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Collaboration Demands Integrity from all Partners

May 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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When I reach an agreement to partner with another company, I’m not expecting them to be just like my company in regards to how they run their business.  What I do expect is to reach that agreement with a good feeling that we can work well together and that the other company has a similar culture.  There are some characteristics I look for in collaboration and without those, I don’t do business with them.  They are:

  • Does the partnering company have the same kind of vision that you have with respect to a particular project?
  • Are they profit-driven or looking to get in just to make a long term play on the same customer or industry?
  • Are they willing to go the extra mile when hard work is needed?
  • Are they a company that can make good business decisions and not beat around the bush in fear of making those decisions?

If the other company is concerned with achieving the goals established in regards to contracts, specific projects, long term collaboration that involves a service contract, or a building that needs to be built, then that is a company I have confidence in working with.  Whatever the end goal might be, it should be written down and agreed to so that it enables both companies to establish a healthy business relationship.  Integrity and honest dealings should be expected from any company, regardless of its size.

Ground Rules are of Great Importance in a Partnership

Both companies should be truthful and straightforward from the very beginning of the partnership.  If you don’t have a specific capability or vice-versa, you have the capabilities but need to take precautions in utilizing those capabilities sparingly, speak up!  Explain that you need to extend those capabilities a little at a time until the relationship is built up.

The absolute bottom line in this type of relationship is trust – if trust breaks down, hope that it breaks down early in the game instead of down the road.  This is why you need to establish those ground rules at the start, because if there are trust issues later on, those ground rules, or lack of, can make or break the relationship.

Learning from Negative Experiences

Understand that no matter how careful you try to plan a partnership, occasionally something isn’t going flow as expected and failure is unavoidable.  You may have expended money on the partnership in some form or another and the best you can do is consider it money well spent by taking a negative and turning it into a positive learning experience.  Most of the time, failures are not personal and if you can learn from every mistake that comes across your desk so that it’s not repeated, then you stand a good chance of turning that mistake into a success in your future business dealings.

One final aspect in this type of relationship is that it isn’t an absolute necessity that every single project be a homerun with heavy profitability.  For example, I might be on a team that has in-depth experience in a certain type of building, perhaps a medical or a higher education building.  If I lack experience in this area, I certainly want to collaborate with this team so that I can gain that experience and build invaluable past performance which is a huge necessity when pursuing work with the federal government.

If you have questions or would like to discuss establishing partnerships further, I can be reached below in the comments below or by contacting me directly and I’ll be happy to go into more detail with you.

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Successful Partnerships between Companies Requires Upfront Planning

May 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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Much of what I blog about stems from experiences of a positive nature, but I also believe in passing along my less than positive interactions so that, hopefully, someone else can avoid the same problems.  Frontline is involved in a situation currently which stems from a collaboration formed with another business.  That company is about the same size in revenue as Frontline, but they have less experience in the federal marketplace.  That in itself is not a problem and I say, “Hat’s off to someone working hard and trying to build their business.”

However, establishing the type of partnership that will result in a win/win for both companies should have some specific agreements laid out right at the beginning.  First and foremost, make sure the company you’re reaching out to partner with possesses similar synergies and operating ethics as your company.  If you are not on level ground from the beginning, it won’t get easier down the road and you are setting up a collaboration that is most likely doomed to failure.  The end goal definitely involves creating revenue for both companies, but to reach that end you must start with a clear and concise plan for execution.  That plan should encompass both companies stating their expectations of the partnership and how they intend to reach the end goal.

 Make Sure your Company Fulfills the Agreement

The current situation involving Frontline has been in the works for nearly four months now, starting around Christmas, and unfortunately, sometimes the best laid plans don’t reach culmination.  If the other party doesn’t grasp the full extent of the agreement or they feel their personal “win” isn’t what they were expecting, neither company is going to recognize a win.  That being said, it’s still well worthwhile to try and iron out all details and expectations in the beginning and then make sure your company follows through with what it promises.  This is the best guarantee you have for success of that partnership and if things do go wrong, at least give yourself the satisfaction of knowing that your company upheld its end of the agreement.

