Jack Mencini and Adam Sonnhalter, the small business coaches from Maximum Value Partners (www.maximumvp.com) get owners unstuck from the state of HOW! (How questions are those questions that perplex small business owners day in and day out.) In this week’s episode of Dirty Secrets of Small Business at 7:30pm (EST) on WINT Radio 1330 AM and 101.5 FM every Wednesday, the cohosts discuss: How do you prompt the break of a long-term relationship? The break up could be with an employee, a customer/client or perhaps a vendor.

They define a long-term relationship as being 5-10 years and as a business owner, you have been through some stuff and had a chance to see how the other party performs. Having been through some stuff with the other party, it can be hard to break the relationship off, even though it is almost always the right thing to do.

“People don’t break off very easily,” said Adam. “In business coaching, every time we break from a customer… even if there is a good reason or bad reason… we tend to feel that there is a little dark cloud over the situation. And, it doesn’t’ feel good, especially in the moment.”
Over the years, they have found that when a bad situation or bad fit between the coaches and their clients surfaces, they know now to break it off right away. “There is always that feeling of discomfort or loss, but it is better to end it as soon as possible,” said Jack.
When it comes to something not working, it is better to cut it off sooner than later “When we had our first client break off, we were caught off guard because we weren’t ready to let them go. But, they were ready to flap their wings and fly on their own,” said Jack.
“They gained knowledge from us and put it to good use,” said Adam. “We took a break for a year and then they came back to us to have as a sounding board and help them look for answers to their ‘How Questions.’ Within a few years they wound up selling their business to a competitor for a nice profit!”

If you do make a break… it might not be forever… just for now. Good partnerships might need to take a rest and it is sad, but it could be that you had a good run. The lesson is that, the coaches did well for the client and they are both successful, but it is time to take a break for a while. This could be true of any of your vendors, customers, or employees as well. As much as many of us would like these relationships to be life-long, the reality is that very few wind up lasting more than a few years at best.

In addition to this topic, Jack and Adam give insights into how much to pay your employees, how to look at salary from an annual perspective or an hourly perspective. Also, how do you know if you have a problem with your employees and if they are trying to blackmail you into getting a higher salary? The business coaches also share a few dirty secrets on how to set selling prices during this episode.
For more info on small business challenges tune into this week’s May 24 podcast on iTunes or http://maximumvp.com/dirty-secrets-small-business-radio-show-podcast/ or call Jack or Adam for help with your small business challenges at 877-849-0670.

Do you have any How Questions of your own to email to Jack and Adam? Do it by sending your questions to radio@maximumvp.com or submit a question on their web site at http://maximumvp.com/how/

If you have a success story or a question you would like to share, email or contact Jack and Adam directly at radio@maximumvp.com or 877-849-0670.
You can also call in during the show each week when you are listening on Wednesdays at prime time 7:30pm (EST) on WINT 1330 AM and 101.5 FM. Or call 440-946-9468 to ask your question to the Maximum Value Partners’ coaches or tweet your question to @MaximumVP.

The post How do you prompt the break of a long-term business relationship? appeared first on Maximum Value Partners.

The post How do you prompt the break of a long-term business relationship? appeared first on Dirty Secrets of Small Business.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Jack Mencini and Adam Sonnhalter, the small business coaches from Maximum Value Partners (www.maximumvp.com), a.k.a “The UnStuckers”, address many how questions and get people unstuck from the state of HOW! In this week’s episode of Dirty Secrets of Small Business at 7:30pm (EST) on WINT Radio 1330 AM and 101.5 FM every Wednesday, the cohosts discuss how do you get the owner of a dysfunctional company to change?

When you start talking about dysfunction in the workplace or in the home, the word “normal” will usually pop up. What is “normal” for you can be very different for someone else from a different background or experience. What is “normal” will also change over time due to social norms and what the family or the business is experiencing.

Years ago the normal family unit was mom at home and dad being the breadwinner with daily dinners and all members of the family around the dinner table at 5:30pm. Back then…that was normal, but probably pretty unusual in today’s environment.

In looking at small business and addressing the question of what is normal, it is often difficult for the business owner to know what is normal since they typically only know their own business. It’s helpful to get the perspective of outsiders, especially ones who have seen a lot of different companies. This helps the business owner understand and admit that there is some dysfunction in the workplace. Initially, there will be some denial because the business owner sees what is going on in their business as normal.

