In this episode of GovCon Untethered, Meg is joined by Coach Terry Head to discuss goal setting, accountability, and above all, flexibility going forward in business this year. (Click the image to listen to this week’s episode!)
Terry was kind enough to share an article with us on accountability.
Please find it here.
Updated 03/03/2023
As puzzles are back in vogue these days, I thought this might be of interest. Unfortunately, I’ve only had the opportunity to complete one over the past few weeks, but several themes rang true as I worked on it. Puzzling (is that what we call it?) makes you go through several stages, much like the business circle of life. What are the business puzzle pieces? Read on to learn more about the business puzzle and how it can affect your business.
At first, puzzles are exciting. You find all the outside pieces, you put the four corners in a special place.
Startups are exciting!
You have a new mission, it’s constantly evolving, you get to make things up as you go along. The world of possibilities is endless.
You compile the outer ring and you start to feel like you can really do this.
You’ve got your first clients or your first government contract.
You are starting to hit your stride on marketing and hiring. You start to fill in some infrastructure. You hire your first BD person, your first C-Suite.
Then, the grind hits. You must keep at the business puzzle. What seemed easy 100 pieces ago is suddenly very monotonous (for me, it’s always the sky portion!). The buzz wears off.
Months bleed into years.
Your offerings may change or expand, as does your client base. But the excitement starts to leave and the magnitude of what you want to accomplish and how hard you have to work hits you.
You find yourself trying the same business puzzle pieces in the same spots, over and over. And they don’t fit. Yet you keep trying, expecting different answers. You find that you can’t see the forest for the trees (or the entire picture for the one area you are working on).
You lose focus on what’s important.
You can get caught up in the tactical, day to day business like human resources without your eye on the exit plan. You may retain team members that you had from the beginning but no longer fit or they aren’t in the right positions, or need to recruit GovCon employees without success. You know you have to pivot but you aren’t quite sure how. You feel like you are stuck in one place.
Through it all, you keep trudging along and the puzzle slowly comes together. Big chunks get done and you start to feel accomplished. You feel like you are working on the big picture and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. You’ll get stuck a few times, but you know that you will make it through. Business puzzle pieces that you didn’t think would fit actually do. All it took was a different perspective.
Did you read that? All it took was a different perspective to solve your business’s puzzle.
Right team in the right places.
Corporate culture that aligns. Everyone is focused on the mission and works together.
Finally, you complete your business puzzle. A sense of reward, a sense of accomplishment. In my case, I turn it over to someone else to put it away, not wanting to personally break up what I worked so hard on.
This is different for everyone.
It may be the big sale, it could be a purchase of another company, it could be an ESOP or Management Buy Out. You could decide to step down as the CEO and let someone else run it.
And then you consider your next business puzzle.
Or your next opportunity.
Entrepreneurs at heart always have another company they’d like to start or will serve on boards or as advisors for those that want to start their own thing. We are a community that pays it forward.
What stage of the business puzzle are you in with your current company? If you’re in the “grind” or “focus” section and you’re looking to get to the next phase we’re poised to help you prep. Change IS coming and preparing for it now is your best course of action. We have virtual support while you need it and on-the-ground professionals when the new-normal resumes. Contact us, and let’s discuss.
We know what you’re thinking. “Not another #COVID19 article.” Not to worry, we’re providing you some insight on how you can lead your team through the next few weeks (or months?).
Let us start off by saying “Who gives a s#*t?” To put it bluntly, if this is the first time you are talking to your clients, you are screwed. No one cares how you are handling it – they care about how they are handling it. People are scared. This black swan event is one that no one prepared for. Right now we are all trying to figure out how to keep the doors open. Leading through uncertainty means maintaining confidence in the midst of disaster, and your ability to do that may determine the fate of your business.
What can you do as a leader?
First, chill out. Meditate, go for walks, stress bake, or figure out what your go-to is for reducing your stress. This will help you act insightfully and rationally, not out of fear. Get real clear real quick as your level head is needed now more than ever.
Second, take a step back. Leading through uncertainty can’t be learned all at once, you must work in steps. What is the short-term impact to your company? What is the state of your cash flow situation? How long can you keep running and at what pace? What’s your pricing strategy? (I won’t go into how you should have already known this through good business acumen. We’ll save that for another day). Figure out the next week. Then the next pay cycle. Then the next month. Day by day, week by week, piece by piece. If you don’t have a long-term plan in mind, leading through uncertainty can often mean going with your gut, and accepting whatever consequences may arise.
Third, look for areas to pivot quickly and where you can exploit opportunities. (By exploit we don’t mean nefariously, only above-board ideas please.) What can you leverage quickly to keep your business afloat? Where can you pursue government contracts with limited effort to increase sales or revenue? Where can you cut costs? One of the biggest parts of leading through uncertainty is keeping the lights on, so if that’s where your focus needs to be, make sure it stays there until you’ve got a detailed, thorough plan.
Costs are always the easiest – it’s finding new revenue sources that requires creativity, forward-thinking and leadership. Before you start cutting everything, what can grow with minimal investment? Is your accounting managed properly, so you’re not leaving money on the table?
Finally, lead through uncertainty like your business depends on it. Because it does. Now is not a time to delegate to your surrogates. Now is not a time to not answer hard questions. Now is the time to show your business what you are made of. Even if you’re closing your doors or laying people off, the way and manner that you choose to do it will be remembered. If you are an entrepreneur at heart, you will take another shot at it in the future.
