Your Daily Dose of Dave – June 3, 2011

Last updated: May 23, 2020

Business week concludes on VicksburgDailyNews.com with some rather hard to hear, yet uplifting advice from Dave Ramsey – who taps some of his favorite authors for advice you need to hear.

You Are The Problem… And The Solution!

In his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell coined the term “leadership lid.” It’s the idea that all organizations are limited by their leaders. That means your business is not limited by its market, the recession or even your team members. It is only limited by you and your capacity to overcome your personal limitations. As a leader of a growing business, Dave is constantly striving to increase his capacity as a leader. One important part of that process is reading—books, blogs, magazine articles—anything that strengthens his leadership abilities. Here are a couple of Dave’s favorite authors and their thoughts about leading a business today.

Decide What You Will Do And Do It Well

Seth Godin, writer of a top-ranked business blog and author of best-sellers Tribes and Linchpin, says a leader’s job is to figure out what your company is not going to do. “I’ve made the conscious choice not to use Twitter, not to travel the world… not to do consulting,” he said in an interview on daveramsey.com. “I made these choices not because there’s anything wrong with these things, but merely because I insist on finding a few things and really doing them, as opposed to just wandering around doing a little in a lot of places.” Godin says business owners should think of themselves as artists. “By my definition, most art has nothing to do with oil, paint or marble,” he explained on his blog. “Art is what we are doing when we do our best work.”

Find Opportunity in the Changes You Are Forced to Face

On his blog, Dan Miller, author of 48 Days to the Work You Love, talked about how changing times can result in unexpected opportunities:

• In 1892, a bookseller who realized the perfume he was giving as a reward to his loyal customers was more popular than the books he peddled, ditched the books and began selling the perfume with housewives as his sales force. Avon was born.
• A fabric wholesaler began his business selling fabric to major clothing manufacturers. He began buying up flawed fabric rolls at a discount and cut them into squares to be used as rags. Body shops, auto dealers and parts stores bought them as fast as he could produce them, and he now has a contract with Dollar General to provide the rags packed in plastic bags.

The moral of these stories? “With every change, there is the equal seed of new opportunity,” Miller said. “Where is the hidden opportunity in the changes being forced on you?”

Taking the Next Step for Your Business

If you’re focused and taking advantage of the opportunities around you, your business is bound to grow. And we want to help you take the next step. If it’s time to move your business to a new or larger location, contact one of our commercial real estate Endorsed Local Providers. Our ELPs are experts in your local real estate market, and you can trust them to give you the same advice Dave would about finding the best location for your business. Contact your ELP today!]]]]> ]]>

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