A couple of examples of what dysfunction might look like include family members who are employees and don’t differentiate between work and personal. For instance, if they yell and scream at each other at family functions, you will usually hear them reacting in the same way in the work environment. This can be very disruptive to the other team members and even the outside vendors and customers. And it’s not normal! Too many times, this dysfunctional behavior is not viewed as a problem because the owner’s relationship is based on the family dynamic rather than the professional work dynamic.

In addition to this topic, Jack and Adam give insights into the value and ramifications of what the constant churn of people in a small business organization can do to the future of the business. Jack and Adam share a few dirty secrets on how to quickly tell if you are hiring a good employee and how to tell if a business is running smoothly within a few minutes.

For more info on small business challenges tune into this week’s May 17 podcast on iTunes or http://maximumvp.com/dirty-secrets-small-business-radio-show-podcast/   or call Jack or Adam for help with your small business challenges at 877-849-0670.

Do you have any How Questions of your own to email to Jack and Adam? Do it by sending your questions to radio@maximumvp.com or submit a question on their web site at http://maximumvp.com/how/

If you have a success story or a question you would like to share, email or contact Jack and Adam directly at radio@maximumvp.com or 877-849-0670.

You can also call in during the show each week when you are listening on Wednesdays at prime time 7:30pm (EST) on WINT 1330 AM and 101.5 FM. Or call 440-946-9468 to ask your question to the Maximum Value Partners’ coaches or tweet your question to @MaximumVP.

The post How do you get the owner of a dysfunctional company to change? appeared first on Maximum Value Partners.

The post How do you get the owner of a dysfunctional company to change? appeared first on Dirty Secrets of Small Business.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Jack Mencini and Adam Sonnhalter, co-hosts of Dirty Secrets of Small Business, which airs live on Wednesdays at 7:30 pm (EST) on WINT 1330 AM and 101.5 FM, discuss the question: Why are the small guys, the small business owners, ignored?
Both men are also business partners and small business coaches with Maximum Value Partners (MVP) www.maximumvp.com who delve deep into the discussion of why this is the case that the small companies are often ignored for business loans and their impact on the community. Why aren’t they more celebrated, promoted, and appreciated like the bigger companies? These small companies have great stories to tell as well.
Why it is this the case? Jack starts the discussion by saying that many small business owners lack the insight and tools to be professional self-promoters and the ability to present and tell their business story in an appealing or sexy way to grab people’s attention.

Owners of small businesses don’t think bigger because they don’t know how to go about getting the financial backing for cash and capital to grow their businesses as those who are among the venture capitalist (VC) and the Wall Street types. A small business owner does not command that kind of attention to make the VC or Wall Street maven stand up and take notice. What is alarming is that the small business owner is not looking to borrow huge sums of money in the millions to make a go of it, but rather amounts that are in the lower spectrum being in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There is a definite market for small business owners to stand up and be recognized and not ignored. Marcia Pledger columnist for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer had an ongoing column for ten years title: My Biggest Mistake and How I fixed it http://amzn.to/2pDNSq8

The book is an interesting compilation on small business stories. The chapters give an inside look of how the challenges within small business were addressed and solved. These stories resonate with people because folks can relate to them and get their hands around them pretty quickly. They are real stories that many of us have experienced ourselves. Most of us can relate to dealing with families issues (whether it be as part of a business or not). Almost none of us can relate to raising hundreds of millions of dollars from Venture Capitalists or selling our company for billions of dollars, yet those stories are the ones most often told.

Several recent television programs give some insight for how to tell the stories of small business in an interesting way: The Profit with Marcus Lemoni and the long-running Shark Tank with 5 VC individuals, who weekly skewer the small business individuals who are presenting. Yes, these companies aren’t being ignored, but many times they are not getting the backing they need to make a go of their small businesses. And for each of these stories being told, there are millions more!

Sometimes, these shows have a negative effect on people who might be thinking about starting a small business. Jack and Adam have the feeling that a potential small business owner will watch the Shark Tank and it scares people about going to ask for money. Why would anyone want to subject themselves to 5 individuals who seem like they are ready to be the firing squad?

In digging deeper about supporting small business, Jack feels that the system is rigged against small business. “The people who make decisions on dolling out the big bucks are usually made up of government bureaucrats, professors or college ivy league types who have never run a business themselves.