If you want to discuss strategies on setting up a partnership, I can be reached below in the comments or by contacting me directly.

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Finding Your Own Personal “Why”

May 2, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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Since I’ve been on the subject of my recent attendance to a seminar follow-up, I thought I should go into a little more detail about what I brought home from that follow-up from a more personal level.  I covered how it helped me from a sales and marketing standpoint, but one thing that really intrigued me was that it helped me realize I’ve had a lack of interest in supporting anything that was outside of my main focus, that being helping vets.  This follow-up gave me a reason to think about my “why;” why I’m in business for myself and why I started it.

One of the guest speakers at this event was a young man by the name of Jason Russell.  He is the founder of an organization called Invisible Children, and he gave us a very powerful look into a world I was totally unaware of concerning the plight of children in Africa, or more precisely, Uganda.  These children, ages 5 to 14, are abducted at night and are then turned into soldiers and murderers.  I have a 5 year old son and after seeing the pictures and the videos of this taking place over the last 18 to 20 years, I’m astonished more light hasn’t been shed on this.  This one issue motivated this group into action and thus, they created a non-profit organization which has successfully started a groundswell across the country.  The President has even signed legislation early this year in an effort to help track down the instigator of this atrocity, a guy by the name of Joseph Kony.

Learning of this organization led to a change in my thinking and it occurred to me that I need to broaden my horizon of support.  I enthusiastically pledged monetary support to this organization because I have no doubt of its worthiness.  Getting back to my topic, however, this brought me to the point of my own “why,” and I encourage everyone to discover their own personal “why.”  We as Americans are generous by our very natures, but sometimes we are so inundated with pleas for help that we either stop hearing those pleas or we are too confused about who we would truly like to help.  If you fall into either of these scenarios, take a step back and take time to evaluate your “why” reasoning.  I think if you can answer why you are in business or why you choose a certain path in your life, it will help you determine who you may wish to support as well.

As a small business owner, my focus has always been on making money to sustain my business, and I am quite sure I’m not alone in that endeavor.  Making money should not be your only focus in life, however, and if it is, you may be successful, but that success will most likely be short-lived.  It’s a personal choice for all of us, but going back to my military experiences, I have witnessed some pretty horrific things as well as some beautiful things.  Hearing Jason Russell speak brought a lot of those things back to me although I haven’t been in the military since 1998.  It also was a much needed reminder that there are still people in our country who are trying hard to make the world a better place and they truly need our support and help.

If you would like more information about this organization or how to broaden your own focus, I can be reached through email at jperez@frontline1.com.

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Economical Alternatives to Seminar Attendance

April 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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In the last few blog posts, I’ve elaborated on the importance of professional and self-development through attending seminars.  Seminars come in many different price ranges and I’ve paid as little as $250 per day for a seminar, all the way up to $10,000 for a four day seminar, but for the small business owner, sometimes even the least expensive ones are out of reach in the beginning.  However, there are some really good alternatives out there and I believe in taking full advantage of those more affordable avenues.

For starters, I’m an avid subscriber of Success magazine, and in each issue they give you an audio CD that delivers lessons and advice on many of the same things you find when you attend a seminar.  I carry these around in my truck all the time and in many cases, I listen to them multiple times.  They’re not long, about 15 to 20 minutes or so, but I have found that if I miss something the first few times I listen to them, I’ll usually catch little morsels after listening repeatedly.  My subscription costs about $40 a year, far less than the cost of a seminar.

I also have recordings from Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins and Chet Holmes to name a few.  All of these have the same focus and that is to help me improve my business and myself.  I’ve actually listened to some of them in excess of 20 times or more and it’s no different from listening to music on your iPod in that you may hear the same song, but it still delivers a message or a tune you want to hear.  Sometimes I hit roadblocks in my work and I’ll hear something from one of these great speakers that really hits home with me at that particular point in time.  It might be something that didn’t really apply to me before, but now it’s exactly the advice I need to hear to get me past those roadblocks.

