The Next Step

Marco Tomat, Alpinumllp.com
 

What is a stack of business cards worth collected over 15 years of networking? Does it depend on the size of the stack? Or is it all about the relationships that have been built? Rhetorical questions, I know. But that is the point right? The message is contained within the question itself.

As I looked at that stack of cards on my desk, wondering if some of the older contacts would even remember me, it dawned on me. Business is the social fabric of our professional lives. Nearly every adult in America experiences it intimately at some level, and often times at great personal sacrifice. Our entire way of life is dependent upon the interwoven connection it has with our daily sustenance, education, entertainment, transportation, government, communication, health, beauty, life, and death. So saying "Its just business" can never be a moral escape clause. Your business, your job, your contribution, no matter how much effort you put in, is a part of who you are.

And yet as I stared at that pillar of cards, nearly 6 inches tall sitting in the middle of my desk, like a silo in the middle of a grain field, and I wondered if I did enough with some of them to earn their trust to believe in me, especially now that I am heading out on my own. Can I help them? Do I have what it takes? Is there a problem that I can solve for them? Would they trust me enough to help them? More importantly in business, would they pay me to help them?

That seems obviously enough, right? Business needs capital to operate. “Gotta” keep those lights on as the saying goes. Don’t you think for a moment the world that we built doesn’t depend on money. I learned after over a decade in sales and marketing and another decade in the non-profit world of foundations, charities, community social services agencies, and behavioral health facility management that the only difference between the for profit business / corporation and the N-F-P, is what is done with the net revenue vs. profit at the end of the year. At the basic level the only difference is, in the non-profit world, since federal and state corporate taxes are not paid, not for profits are mandated if they are to receive their tax exemption to be set up with an all volunteer board to govern the money and executive staff. However to further prove the point of very little differences between the two, many non profits even need to file tax forms yearly, even though they are not paying corporate taxes.

Size-wise, there are few differences also. Some of our countries not for profits are enormously successful. There are hundreds if not more local and national non-profit foundations, university/college, hospital systems, and social service agencies running billion dollar per year operations, with huge endowments, that operate with every bit of business suaveness as any wall street firm. In fact who do you think are sitting on the boards of all these not for profits? Yep, it’s those same successful business leaders that know how to turn a buck.

Thus every type of business in the country relies on making money (for profit), or getting others to give it to them (not for profit).

Now it seems I have run into problems with both. The 7th rule of starting a business, get a paying customer, seems to still elude me.

 I have never started my very own business before.

After years and years of helping others start and run programs and profit centers, expand revenue, decrease costs, raise money, turn a profit, create, strategize, executive, and develop plans that show results quickly, I have never done it for myself. So instead of me calling a colleague, and say, hey, this is Marco from Blah-Blah company, I will be now be saying hey this is Marco from, well, my own company. Gulp!

The methods I will use are the same that I have used over 20 years in business. They have shown to be successful time and time again. And 80 percent of my business should come from 20% of my clients. So this stack of cards presents unlimited potential no doubt. It’s a gold mine to the small business consultancy firm. This stack of business cards contains contact information of business leaders from bankers, insurance agents, foundation members, judges, philanthropic organizations, executive directors, to CEOs’, doctors, lawyers, business people, local and county government officials and employees from across 3 states and beyond.

Maybe fear makes me hesitate. I mean, what if I fail? What if my foray into business consultancy ends with a big fat goose egg? Don’t get me wrong. I want to help others. I built my career around it. I believe I have been part of teams that have literally helped thousands of children, families, and adults make the transition to success. The methodology to helping a struggling family caught in the midst of a family member with a mental health disorder or substance abuse issue, a child with a developmental or intellectual disability, or limited resources with no one to turn to, is the same, believe it or not, to helping turn around a struggling company, division, operation, agency, or location. It’s all about setting small obtainable goals, that once completed builds upon each other, to reach the larger goal, dream, vision, conclusion, result, graduation, promotion, production, or whatever you call it.

It’s just all about taking one positive step at a time.