“People who are in power to doll out the dollars are usually looking at high tech start-ups. These high tech companies are not what you would consider Main Street USA.” Jack feels it is rigged by the VC who would not help the small business and the Main Street USA companies to get funding to grow and expand. For these small businesses, it is often times just too hard to try and get the smaller loans.

Jack states that many VCs make the decision to not give money to a small business because it is not fancy enough. The florist on Main Street USA…the VC sees nothing sexy about giving her money to improve her company. It is a sad truth that 25 million jobs can be created in small companies if there were to each get better and simply add one employee. But, a fancy professor or bureaucrat or Wall Street guy will not see it as sexy to give $50K to a florist to help her business expand.

Jack further explained another example of the system being rigged. One of MVP’s clients, who was not a fancy high tech company but a solid company, wanted to expand and go to a suburban community. In order for him to do business in this community, he had to pay the mayor off in an “under the table” deal because the mayor did not want that business in his community. If it had been a sexy IT company, the mayor would have been head over heels to do it. The small business owner did not go through with giving the pay off.

For more info on how not to be ignored as a small business and the topic of purpose versus profit, tune into this week’s May 10 podcast on iTunes or http://maximumvp.com/dirty-secrets-small-business-radio-show-podcast/ or call Jack or Adam for help with your small business challenges at 877-849-0670.

Do you have any How Questions of your own to email to Jack and Adam? Do it by sending your questions to radio@maximumvp.com or submit a question on their web site at http://maximumvp.com/how/

If you have a success story or a question you would like to share, email or contact Jack and Adam directly at radio@maximumvp.com or 877-849-0670.

You can also call in during the show each week when you are listening on Wednesdays at prime time 7:30 pm (EST) on WINT 1330 AM and 101.5 FM. Or call 440-946-9468 to ask your question to the Maximum Value Partners’ coaches or tweet your question to @MaximumVP.

The post Why are the small guys ignored? appeared first on Maximum Value Partners.

The post Why are the small guys ignored? appeared first on Dirty Secrets of Small Business.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

For their first show in the new prime time slot, Jack Mencini and Adam Sonnhalter, co-hosts of Dirty Secrets of Small Business, which airs live on Wednesdays at 7:30 pm (EST) on WITN 1330 AM and 101.5 FM, discuss the thorny topic of: How do you know when to fight? They are covering this subject as it relates to small business issues and taking a stand to fight for your position and also discussing being too afraid to stand up for yourself and your beliefs.

Adam started the discussion with the question: Will you fight at all costs?

If someone pushes you, are you one of those people who pushes right back and wants to fight because that was how you were brought up? Is it part of your nature to react in that way?

If you have been in business for a while, you will probably know if someone has that fight or flight mentality. Some business people will fight even if they are in the wrong …no matter what the consequences may be. Other people, even if they are in the right, won’t engage in controversy or start the fight. But, overall how do you know when it is right to fight?

Most humans don’t want to admit their mistakes. For many men in our current culture, a man will never stop to ask for directions or admit that he is wrong. Jack interjected that maybe a man just feels misunderstood. More often than not, the mentality is that it is often hard to admit a mistake and apologize.

How do you know when it is the right time to fight?

According to Jack, “When your gut says this is wrong and I have to do what is right. But, most business people capitulate to the attorneys and try to find a way to settle. Even though we know it is wrong, the small business owner will not fight and I think that is wrong. Your first instinct is the right instinct and to go ahead and fight if you are right! Fight for your right!”

For more info on when is the right time to fight and insights on the value of understanding your small business financial statements tune into this week’s May 3 podcast on iTunes or http://maximumvp.com/dirty-secrets-small-business-radio-show-podcast/ or call Jack or Adam for help with your small business challenges at 877-849-0670.

Do you have any How Questions of your own to email to Jack and Adam? Do it by sending your questions to radio@maximumvp.com or submit a question on their web site at http://maximumvp.com/how/

If you have a success story or a question you would like to share, email or contact Jack and Adam directly at radio@maximumvp.com or 877-849-0670.

You can also call in during the show each week when you are listening on Wednesdays at prime time 7:30 pm (EST) on WINT 1330 AM and 101.5 FM. Or call 440-946-9468 to ask your question to the Maximum Value Partners’ coaches or tweet your question to @MaximumVP.

The post How do you know when to fight? appeared first on Maximum Value Partners.

The post How do you know when to fight? appeared first on Dirty Secrets of Small Business.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS