence with any team member or client has been entirely personal to share pics and stories of our

It’s summertime… school will be back in session before we know it and the routine will be upon us! So what questions do we need to ask our business BEFORE fall hits? Let’s dive in… I’ve sat in with clients over the last month and summer is always a weird time. It seems like there is a ton of work, but payments are slow coming in, employees lack motivation or are just absent, and we begin to see the sprint towards the holiday season quickly approaching.  So what questions do we need to ask today to prevent chaos down the road? Well, I may not hit all of them today, but I’ll touch on 3 important ones to ask and engage your team with. Where are we in relation to our written down Vision Story? Don’t have a written Vision Story? Well, start there. Touch on the life you want for your family and the things you want in relation to freedom from work. Talk through your business financials, the products and services you need to offer to hit those financials. Walk through the team size and the culture. All of that. A

What do we pay our new hires? How do we know what the compensation package needs to be? Well, I can tell you it doesn’t start by asking, what is industry standard! One of the questions we get most frequently right now is “What should we pay our new hire?” Now, the first thing I’ll say is if you haven’t listened to any of our podcasts or content on your hiring process, you need to start there first.  You need to make sure you have a Job Role, performance expectations, all the processes needed for their role documented, and have communicated the Mission/Vision and Values of your business. Great, we’ve got that out of the way…we’re ready to hire someone, how do we know what to pay them? Well, I’ve sat with multiple business owners in the past month who have asked the same thing. They always start with, “Well, what are other businesses paying their Project managers, or admins, or sales guys…whatever they’re hiring for.” Friends, let me stop right there and say…that is a dangerous game to play! And it sets you up

I’m a huge NBA fan… but I was struck by something the coach of the Denver Nuggets said minutes after winning the championship this year. Let’s dive in and talk about it today. Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here, thanks so much for listening in today. People who say the NBA is trash are just flat-out wrong. It’s absolutely incredible to watch what the Denver Nuggets were able to do this postseason. Their win percentage for the year actually improved in the playoffs, which is unheard of. They humiliated arguably the hottest playoff team of the past few years in the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler. Nikola Jokic found about 25 different ways to impact the game whether it was driving the ball, launching threes, getting assists, playing defense, you name it! It was insane to watch the way that team came together to reach the mountain top of professional basketball. But here’s what was fascinating to me. The confetti is falling, everyone is holding their kids, hugging, crying, laughing, dancing… all of it. And

Business owners are in a constant state of wondering to what depth they “share the numbers” with employees regarding revenues, budgets, profit and loss statement, and/or balance sheets. A client relayed a story of their administrator going to the mail and coming back with a check for $38,000 to which the administrator looked straight at the owner and said, “Wow, your going to be able to do a lot with $38,000.” Ugghhhh. Business ownership is challenging enough and demands continual responsibility around the health and well-being of employees, budgets, products and services, marketing, sales, customers, and clients.  It is a game that does not stop so how can you relay financial information in a way where employees can begin to understand and positions each employee to see how their work has direct impact on both the top and bottom financial lines of the business? First, you must have clarity on your numbers.  Owners that “wing it” with the finances will scale down their confusion.   Every business owner must c

“I don’t have much to do in my business these days” were the exact words from a business owner I met with last week.  You could get a sense that the words almost scared him as they came out of his mouth and left a concerned sense somewhere between, “I can’t believe this is actually true, ” and, “Am I missing something that I should be seeing?” As business coaches, we can’t help but be excited, and offer a bit of a chuckle when we see business owners arrive at the place where their business is running consistently without their direct, hour by hour, day by day input and effort.  Not by unhealthy abdication, but instead by thoughtful, consistent, intentional leadership rooted in purpose, people, process, and profit. After a few seconds of joy and enthusiasm, we quickly move into a mode where we want to ensure that the owner is in a healthy place, and the team is in a healthy place. Frankly, it makes me a bit uneasy to think about a driven personality with a forward-leaning mindset to be equipped with marginal t

In business, money is constantly moving. A cash flow statement is a bit counterproductive.  As the cash flows, we can see trends and movement.  The moment we snapshot the flow of cash into a static cash flow statement, the cash stops flowing. Taking a snapshot of a rushing river means the river is no longer rushing; it is still.  You can clearly see the river, the level, the color, and the shape, but the rushing-ness of the river is lost in the stillness of the snapshot. The mass publishing of the now infamous story of Chris McCandless documented in John Krakauer’s book In The Wild has led to a surge in the number of me-too explorers who wish to track McCandless’s fateful footsteps.  To reach the famed bus that McCandless made home explorers must trek through and across the Teklanika River.   After safely crossing the river many inexperienced explorers fail to take into account that rivers trough and crest often at unpredictable times leading to many of these post-McCandless explorers stranded in need of resc