These audio CD’s are offered at a nominal price as compared to what I would pay for the cost of a seminar, meals and airfare, especially since seminars are so rarely in close proximity to where I live.  These CD’s come in the form of interviews or discussions that are easy to follow and offer great advice on subjects I take a lot of interest in.  In fact, this is the reason I do my podcasts and blog posts; I want to help those who share an interest in small business ownership and especially those who are service disabled veterans who have a desire to own a business.  My goal is to present this information in an up-to-date format where someone can go through the archives and find exactly what they need to learn more about on a certain topic.

I guess at this point, I should add my normal contact information, so if anyone wants to further discuss anything in these blogs, they can contact me.  As always, you can add your comments below or contact me directly.

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Professional Development Continues After Schooling

April 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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When I was in the military, I learned steps to professional development in my chosen career.  The military has actually offered this forever and I learned valuable leadership steps from them through courses they offered.  The sad truth is, you attend school, you attend college and maybe advanced studies, but once those are completed, you are expected to join the workforce.  While this schooling is invaluable, it doesn’t necessarily offer “hands-on” experience and this is important in the real world.  Book-learned techniques are not always applicable and you have to learn flexibility, particularly as a business owner.

Once I realized the importance of continued learning, both as a professional and in my personal life, I made it a point to attend seminars that helped me in this endeavor.  As I mentioned in my prior blog post, I recently attended a follow-up to a seminar from several months back.  It was more of a retreat where I joined 19 other colleagues from around the country and a few were even from Canada and Europe.  This follow-up took place in San Diego and, of course, that location was great this time of the year.

Seminars Offer Opportunities to Hear Key Speakers

Seminars of this nature offer a terrific chance to hear some of the top speakers out there; those who take a huge interest in our country, and in this case, it was Jim Rohn.  He has since passed away, but I am very appreciative of the chance to hear him speak.  He talked about how doing well in your business and working hard at your job can have huge rewards.  His point of view is something that really interests me and it has helped me both in my civilian life and professional career.

There are so many seminars available to business owners, but I try to choose those that will help me work in particular areas of my life.  You can find an expert out there for just about anything, but you need to decide where your focus should be and then pursue learning in that area.  Usually I begin with working on areas that I personally need improvement in and then I focus on bringing that improvement to my team.

If you would like to learn more about choosing a seminar that’s right for you, leave a comment below or contact me directly.

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Learning “Focus” in Professional Development as a Small Business Owner

April 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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Four or five months ago, I talked about a seminar I attended and the main theme was on the word “focus.”  This particular seminar included an actual follow-up, which is a bit unusual, but it served as an extension of what we discussed earlier.  This follow-up described how we as small business owners are literally inundated with information coming from all directions and as the leader of a company, it is our job to focus and prioritize what is in need of immediate work and what should be our focus for the future.  Identifying these priorities is important in establishing and accomplishing goals in different areas of our business, whether it’s sales and marketing or operations.  It’s important to place effort on surpassing your actual need within that particular area.

Reaping Early Rewards

At the end of this follow-up, we each did a self-assessment using a worksheet which covered various areas of our business including personal development, marketing, sales, operations, personnel and a few other aspects.  We started working on these areas back in November and the self-assessment puts you in the position of being your toughest critic.  The questions are very structured and pointed and they ask you to describe where you are now and if you feel this is where you need to be.  It illustrated to me that I’ve barely scratched the surface in these areas, yet I’m seeing self-improvement already.  The little tweaks you can do, simply by using their “focus” approach, can set both you and your team in motion.  I am now seeing a direct correlation with improvement in sales, revenues and profits.

After seeing this improvement in such a short time, I would definitely encourage small business owners to attend as many seminars as economically possible that put you on the road to fine-tuning both your personal and professional development.  The benefits are pretty amazing, as I’ve seen for myself, and I can testify to the fact that it is time and money well-spent.

If you would like to learn more about attending professional improvement seminars, contact me or leave a comment below.

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Balancing those “Just a Minute” Business Snafu’s

April 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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In my last blog, I covered how I handle balancing family and business, and in this blog, I want to focus on balancing my business hours.