I’ll tell you a story if you let me. When I met Dewey, it was a juvenile court proceeding, he was 16 years old, and just kicked out of a group home for tearing it apart. Let me acknowledge that I understand that should not happen. Group homes are where kids get sent if they can’t make it in their home town due to behavioral issues, foster care can’t handle them, yet have not committed a major felony or severe enough behavior in order to be sent to a lock down facility. Don’t let that fool you though; Dewey could have been locked up if that judge wanted him that way. I was a young community counselor, working with at risk youth in rural Appalachia. Dewey was not just at risk, he was in-risk! When he was 13, his father committed murder, and was sent away for life. I won’t get into gruesome details; however, it was not pretty. Dewey was left the man of the house, with a very lenient mother, and a young sister. The family had their family house, mom worked in a local factory, leaving him, in his mind, and in reality, to take up his father’s role, and make ends meet. Dewey, learned fast, and like his father began to grow marijuana, and as he became successful from his back yard operation, starting paying bills...and buying pills to make a higher profit margin. Dewey was busted with marijuana on his possession on school property and put on probation. Three probation violations later for failed drug screens sent Dewey into a group home. He had never been away from his mom or his home before. Without pills and marijuana and his family, Dewey went ballistic in that group home, scared of what would end up happening to his sister and mother, and not being able to cope with the depression and anxiety that often comes with detox.

The judge looked over at me, and said… this is his last chance. I did not blink. I knew we could do this.

It was not easy.

Dewey had mountains to climb. An addiction to THC didn’t help much. But small steps were achieved. First by getting some much needed buy-in from his “source”, who was also his best friend and 1^st cousin. Dewey needed 6 months of clean drug screens to get off probation. I was much more informal with his cousin. “Dude, help me get him off probation first, and then you guys can smoke all the weed you want when you go out fishing.”, I pleaded, “But we have got to be a team here.”

Now granted this was not the best legal advice to give a kid, right? Just say no, haven’t you heard? Well… one of the few things I learned in grad school was there is a difference between theory and practical application. And this was no time to test theory. We needed help on this team, quickly. And we needed to set a realistic goal that we could achieve. Six months was going to be hard enough. “Never again”, was just too far away.

So we agreed, and set the goal…6 months, and to my surprise, his cousin became the best ally I had. And the drug use stopped. Easy, right? Ya, right. However it was now on to all the other stuff.

Getting Dewey to school wasn’t that hard; home by curfew, not that tough either. But getting him to stop trying to be the daddy in his house was a different story. That was the role he played for 3 years, and patterns had developed in that house that were destructive. However, slowly, interaction patterns began to change, mom starting learning new ways to not rely on the discretionary illicit income he was providing her, and to set stronger parameters and better mother / son boundaries.

And slowly…one goal at a time...

Dewey made it back to court with me standing next to him, in front of that same Judge 1 year later. After reading my, the schools, and his probation officers reports, (it took 1 year, not just the 6 months I had hoped for), the judge stood up, reached over the bench, and shook Dewey’s hand. I never saw that happen before. He said he was proud of him, and always believed he could do it. So did I.

I saw Dewey as I was getting a hamburger up his way several years later. Dewey had his own place, had a girlfriend, a job in road construction, and a baby on the way. Small goals; one step at a time; measuring your success by the goals you created. In business it’s called metrics. In life it’s called getting to work on time, going to church, paying your bills, building up your credit, buying a house, graduating from college, etc. In business it’s called making a profit. In a non-profit work it’s called building your endowment, growing your census, building revenue, expanding your geographic area, helping more people than ever before. In both, it’s called success.

Now back to this stack of cards that seem to loom over me like the Leaning Tower of Pisa; ever so close to falling over, but just not quite yet. I need to just take it 1 card at a time. Enter that card into my data base, just 1 card at a time. I need to keep thinking to myself, “small goals”, as I process to myself while I type in that name and contact info. What I will say to him or her when I call or email them? “Just checking in”, “Wondering how you are doing”,“letting you know I am immediately available to help you with any project you feel I can help you with”, what will I say?

More importantly, what will they say? I know this for sure…nothing, if I don’t make the call.

What are you doing today to focus on your future?

Defining "suc·cess"

Webster’s Online Dictionary gives us the basis to start our quest of understanding better how to define the elusive end goal of "success": [suhk-ses] - noun – 1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one's goals.. 2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like. 3. a performance or achievement that is marked by success, as by the attainment of honors: The play was an instant success. 4. a person or thing that has had success, as measured by attainment of goals, wealth, etc.: She was a great success on the talk show.

Do we truly believe personally that success is the attainment of any one thing? Or is it a process that doesn't end until our ultimate demise? Is it truly obtaining a specific goal?

Think about just for a moment all the successful entertainers out there that have died tragically: Elvis, Michael, Marilyn, etc. How about all the successful business leaders or politicians that wound up in jail or disenfranchised after long careers? Can you really count someone as being successful without first identifying what they are/were successful at in the first place? A successful politician like Richard Nixon for example…He became President of the United States, however ending his long impressive career in scandal.

