Glenn Harper [00:00:00]:
So here we are, another edition of Living Life Fast Forward. And can you believe that we are in October of the year, and everybody says, well, I'm too busy to do anything because it's just too busy. It's end of the year. Well, think about it. The only thing really we have going on was we got baseball playoffs, major league. We got basketball, NBA starting on h NHL starting, foot NFL football, college football. Of course, everybody's busy. But you know what those organizations are doing that you're probably not as an entrepreneur? You're probably not thinking about what you wanna do and start and implement for next year.
Glenn Harper [00:00:34]:
This is a great time to do things, the last quarter of the year. Yeah. It's busy. Yeah. You got a lot going on. But why don't you start putting out what those goals would look like next year so everybody can resonate that with the organization? You can work towards something to the end of the year instead of just working to the end of the year.
Julie Smith [00:00:48]:
So what do you think we should do? Should we do we sit down? Like, what what are those organizations doing that are different than what normal entrepreneurs are doing?
Glenn Harper [00:00:57]:
Well, they're probably setting carving about time for those strategic meetings and those retreats or whatever where they can get away from the day to day and just focus on the big picture, what the organization is trying to accomplish.
Julie Smith [00:01:07]:
So you're telling me I need to put something on the calendar, and I need to earmark it. I need to be held accountable to actually go do it. And then I probably need some sort of agenda to make sure I stay on task for the goals that I'm going to set, but I need I need the goal to get to the goals. Right?
Glenn Harper [00:01:24]:
I mean, if you're trying to be successful at it, that's probably what you would do. So, yes, that is exactly what I'm saying.
Julie Smith [00:01:28]:
And what do you think people should start looking for in regards to those end of year goals? Like, I know you're so number focused, but, you know, you start talking numbers and you kinda lose me. So, like, what are some other maybe KPIs or things that businesses should start looking at now that can plan for next year?
Glenn Harper [00:01:47]:
So the numbers are important because that tells you what direction we're heading, what things cost, what our margins are, and how much profit we have in operating capital to then do the things we wanna execute on. So having good financials and good projections of what the revenue streams, client retention looks like, what our bills would look like, and then we can have a budget of saying, hey. If we're trying to grow this business or do something different, here's the pot of money that we have, the operating capital, and what are the best things we can spend that money on to grow this business or to do something or solve a problem in the organization?
Julie Smith [00:02:18]:
Okay. So I'm going to decipher that for people that think like me.
Glenn Harper [00:02:22]:
Okay.
Julie Smith [00:02:22]:
So let's say we get there, and my mind works and says, okay, I need 5 to 7 more clients in order to achieve my financial goal, whatever that is. I'm going to invest in this moving forward. I maybe need to hire my goal is to hire 1 more person in this department and one more person in this department. Whether you put that on q 1, q2, q3, q4, or maybe you make that incumbent on when you get those new clients. Right? But I think setting those precedents in regards to some of those goals really resonates with people like myself that say, like, okay, I can I can go get 5 new clients and then, oh, wait, now I get to hire 1 new person to help? That really resonates. And so I think it's taking some of the you know, get with your trusted advisers in these meetings and set these, you know, revenue expense, all of these goals, but then take it to the next level so your team can understand and be able to communicate that with your team. It is really fun and exciting to walk in and say, hey. Every single person in here is gonna get one new client in q one, and this is exactly how we see this going.
Julie Smith [00:03:29]:
Or, hey. We're going to implement this new software in q 2, and here's the why and here's how it's gonna help you. But we're funding that software in q 2 with the 5 new clients we bring in in q 1. And I think that really if you have a team being able for them to understand the why, they they could people like me, it's really hard to be like, you're like, I I can't stutter through what you just said. But for me, I can take that and I can say, oh, okay. Q one, I can do that. Q 2, q one gets me this, but q 2 gets me this. And whatever else q3 and q4 are, I think that really resonates with people like myself.
Glenn Harper [00:04:08]:
So I think what you're trying to say, which is what I was kind of alluding to, but didn't say it specifically. And the the expectation is define the goal. Like, if we want sales to grow by 10%, 12%, 50%, 3%, what does that mean? Break that down to, like, we have to go do this. All entrepreneurs, and you guys know it's all true, as soon as we say this is how much money you have to bring in at this at these rates to make x amount of dollars, all your entrepreneurs, you go nail it. But most of the time, you don't. You just kinda go out, and we're just trying to grow. Well, what does that grow mean? So trying to define that with purpose really is what what you're basically trying to say. That's what we're trying to do here.
Julie Smith [00:04:48]:
And I think really nailing that down to, you know, top down, bottom up. What do what do you need from every person's buy in in order for the company to succeed? Right? Because as an entrepreneur, you can't do it alone. You you, you know, you can do everything good, but maybe not great. And so how do you get everybody to come with so that you have the best 2025 you've ever had?
Glenn Harper [00:05:12]:
Yeah. Think about this. Now we're gonna finish strong and whatever things we set up earlier in the year, but we're defining what we wanna achieve in 2024 not or 2025. Now peep the your team is going, okay. We're gonna roll in right into this next thing and know what we're supposed to do. That's pretty powerful now because most people don't do that until January 12th, maybe. Well, I
Julie Smith [00:05:33]:
even think sometimes when you have a team and, you know, you talk about how entrepreneurs just wanna grow. And sometimes that's, you know, they're like, we're we're just we're in our growing season. Right? Your your team has no idea what that means. And so to really being able to get to some really specific measurables that, you know, are really attainable and you can hold everybody accountable for, I think, really will set you apart for achieving those goals.
Glenn Harper [00:05:58]:
Plan now and put it together and put it out there for everybody. You'll have a lot better chance to everybody's buy in and a success to achieve those goals.
Julie Smith [00:06:06]:
So cheers to 2025. Woo hoo.