Rough Drafts by Cory Miller

Exit Exercise partners Cory Miller and Jeff Meziere share the 10 keys to preparing your business for the inevitable exit and why they are important. 

Take the free assessment here: 

https://exitexercise.com/checklist

Exit Exercise Co-Founders Jeff Meziere and Cory Miller talk about their own exit stories and why they want to help entrepreneurs prepare and position for their own inevitable exits. 

Stepping out and away is so vital

Talking to Mike Demo of Web Ventures, that has a $5 million dollar fund for acquisition/investments in WordPress businesses. 

We talk about some keys and tips for prepping your business for a potential sale, along with the types of companies Web Ventures is looking for. 

Learn more at: 

https://webventures.io/

Does your leadership team set aside time and space each month or regularly to share the good, the wins from the last 30 days ... and then look ahead to the next 30 days of challenges and share experiences to learn and grow together? 

https://leader.team

Particularly with your work and career. 

I recently (finally) met Kim Doyal and felt instantly like I had missed out on meeting and being her friend sooner. 

She's filled with incredible wisdom and has such an amazing perspective on this thing called entrepreneurship (as well as life!).

Most of this conversation centers on her attitude and approach, particularly starting with having fun ... being more of the authentic you .... and showing up, consistently. 

Listen in and be better for doing so. 

Learn more about Kim here:

https://kimdoyal.com/

https://contentcreatorsplanner.com/

https://twitter.com/kimdoyal

One of the great questions we ask ourselves but can often haunt us as entrepreneur is: What's Next?

Asking "What's Next?" is a great exercise to keep us focused on protecting and growing our businesses.

For me, it was about staying relevant in the market and to our customers well into the future. And taking the right steps to ensure our future. 

I did this "What's Next?" exercise often .... here's how it'd go:

FIRST, I started with assessing our current situation. 

Where are we now? Our customers, our products, our competition?

SECOND, I started pushing Fast Forward on it all .... and asked, "Where is it all going next?"

To help look into the future ... I'd take those buckets ... customers, products, competition, technology, industry, etc ... and would go ... what would 10X better be for all of it? 

What's the natural progression of all of this? And I'd play it all out. 

Hockey great Wayne Gretzky is often quoted that his key to success was that he "skated to where the puck would be, not to where it had been."

And from this exercise typically I could see clearer for where the puck was going .... and I'd have 1-3 clear priorities to focus on steer our way forward and "create our future."

My friend Andrea Middleton has an incredibly complex job leading a diverse organization of volunteer event organizers located around the globe in her role as Dot Organizer for the WordPress community. 

A job she does with grace, thoughtfulness and caring since 2011. 

The events are called WordCamps and there is typically 1-2 going on every weekend throughout the year around the world. 

In fact there have been over 1,000 WordCamps, in 75 cities, 65 countries and 6 continents since they started in 2006. 

We talk about a number of topics like:

* Leading volunteers 

* Managing conflict

* Keys of effective conference organizers ("hosts")

* and more

You can learn more about WordCamps here:

https://central.wordcamp.org/schedule/

You can learn more about Andrea here:

https://twitter.com/andmiddleton

https://profiles.wordpress.org/andreamiddleton/

In this season of my life, I've been reflecting on the early days of starting my business(es) and how you can get started moonlighting by learning a new skill or bolstering an existing one. 

As a starting again entrepreneur, I've been asking myself this question: How could I charge (or get paid) $1,500 an hour for what I do?

Two questions for exploration follow that:

* Who do I need to become to charge that? Particularly my skillsets, approach, even messaging

* What are the results and outcomes I could offer that would be truly transformational at the end of that hour? 

These questions have been helping me lay out a plan to level up what I'm doing, how I'm talking about it ... but more importantly the transformations I'm offering my clients. 

Ultimately I believe as entrepreneurs at the highest level, your business should serve your hopes, dreams, goals, passion and interests. 

If not, it's out of alignment. 

I talk to entrepreneurs frequently about this and I've experienced it personally numerous times.

Never, ever, ever go it alone. 

It's a message I have to remind myself of every day.

To seek, ask for, and receive help and support. 

And then the three essentials I rely on for supporting my mental health are:

1. Counselor on speed dial -- just like I have a primary care who I can call to get help when I'm physically sick and for checkups, I also have a counselor to work on my below the iceberg issues. 

And the science is so strong and indisputable on these two practices that I've woven into my life and am seeking to embed them even deeper:

2. Exercise -- I do run-walks aka rualks and also pushups. Exercise is the "mood booster and stress buster." I'm seeking to amp up my intensity minutes daily now. But I run in 100 degree heat, not because I'm grinding ... but because I want to feel better. And I always do when I exercise. 

3. Mindfulness -- I don't do this daily but I want to because I know scientifically and practically the benefits in my life of it, in so many areas. 

I recently met Dr. Sherry Young of RightFitNow.com. She helps those struggling with addiction or those with loved ones struggling with addiction to find the appropriate treatment and help for them. 

We talk about a lot of things like the stigma of mental health that keeps too many people isolated and suffering in solitude, how she helps clients find the right fit for their mental health struggles (including but not limited to addiction - at no cost to them!) and elements of AA that resonate like support groups and sponsors and finally why call it recovery.

Along the way, Sherry shares her own story of addiction and recovery. It's well worth your time. 