We have all experienced someone coming to us and asking, “Do you have a minute?”  We all know that a minute can turn into multiple minutes that eat into our carefully planned out day and break our concentration on whatever needs our undivided attention.  We don’t want to be rude to the person asking, but sometimes those little interruptions really take away time to get things accomplished.

The little “got a minute” lines, as I call them, have to be controlled to keep scheduling under control.

Here at Frontline, unless there is an emergency, my team knows they need to come to me between 11:00 and 11:20 in the morning.  This means they need to be prepared in what they ask me; they need to tell me in 20 seconds or so what the issue is and what they need from me.  If it is something that needs a longer answer, they schedule a time to meet with me.  They all have access to my calendar so they can check and see what times are available.

Next, they send me a calendar invite, telling me what the meeting will be about and the length of time to schedule our meeting for, whether it’s 15 minutes, 30 minutes or longer.  Most of the time, I will meet with them because it’s a time I have open, but if the meeting is to be lengthy, I ask that they provide me with an agenda before the meeting.  This agenda will include what the issue might be, the basic parameters and what they might hope the final outcome will be from me.  Most of the time it involves a decision by me and an agenda keeps it very simple.  This gives me some semblance of control so that I’m not constantly bombarded with the unexpected.  The rest of my day is blocked out in a similar manner and this form of scheduling is something I learned from my mentors.

However, there is no such thing as a perfectly scheduled day – I wish there was.

The contracting business is affected by just about everything and that includes the weather.  Safety takes precedence over every phase of our operations and the high winds today were causing unsafe conditions with some machinery.  I want everyone to go home safely, every single work day, and when it’s necessary, we work on something that puts safety first, or we completely stop work and call it a day, dependent on the situation.

If you want more information on my scheduling techniques, you can contact me and I will get back to you quickly.

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Family versus Business Equals a Fine Balance

March 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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It probably goes without saying that this kind of balancing act is never an easy task. I strive daily to achieve this balance because without it, things go downhill very fast.

Being human, it’s only natural that things get off track on occasion and unfortunately, I fell victim to a loss of balance on a recent Sunday.

Typically, Sunday is a family day for me, but I made an exception this particular day and tried to combine business and family.  First, my wife ended up needing to fill in unexpectedly for a sick employee in her jazzercise business.  My daughter needed to be picked up across town at a friend’s house, and my wife was supposed to take our son to the last day of rodeo and I ended up needing to take him myself.  I totally forgot about a scheduled meeting with a business acquaintance because literally everything was turned upside down, and my mind spaced out on me.

Thankfully, this is a rare occurrence and most of the time, things stay on track for me, at least more on track than that eventful Sunday.  I firmly believe in family time and can speak from past experience on this.  My prior marriage suffered immensely when I was in the military because I immersed myself in work, and it was a real learning experience for me.  Now I prioritize much differently and remind myself that it is after all, my family is who I work for.  Schedules can still conflict at times, but I try not to allow it to become a habit.

Proper Scheduling Helps in Placing Priorities

I have several things in place that help control sudden disruptions in my day and one of those things is keeping an up-to-date calendar that syncs with both my laptop and my smartphone.  I spend a lot of time making sure my calendar is accurate and can’t help but see a similarity with the ‘80’s when people relied on Rolodexes and Day Planners.  Nothing has changed; it’s just all electronic now.

I block out times for different things and when I get home for family time, I turn everything off.  I review emails in the morning and I schedule discussions with my coaches as well as my accountability partner.  I take extra precautions to ensure I stay on schedule by setting my alarm on my phone five minutes prior to an appointment.  I also make it a habit to scan my email subject lines and if an email doesn’t have anything as the subject line, I don’t waste time on it – I dump it.

On the subject of emails and subject lines, I highly recommend to anyone wishing to discuss any of my blogs that they make sure they fill in the subject line of their email.  I will get back to you quickly, but having that subject line filled in helps me understand what subject matter it is you’re seeking information or discussion. With that said, feel free to contact me any time.