Who knows? You may even pivot to a new business model and revenue stream that only enhances your business AND keeps your employees employed, maybe even hiring GovCon employees more often than before. People will remember how you handled your business during these times. Don’t ask anyone to do anything you wouldn’t do. Leading through uncertainty often means leading by example, and with that in mind:
Stay sane.
Exploit opportunities.
Lead from the front.
Act with kindness and grace.
I recently had the opportunity to get away from my laptop and go hiking at the Billy Goat Trail along the Potomac River. Beautiful day, only a little bit of foot traffic and plenty of time to think (or not think), whichever way my mind felt like going.
As I began to traverse the trail, a theme started going through my mind. I could clearly see how the trail was much like the business of running a GovCon accounting firm.
Here’s how:
• There is no straight path.
There is no right or wrong. There were blazes to follow, but it wasn’t an exact science. I went right where some might have gone left. I walked directly most times but strayed if I thought the view was interesting or if I wanted to see something that caught my eye.
Lesson: Others in your industry may have done it one way or another, but there are no absolute duplicates of success. Do what works for you and your business.
• Everyone moves at their own pace.
I was easily passed by very seasoned hikers who had been there before. I stepped aside and admired their skill. But I also passed my fair share on the trail. Those that stopped for a break between scrambles, those that were out of their comfort zones, those that were waiting for others.
Lesson: Set your own pace in business, don’t let others set it for you. Do what’s right for the business, the cash flow, the employees, and the clients.
• Leading the way.
For some of the time, I led the way with my partner and navigated which rocks to climb and where to step. Other times, he led the way. In the end, we still chose different footings, different areas to ascend, but it was nice to be in both positions. I thrived on finding the best place to stand/climb when I led. I also enjoyed following in the path and spending more time being present.
Lesson: You don’t have to lead the competition all the time. You need to lead when it’s important to you. And even if you aren’t leading now, it doesn’t mean you won’t sometime soon.
• Horizontal versus Vertical.
As with any climbing and scrambling, you really must watch where you step and where you place your feet. This means a lot of time looking down. But you can’t be so focused on looking down that you don’t see the big picture, don’t see the path and don’t get to enjoy the scenery.
Lesson: You can’t be only inwardly focused, nor can you be solely outwardly focused. Leaders tend to navigate to one area over the other, but your job is to be conscious of both. Know when to put your head in the weeds and when to keep it above the forest.
Almost two hours out in nature, away from the worries of the business world is a great way to step back and refresh your entire outlook.
If you’d like help with your outlook, or need any back office services for GovCons, feel free to contact me (Stephanie) for executive coaching at [email protected].
Updated 01/31/2023
We are looking dead straight into 2020, right around the corner. How did that happen? The expression “the days are long, but the years are short” rings particularly true to me this year. As we close out the year and the decade, it’s a good time for reflection on where things stand as a business owner. At the top of my list for this holiday season is to proactively take time to reflect on the state of the business and what the next year and next decade look like. There’s no GovCon cheat code for success, but we’ve compiled some important points for long-lasting, satisfying success in the GovCon world.
Here are some thoughts to get you started:
Taking time to truly appreciate what you have is important and contributes to your overall well-being. Your well-being contributes to being a better partner to others. Having partners to leverage allows you to scale faster and with better results. Scalability leads to a strategy that will actually work. Put this all together and, you’ll love what you do. Be better in 2020.
*While “technically” we understand that a new decade begins 1/1/2021, we’re all about those round numbers. (Thanks, Frank!)
Editors Note: This page was updated 12/27/2022.
What’s an accidental GovCon CEO? Are you one?
You may or may not know the type. They’ve spun out of government or a large integrator and had a good consulting gig as a 1099. They are well connected with their customer (they used to be colleagues) and they deliver. Since they can deliver, they are asked for additional resources. They, in turn, hire their trusted network. Within a few years, they’ve built a 10-20 person show churning $2-10M.
Everything is sunshine for a bit. The GovCon SME/CEO is still billable, doing what they love.
Inevitably, the business side of the business rears up. The SME finds themselves running a company of highly technical folks, spending most of their time on administrative tasks – cash flow projections, recruiting, contracts, minutia. They spend less time on customer delivery and more on the day-to-day running of the company. Their customer becomes frustrated as the SME can’t deliver the same level of service. The employees become frustrated as their trusted colleague is always busy with other tasks and is often unavailable.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the SME-turned-GovCon-CEO wakes up wondering how things got to this state. They hate their day-to-day life. They hate not delivering to the customer and find themselves questioning why they are running a company, the victim of becoming an accidental GovCon CEO.
If this sounds like you, let me be the first to tell you the following:
There are several options that can move you out of this state, but before you can move forward, you have to take a hard look in the mirror and ask yourself what you want out of your career and what success looks like to you. For some, it’s a dollar figure in their checking account. For others, it’s flexibility in working on high-value work. Still for others, it’s in cultivating a culture that they want. Regardless of the answer, knowing your definition of success can help guide your path.
Admittedly this is a difficult step to take (aren’t all first steps that way?). Luckily you don’t have to go it alone. BOOST has the resources, personnel, and experience to help guide you through this process. Whether it be executive coaching in the form of mentoring or strategic planning from a whole-business perspective, BOOST can help. Let’s sit down over coffee and discuss your next steps. [email protected]
DUNS: 054075943
CAGE: 7AYD7
NAICS: 541219, 541611, 541612, 541618, 541990, 561110, 561499, 611430
Alongside our back-office solutions for government contractors, we provide Untethered Takes on GovCon Industry news that’ll help you move the needle for your business. Check out GovCon Untethered on your favorite podcast player.
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