Of course this doesn't mean he was not a success at many things, however, can you really say that history views him as a success story? Probably not. I bet dollars to doughnuts that his “life goal” was indeed to become leader of the free world and to this end, he succeeded. He became The President. Yet having a successful presidency, well that is another matter.

The rule:  Carefully define what success means to you.

That is the most important thing. What I mean by carefully defining something is giving yourself a specific measurement and an end goal, so you can measure if you hit that goal. IE: I successfully finished that 5k in less than 30 minutes. SUCCESS! However to a seasoned runner that goal is far from what they were trying to achieve; like finishing first, or finishing in less than 15 minutes. But to a first time runner of 5k's, a 30 minute finish might be a huge accomplishment and indeed a successful completion of the race. So unless you achieve a goal that is universally defined as being successful (ie: a gold medal, a billion dollars, a Nobel peace prize), then the vast majority of us need to be aware that we should not try and compare our individual or organizations success with others. For example, what would you consider to be wealthy? $1 million in the bank? Donald Trump would beg to differ. How about having a 40 year career? Al Capone is an example of that going painfully wrong.

To some, to be a successful crook, you need to avoid capture for life, or depending on your point of view, maybe at least not end up in jail for life. Thus depending on where you are in your journey, there is a big difference between the two perspectives obviously. The fact is, there is a huge disparity between what we personally may define as success and what others define it to mean.

So truly it is imperative that if you are on a work, volunteer, or sports team, that everyone has the opportunity to voice what they think the end goal looks like, what success means to them and the team, and then define as a team how the group knows they have achieved it, and by when to achieve it. The leader of that group should have an eagle’s eye view of all the opportunities, barriers and possibilities the team has, and then should be able to lead the group in the general direction of success. However like the old adage goes, a racing team is only as good as its slowest runner. So if your team is not bought into your definition of success, the speed at which you are trying to accomplish it, and the direction you are heading, then success will be elusive.

The average tenure of a CEO is 5 years.
So does that mean if you achieve year 6, you are a success? To me, it was just to become a CEO in first place. I worked very hard to make that happen. Many times I achieved various high level director positions in various companies that answered directly to the CEO, but the elusive CEO/President /Executive Director Position was just ever so painfully out of reach. I spent 20 years working for others and waiting for my opportunity.

Success to me was to become a CEO. That was it. I was going to work as hard and as long as I needed to achieve that goal, and once it happened, I thought I would realize all my financial goals, and life would be great!

So when the chance came…. I JUMPED! And I got it. I was named President and CEO and I could not have been more proud. I did it. I met my goal, and boy did I deserve it.

I quickly determined though, I kinda’ didn't have much more of a goal after that. So after only 3 years as a CEO and Executive Director I found myself not being a CEO anymore. I failed to achieve even the average tenure. So using my own, and in retrospect, poorly refined definition of success at the time, I failed to achieve success in the end.

Just like ol’ Richard Nixon, my goal was a position, and although it was a long arduous process to get there, the goal itself lacked substance. Lance Armstrong was viewed as a success until it came out he cheated. He won 7 Championships after all. What else did he have to accomplish? And then it came all crashing down. His legacy tarnished forever. His goal was to win at all costs, and in the end, even though he is still very rich, and has done great things for cancer research, that lack of social responsibility and ethics turned out to cost him dearly. Nixon’s’ actions to win at all costs, to be successful no matter what, to achieve his goals, laws or not, also cost him dearly.

Need I mention OJ? Probably not, I think you get the idea.

Success should be a positive process; it’s a marathon; it’s a journey achieved by hitting mile marker after mile marker, and getting better and better as you learn from your mistakes and move along. Success to each and every one of us should be different. I was told by a cross country coach in high-school many years ago, don’t try and win the race, just try and pass up that fellow just in front of you. And during the race, don’t worry who is behind you; unless you find that there is no one else in front of you to pass.

Marco Tomat, Alpinum, LLP

The Exit Plan

Have you ever been asked that question when you were a teenager? It’s pretty much a rite of passage for parents to wonder out loud if their teenage children have a plan, or even know that they need one. Every generation looks at the younger one with a bit of dismay. They have no idea what they are in for. They are a bit lazy. They are a bit complacent. They are a bit selfish, right?

