“Alan, how can you help me?”

Before we can talk about WHAT I do it’s important you understand how I do it.

I come with a strong mixture of formal training, experience and, sometimes unfortunately, a seemingly endless supply of illustrative war stories.

At the same time I am acutely aware of the reality that at the end of each engagement…I go home! 

I have learned that what is important to me is that YOU get better. I can tell myself intellectually that I can’t be responsible if you don’t. Yet, when you don’t, I take it personally. So,

My Definition of Success is:

I have helped you get to a place where you have a clearer idea of where you are, where you need to go, how to get there and, most important WHO is going to get you where you need to go.

As a result, in my mind, the customary question consultants ask: “What keeps you up at night?”  is a wrong question. It starts in the wrong place…either the past or the present. Both of these are important but preoccupation with them ends up holding you back, or freezing you in place. Instead, I believe you need to look beyond your circumstances and determine where your future lies. Then we can focus on what is holding you back and the best way to move forward. “What-keeps-you-up-at-night” simply results in a “how-can-I-get-out-of-my-circumstances” mindset and that blinds you (at your peril) to thinking about “what-you-need-to-get-into.”

The only way to permanently transcend your circumstances is to look beyond your circumstances.

We don’t have time, you and me, for any more rabbit trails. What I want to know is: “What will make you WANT to get up in the morning?”

Unfortunately, people too often make peace with their circumstances so they don’t allow themselves to think about possibilities…they come to believe it can’t happen.

Small business is a place where theory rarely survives contact with reality. I sure do have a lot of theory and if you ask me I will “wax eloquent” on the subject. But I have found people engage me as an outsider to take a fresh look and focus in on the potential. They want practical answers that they can implement.

I see your current issues as barriers to progress. So, they must be addressed and with expediency. Once addressed the next step is to ask ourselves the question:

“Now what?”

And THAT is where we start to have fun!

As small business owners we don’t have much choice…do we? We wear a lot of hats and so we must be:

• A worker
• A Leader
• A manager
• A financier

And so on. We don’t often have the luxury of getting off our bikes to fix them. We have to do it as we keep moving along.

We have limited resources. Solutions that require lots of manpower and money are not always feasible. You are not a major corporation with lots of specialized talent like full time accountants, lawyers, marketers and trainers.

No, it’s more realistic that you will have to implement solutions yourself. So, solutions have to be something you can accomplish in steps and with the resources you already have.