“Soaking it up in a hot tub with my soul mate.” How many of you played sports in high school? How many of you have listened to a voicemail that you left for someone else and cringed at the sound of your own voice? For some reason, we decided having a podcast was a good idea, and every time I hear one of mine I’m like…is that really what I sound like? It’s Painful! I remember being in high school and watching film. Anyone remember film sessions? All the guys in here who peaked junior year of high school are like… oh yeah! Should have seen my film! They called me freight train! Haha. Here’s the thing with watching films… there’s nowhere to hide!!! The film doesn’t lie. Here’s the thing in that first clip…Uncle Rico, the character talking there wasn’t willing to look at reality…and probably NEVER watched the film. He wasn’t willing  To look at hard things and say…maybe I’m just not any good. To think critically. No, he lived in this dream land where he was the victim and wasn’t even remotely living in reality. S

We assume, because of our modern loneliness epidemic, that being alone is bad, not realizing that there are healthy forms of loneliness and unhealthy forms.   The legendary John Prine wrote a powerful song entitled The Speed of The Sound of Loneliness.  His lyric lends insight into a common reality for leaders, “you’ve broken the speed of the sound of loneliness, you’re out there runnin’ just to be on the run.”    After launching, incubating, or purchasing a business, the owner or founder begins running at a speed that very few can or will match in the remaining days, years, and decades of the business.  For many, it is a hyper-speed, superhuman pace, unsustainable over time.   There is a sound to loneliness, a narrative, a rhythm that can be of great value to the leader, but for most, they ignore and blast right through the speed of the sound of loneliness and they continue running at a superhuman pace because it is the only way to give momentary satisfaction for our obsession of productivity. We make excuse

Sitting in a room listening to a variety of presentations, most of them non-engaging with slides that looked like this.  HUH? Then a physician stands up and begins to relay a series of statistics accompanied by stories. The suicide attempts among college girls have increased from 1% to 2%...a 100% increase in a 2-year span.  Nearly 1 in 3 girls have contemplated suicide.  We have a college-aged daughter and two college-aged sons…this woke me up.  After the presentation, I waited until the presenter was finished shaking hands and walked over into a quiet corner where he was refreshing coffee and asked, “What happened?” His response, in paraphrase…” it is well documented that there is a two-year reversal in behavior among HS and college students in general…so instead of an 18-year-old dealing with 18-year-old things, you have an 18-year-old who is developmentally 16, trying to deal with 28-year-old things because of the unfiltered availability of information.” Thirty years ago, a small subsection of people in t

How do your customers and clients feel after they’ve done business with you? Do they feel your gratitude? Well, let’s talk about that today! Thomas Joyner here with Business on Purpose. I spent 4 days last week in Mexico with my wife celebrating our 10th anniversary! Gah, what a special time as it was just us for an extended period of time for the first time in 5 years. We’ve done a night or two getaways, but having 3 kids in 4 years meant that we always had a little one at home and so getting any more time than that was challenging. We walked into the resort and from the moment we were there we were welcomed in a way that we never have been before. Let me paint the picture for you. The first morning, because it was the west coast of Mexico and 3 hours behind… I woke up wide awake around 4:30 am. I’m used to going 0-60 when I wake up and it was so strange to wake up and NOT be needed by anyone. The tricky part, breakfast wasn’t served until 7 am! I remembered the concierge telling me they had 24/7 room servic

If you have ever been interested to see a group of business owners conduct a communal eye roll, bring up the topic of bonus and incentives. A few years ago we had a client who decided to reward their team from a banner year and forego distributing a substantial six-figure margin to himself and his partner.  There was no expectation created for this one-off distribution.   It was a $200,000 sum that would be distributed to around 25 employees… you can do the math.  Not bad.   The response? Crickets.   Of the 25 employees, there was a thoughtful “thank you” from three, a casual “thank you” from a few more, and crickets from everyone else. To add insult to unexpected injury, the next day an employee came in and confessed, “I just got a job offer to go make $10k more per year and I don’t know what to do…” Candidly, when calculating an employee's compensation, most owners in businesses with less than 50 employees have not considered the additional investment of bonus or incentive outlays.  When the thought finally