I remember at 15 when I landed my first real job.  I was working at a clothing store, and loved getting that first check. It was my money. No one could hold it back from me once I earned it for any reason.  Not for speaking back to them, or not for cleaning my room, or getting a “C” on a report card. It was mine. My mom came and visited me at work one day. She asked in front, where she can find Marco. The assistant manager said, "Oh Marco, he is back in the children’s section, and his department is immaculate!" My Mom was floored. She wondered out loud since that day, going on 40 years now, how is it he could never keep his room clean, but had the best kept department in the store?

It wasn't only making my own money that motivated me. I loved the feeling that I finished my work day with a sense that I completed something that day. The praise from my boss did nothing for me. I knew when my department looked good, and I knew when it didn't when I got to work the next day. My motivation was intrinsic. Cleaning my room at home or finishing my chores did not give me the same satisfaction because of the lack of ownership over the house. But even though I would never own this store, or department, that paycheck I received, and that bulletin board in the employee lounge listing all the employees by their departments gave me that sense of ownership, and that was enough to motivate me.

What motivates you? 

 In the business world you may get a lot of answers to this question.  Helping others, making money, doing a good job, getting a promotion, getting recognition, supporting my family, the list goes on.  But really think about it.  Not everyone is motivated by the same things.  And it is sheer impossibility for managers to think they know what motivates all their employees.  It is ignorance or sheer incompetence that leads business leaders to create incentive programs to induce motivation to reach profit goals without first doing the most important thing.  Asking the employees, individually, what is it that motivates them. 

The word incompetent sounds harsh, I know.  But let’s look at the word for a moment.  To be competent, is usually referred to around a specific thing you know very well and can perform well at.    Typically no one ever describes someone as being competent in all things.  However, once proclaiming someone as incompetent, all of a sudden, we define them as being completely inept on most things in life.  Why do we do that?  Human nature I guess.  When I mentioned incompetence in the above paragraph, I did so with a specific example in mind.  Some managers are incompetent in managing what really motivates staff.  It could be arrogance or just a lack of knowledge and training that could have led them there.  However the fact remains the same.  Money does not motivate everyone in the same ways. 

Now I am not saying that most people don’t work for the paycheck.  Of course they do.  You have got to pay your bills.  But ask the millions upon millions of Americans that work for non-profits, schools, social service agencies, churches, food pantries, clinics, why they do what they do.  And you will rarely hear, ‘The money is great!”  You may hear that from the stock broker, car, or insurance sales man at times.  However since I know a few of them also, it’s still a rarity to hear “I work only for the money.”.  And I know this for sure, even folks that are not working for a socially conscience agency, but for a business  whose managers feel that daily they need to push employees to reach sales goals in order to meet profit expectations will hardly ever state the reason they work there is to produce a profit for the owner. 

“Marco, you have worked everywhere!” 

Gerry exclaimed after I told him a story about where I was working on 9/11.  Gerry and I were at a bar getting a drink after a long day at work, swapping stories.  I met Gerry, who was a supervisor in a small community services clinic in a small town in North Carolina.  I was sent there by my boss to see if I could help him and his staff grow his operation, find better resources, and guide him a bit.  We hit it off well, Gerry and his staff were receptive to the methodology I was teaching them of how to craft then execute a plan that show results, and soon Gerry and his staff were hitting goals and getting what they wanted. 

It was clear that Gerry and his team wanted what was best for the organization all the while making life a little bit easier for them.  Faster computers, better access to resources, more confidentiality, etc., would help them do their jobs better and in the end help the organization reach its productivity goals.  Thus we got to work on ways to grow his team, promote appropriately, and devise a growth plan, so the company would invest into getting Gerry and his team the better infrastructure and office space they desired.  End of story…Gerry and his team were in that new space by year end, and his production and team size and scope doubled in capacity.

We deserved that drink together. Gerry and I swapped stories over lunches and drinks often over those months of working together, since both of us lived out of town. This particular evening we were talking about where we were on that fateful day of 9-11-01. Every American can remember that date now. Just like our parents and grandparents remember Pearl Harbor, or when JFK was shot, exactly where they were, and what they were doing. I was working in a furniture store, selling high end, all hard wood, desks and credenzas in San Diego, Ca. I loved the job. The place was clean, and we kept it that way. The furniture was beautiful, and it felt like working in a law office or on Wall St. The customers were smart and allowed me to guide them on how to get exactly what they wanted. I quickly became sales man of the month, and received bonuses for productivity. I came by the job after a start up my best friend and I began about 2 years earlier started to crumble. It began to crumble because some mistakes were being made, and a wedge between us was being forced by some folks we had let into the company. It had soon become apparent, that to save my friendship, I needed to quit. And so I did. Best decision I could have made, since now, 20 years later I am still best friends with that man, even though the company folded about a year after I left. Sometimes, knowing when to quit is a pretty awesome tool in your exit planning.