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Delegating of Marketing & Advertising

March 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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A little lesson I learned a long time ago is that if you are in command, then you need to command, and this absolutely applies to both marketing and advertising.  As President of Frontline, I am in charge of everything.  Following the advice of my mentors, I learned I should never delegate decision-making involving these two important aspects of business.  Now the actual responsibilities of performing needed legwork can and should be given to a person who is a true expert, or a consultant who is hired on a piecemeal basis.  Past experience has taught me that if you delegate the responsibility, chances are very high that they’re going to get it wrong.  An exception to this would be if the person given the responsibility really knows the focus of your business.

Targeting Markets within My Own Industry

Frontline’s target market is, of course, the Federal government.  This includes the V.A., the Army and the Air Force, mainly because of their proximity.  There are specific rules that must be adhered to simply because it involves the government and a proper approach must be handled delicately.  If I went out on a limb and hired an advertising and marketing agency to handle advertising to these entities, it’s likely that agency might not have any idea what the rules are, or realize the need for careful handling when dealing with contracting officers and representatives of these agencies.  Of course, there’s the legal aspect involved, but if things go wrong on any level, it’s going to be difficult to undo the damage created by improper handling.

Granted I’m not a marketer by any means, but I have a full understanding of the ethics and legalities involved in my business; so whether we’re talking about a simple flyer that advertises a specific skillset, or something more involved such as a full blown T.V. or radio commercial, it all needs to be carried out in a correct and legal fashion.

Affordability of Advertising

Advertising is most definitely a costly endeavor and it’s important to budget carefully in order to maximize ROI on the limited dollars you may have to spend.  I fall within this bracket because I have limited advertising dollars to spend, so it is even more important that I hire the right person for the job.  Again, I’m not delegating the decisions here, just the actual physical piece, and it’s important to distinguish the difference.  I place trust in the people I hire to perform these tasks, but they still must run it by me.  If I have a problem with it, they need to be able to explain to me why they feel it will work.

This method of operation extends to the sales side of our business as well.  If you have a “rock star” sales person who goes out and sells a million dollars’ worth of work too cheaply, you can’t recognize a profit, yet we’re still obligated to perform the work.  This is a prime reason why you need to have a hands-on approach with anything that obligates your company.  If you are in charge of your company, stay in charge and stay in touch with all aspects of your business.  Let the experts do the physical legwork, which is then approved by you before it goes out the door.

As always, if anyone wants to discuss this further, I welcome you to contact me.

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Legislative Sessions Require Proper Presentation and Preparation

March 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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In continuation of my discussions concerning our recent legislative sessions, I want to elaborate a little more on why it is so important to be prepared in advance if someone plans to participate.

In my experience, the majority of elected officials enjoy the opportunity to discuss specific business matters with John Q. Public. They set aside designated time in their day to allow them to meet with constituents and all you need to do is set an appointment. It is also important to realize there is only just so much time they can set aside because they also must prioritize this time with committee meetings and other matters pertinent to their elected positions. Bear in mind the time they set aside also includes meeting with lobbyists, and this occurs on a daily basis because they are paid to be there to promote specific interests.

As a member of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, we began our preparations months ago by putting together a concerted agenda which addressed various issues affecting our community. I chaired the group that handled energy and sustainable energy issues in our local community. This group included several large and small businesses as well as representatives of the water and electrical utilities here locally. I represented one of the small business owners, but as a group, we all went with a single voice. We discussed topics agreed upon by our group as well as topics from the viewpoints of people who are business owners in our local industries. This provided perspective from both large and small businesses.

My best advice for someone preparing for legislative discussions is to prepare an agenda that includes concise topic points that can be acted upon. At the very least, take notes that can be acted on by your elected officials and their staff. If you approach these sessions with inadequate preparation, it wastes time for everyone. Keep in mind what I stated earlier and that is, elected officials must prioritize their daily time and agendas. If you go in fully prepared with an actionable agenda, you stand a much better chance of gaining their cooperation and attention.

If anyone would like to discuss this in more detail, contact me.

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