You can contact Sherry here:

https://rightfitnow.com/

575-779-6062

I learned this from a pastor .... whenever I think about someone, particularly someone going through a hard time ... I either pick up the phone and call them ... or send them a text to say I'm thinking about them. 

As the recipient of some of these messages, I gotta tell you it makes a huge difference in my day. 

...... Send Email, Make Money

Over and over for 10+ years it was the simple formula we used to build a multi-million dollar business. 

I hate and despise (tough words) internal competition. I don't see much use for it. However I like external competition and enemies to rally teams together. 

The pill is a shortcut to answer your customer's problems. 

They don't look at your products and services with your fancy names and cute logos you've given them because they care about that .... they care if your "pill" is the answer to their needs and problems. 

I've been helping my mother in law with a podcast for the last 6 months. Mostly it's been us recording in my office, interviewing her and pulling out her expertise. She's been faithful to show up, but not a lot of results from it ....

... until last night. 

She got a new client from it.

And the lesson for me is .... keep putting good work out into the world ... and at some point good things come of it.

My recent reading has been around goals and habits ... particularly so I can start adding in healthy habits into my life. 

Two concepts talked about in the two books below are resonating with me deeply related to habits .... leveraging environment and your identity. 

Willpower Doesn't Work by Benjamin Hardy
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073P421QC/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_EyZsDbYB8YY76

Atomic Habits by James Clear
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D23CFGR/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_gzZsDbSV5R4YV

Consistency is showing up. 

It’s showing up every day in the same spot with the same or similar message .... As the same or similar person. 

When you are consistent ... and when you consistently show up ...

Others know what to expect of you

Others know where to find you

Others know who to turn to ... 

Keep ringing the bell. Showing up. Day after day. 

I share an approach to talking to a micromanaging boss and working with them. 

Micromanaging is such a big topic and for good reason. I reflected on times when I've micromanaged and came up with three .... 

1. When I don't trust the person I'm delegating a task to 

2. When I have a high skillset and experience with the task I'm delegating

3. When the project is highly important, or priority ... and there is a lot on the line

This week I helped a friend prep for an important job interview. In the process, I shared a couple of key tactics/tips that help me stay centered and be calm and confident in those important times to showcase my best self. 

I don't like surprises. So I rehearse, practice my steps getting to there so I can fully concentrate on what I'm trying to accomplish. 

Exercise is vital and a part of my personal self-care program. The base activity I've found is rualking -- aka run-walking. 

I've found I love the novelty of new places and particularly trail running whenever possible, whether that's around the state capitol of a state or in a new state park I found. 

I have been on both sides of the interview table .... and I share how I think we need to be and showcase our natural, authentic self (on both sides of the table) in job interviews. 

One of the frequent questions I get asked as an entrepreneur is when did you decide to hire and how did you go about that? 

The first year of my business I made a simple org chart to think through all the roles I needed to get the work done. Most of the hats I wore myself .... and when I could ... I took them off and gladly put them on others who relished those hats. 

Let's talk about failure ... and then regret. I share my philosophy and belief how it's not really failure if you are learning and growing from it. I don't live in regret then. 

The value of talking to a coach, or a business partner, or having a sidekick ... is simply getting out of your own head and being able to hear yourself out loud. 

Learn more about Cory and his work at:

https://leader.team

https://corymiller.com

Paint a picture of the future, the desired outcome instead of focusing on delegating tasks.

When you do so, you give your people more context, control to see how they fit in and what you're actually wanting from them.

Been reading about and want to experiment with time blocking. 

If you do this already, I'd love to hear your tips and feedback for me. Use the comments or hit my website https://corymiller.com

In the previous video, I talked about remembering the struggle. 

In this one, I talk about the takeaway .... making consistency progress a practice. 

I found some old journals of mine in the attic from the year I started my business and the years before. I saw a lot of wandering, ideas and it helped me remember the struggle. The place where things feel less certain and less clear. And it was a good reminder to me. 

No wonder burnout is such a prolific phenomenon in workplaces today ... as leaders we need to model good boundaries in taking time off.

So don't treat me like it. 

Getting past our fear of failure and mindsets around failure is key to progress and getting and giving our best

We have tough jobs and don't always get our just and due recognition .... but we short circuit it when that need to feel needed gets in the way. 

And what incremental changes can we make to improve and arrive faster or better to who we want to be. 

Part 2 from the previous episode on Step 1: Show Up. Step 2: Do the Hard Work.

First, you gotta show up. Every day. 

Then, you gotta put in the tough, sometimes grueling work. 

Consistently. Over and over and over. 

For 8+ years I've had an annual retreat with my business group in Oklahoma City ... and for a year I did a quarterly two-day ... and I talk about the benefit of these get-aways for perspective (and recharge).

Over and over again, it's hard news to swallow ... but absolutely critical to success.

And what you can do about it. 

I talk about ways I lean into my strengths as another way to get a confidence boost when up against a challenge. 

Here are the two strengths tools I mention: 

http://strengthsfinder.com

http://www.viacharacter.org/

Here's my previous video on getting a quick confidence boost:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZcKfeUcBNk&t=1s

Gallup suggests we need to help our teams cultivate work friendships .... but what about leaders?

I share thoughts about work buddies for leaders.