I have indeed worked in many different places and types of jobs, over my career like many people have done.  In sales I have sold everything from cars and cell phones, to plants and computer components.  I was promoted quickly into management as a young man out of college to take on director jobs of medium sized companies.  I took to creating marketing and sales campaigns designed to increase sales and market penetration.  After a major career transition in the late 90’s after the tech bubble burst and silicon valley fell on hard times, I moved into social services and so began a 10 year journey helping others in child and family mental health programs.  I quickly learned, and so did the company I was working for, that those same management techniques that worked well for me in sales and marketing, also worked well in growing non profit or clinical operations as well. 

The fact that never changed, no matter where I worked, that produced the best results, is that people work at a specific place for a myriad of reasons, and your management plan, and motivation scheme motivation schemes st results, to enhance productivity and grow profit, should not be produced in the vacuum of a directors meting or in the silo of a manager’s office.  It should be part of an entire teams exercise. 

After the success with Gerry and his team, I was meeting with the Regional head honcho for lunch.  He said to me, " The one thing I am always impressed with you is that you seem to have an exit plan no matter where you go."  No one ever told me that before.  And it was true.  There are folks that can literally work in one job their entire lives.  And then there are those like me, those  that like to skip around a bit.  Whether you work for one company in various roles, or various companies in one type of role, having an exit plan, does not mean, a plan to exit the company or even your current job.  My exit plan was always set around how to execute to completion the goal that has been set by the team.  Thus the plan itself needs to have a specific end goal in mind.  And once completed, the next goal cannot and should not be the same as the last one.  Of course some of the most profitable companies in the world desire and plan around making a profit… but it is not their defining goal, even through Wall Street would say differently.  They have goals aimed at quality of goods sold, employee satisfaction and reducing of turnover, market and geographic growth, social embitterment and awareness issues.  Granted, if you are a bank, making profit is the point, right?  However if you look at the more socially conscience financial institutions, they indeed have a mission that strives to make the world a better place.   

Now when I say specific goal needs to be constructed, I mean a quantifiably measureable specific outcome.  What you are going to accomplish, by when you are going to accomplish it, and how do you know when you get there?  If you are leading a team, then it is imperative you get them bought in first.  And to get their buy-in, you need to ask for their input before setting goals that you think will motivate them. 

What was your exit plan when you were 17? 

What was it you were going to do with you life?  Join the military?  Get a job and move in with some friends?  Live with your mom in the basement and play video games all day?  Go to college?  Well at 17, my family couldn’t afford college for me, and we didn’t know anything about college loans, or how to fund a college degree.  Neither of my parents had gone to college, and my father was a career military man. 

So off to the Navy I went, and off to the Air force my brother went.  I made it only 4 years, and got out with the GI Bill, and a way to pay for school.  My brother on the other hand is a 25 year distinguished combat veteran.

I needed a way to pay for college, but my brother’s plan was to start his career.  For me, setting goals in the work was like applying for college after I got out of the Navy.  There are deadlines to be met, and tests to be taken, even through getting into specific types of colleges depends on your grades in high school and other criteria, there are things that need to be done today, tomorrow, and by the end of the month in order to be evaluated by any school you choose.  The Navy taught me some good stuff in their own way.  In boot camp, how to fold socks and make your bed in a certain way was a socialization tool, teaching me to follow orders, and attention to detail.  In college I learned other necessary skills that prepared me for the work place.  Life itself, no matter what you have done or learned should be your example table, and drawing from it ways to make ends meet, and how to complete your tasks to meet your goals.   

All your plans need to be crafted in a way to allow them to evolve over time.  So that when variables occur, and you can bet they will indeed occur, you can still hit your marks.  More importantly you need to make sure your team is on board weekly and are making some progress on getting to that end goal.  So make sure you are checking in with them, continuing to make sure you have buy in that meets their needs, and not only your own or the companies.  Set realistic end goals and exit plans, and allow for some fluctuations to influence the goal so you don’t get frustrated at not meeting all your deadlines.  Sometimes getting better, means making progress and it does not always mean hitting all your goals.  A simple exit plan could be just simply leaving something better than you found it. 

I think the question at the end of the day could more easily be answered if put like this:   “What are you not going to do with your life?” Maybe even better, "What are you doing today to secure your future?" 

Contact Marco at marco@alpinumllp.com; mtomat@hotmail.com