Are you aware of the symptoms of chaos in your business? How do we realize that we are letting ourselves fall into the trap of day-to-day overwhelm? Kerry-Ann Powell, a global business strategist, speaker, and champion of small and medium-sized businesses, joins us to discuss the importance of setting a life plan and designing a business that fits one's lifestyle. Listeners will learn how to reduce chaos and make running the business smoother by making small shifts to align the two plans. Kerry also provides advice on working on the business rather than in it, setting deadlines, taking small steps towards them, and delegating tasks. Finally, she shares resources such as her free ebook 'The Eight True Culprits that are Causing Chaos in Your Business, which can be downloaded from nobusinesschaos.com. Tune in to get valuable insights on how to become successful and less stressed in business!
[00:01 - 07:17] The Beauty and Impact of Running a Small Business
• From law school and fundraising and employing high-level strategies with a small team
• Gaining inspiration from community leaders who stepped up to lead nonprofits and volunteerism
• Small businesses are impactful and great for innovation, agility, and building something that lasts
[07:18 - 23:08] Managing Chaos in Small Business: Identifying the Culprits
• The four symptoms of chaos are cash flow, wearing too many hats, team issues, and inability to scale
• Have an honest conversation; create your life plan and how the business fits into it
• Make a life plan, articulate the vision of the business, revisit the life plan, and make small shifts in the business
• Spend more time working on the business instead of in the business
[23:09 - 29:48] Creating a Life Plan and Business That Fits
• Became a rallying call for the team not to drop the ball
• Business owners should audit their businesses and set realistic goals
• Reach out to Kerry-Ann!
Connect with Kerry-Ann through her website https://www.trafalgarstrategies.co/ and check out her free ebook at https://www.nobusinesschaos.com/!
Resources Mentioned
BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0) by Jim Collins and William Lazier
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Tweetable Quotes
“The idea [for a business] is not the only thing that really matters. You have a way to serve the world, a way to provide a product or a service or some sort of benefit… You provide opportunities for other people; you are supporting the community.” - Kerry-Ann Powell
“What's your life plan? Do you have a vision of how you want your life to be? The vision of the business should fit into your life plan.” - Kerry-Ann Powell
[00:00:00] Kerry-Ann Powell: what's your life plan? And they're like, what does that have to do with anything? I'm like, do you have one? Do you have a vision of how you want your life to be? That vision of your business must fit into your life plan. It's not, let me tweak my life to fit into the vision of the business. It's the vision of the business should fit into your life plan.
[00:00:49] Salim Omar: Hello there. Salim Omar here from the Straight Talk about Small Business Success podcast. Welcome to another amazing episode because I've got an amazing guest with us. Her name is Kerry-Ann Powell. Kerry-Ann, welcome.
[00:01:02] Kerry-Ann Powell: Hi, Salim. So good to be here.
[00:01:04] Salim Omar: So excited to have you. Let me quickly share with the listeners your bio and then I'll ask you for your backstory and then we'll, really dying to get to the questions and really picking your brain on some few important things relating to small businesses.
[00:01:18] Kerry-Ann Powell: Sounds good.
[00:01:20] Salim Omar: Kerry's a global business strategist, speaker and champion of small and medium-sized businesses. She has over 20 years of experience, first as a Washington DC attorney, then a lobbyist fundraiser. It positions her as an authority on what it takes to strategically succeed while confronting different obstacles.
After raising 120 million to build the Martin Luther King Junior Memorial, she launched her strategic business and consulting firm called Raffe Strategies, and she and her team advised to work with small businesses from various industries and countries on creating strategies, systems, and mindsets to thrive in business and in life. Kerry-Ann, let's start with your backstory.
[00:02:05] Kerry-Ann Powell: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, as you mentioned, I have a, a law degree. I worked as a attorney in Washington for a number of years and also, as a lobbyist, but before going to law school, I actually had, worked as a professional fundraiser.
And I think that was really where I began to learn some of the chops that I was able to implement in my later life. And obviously as I implement now. Cause I was really sort of spending time with a lot of CEOs. In our community, as we were raising money for very large causes. And so after, you know, gonna law school, going back to Washington working as an attorney and lobbyist, I got an opportunity to head up the fundraising effort for the Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington DC And if you haven't been, it's a great memorial. It's right there on the tidal basin and it's just, you know, one of the things that I hold to be one of the pride and joys of my entire life and my career.
So after, but while I was in that, doing that, I got a chance to really begin to see how, how you bring sort of high level strategy, the importance of developing high level strategy. You know, regardless of how large a project was, cuz even though the project was large, I mean we were raising over 120 million, we were actually a small team.
And as I was trying to sort, okay, you know, we need to be able to hit these markers are else. We don't hit these markers each year, we are gonna fall behind and then the price is gonna go up. Cuz I mean, you know, you're building something, you know, you gotta, mm-hmm You gotta get the, you got the bid in, you know, you wanna build it during the time or else can supplies get more expensive and such.
So I was really running a relatively small team and I think it was during those moments that I began to say, okay, here are the things that really work. To get teams moving forward. Mm-hmm. Having your team connected to your full strategy, making sure that the strategy stays on part and you're actually executing it.
And, those are sort of the ways, but then I also was able to see, because of my work with other companies during that time, See where some of the things cannot work. And so as I finished the project and, we put the beds to, to rest, I decided I was gonna go into business for myself around this topic.
[00:04:26] Salim Omar: Hmm. Got it. And now you've been, you know, working with small businesses across different industries and so forth. Yes. Very quickly. What excites you about small business?
[00:04:35] Kerry-Ann Powell: You know, it's so interesting. I, to be honest with you, I was a complete nerd. When I was in junior high school, I was the President of the Future Business Leaders of America. Mm. And you know, but obviously it was a club where, as a goal to sort of, enhance leadership skills and in students. But I just thought that I was just really doing it because I have always really liked the idea of business. And I think that probably came from the fact that.
I think back at my father's friends, for instance, the guys that I grew up admiring and respecting, these were all, small business owners, small, mid-sized business owners in our community. And when you start thinking about the things like , if something had to happen at our church, They were the ones stepping up and leading, not just because of the money aspect of it, but because they were the ones that saw the importance of the community coming together and leading in ways.
When you started look at our community, the board, the members of boards of directors, the ones who were, leading nonprofits, through their volunteerism. when you start looking at those types of things, that's what I saw growing up. And so I kind of had a, I guess a bit of a, an introduction to business that is not from the angle of, oh, business is bad or money's bad.
I saw it from the angle of, these are leaders in our community and I think it's great that, small businesses can continue to do that. Mm-hmm. But at the same time, even though I went on to become a lawyer first and did a little, went a little back way around it, but that's really what excites me about business is that here you are, you have a great idea, and the great idea is fantastic. But to be honest, the idea is not the only thing that really matters. But you have a great idea, a way to serve the world, a way to provide a product or a service or some sort of benefit, and you can use your skills.
You can also provide opportunities for other people to use their skills, meaning your employees. You can find a way to be able to support other businesses, meaning your vendors. You are supporting the community through your, your taxes, you, the infrastructures that we have, the water, the roads, all the things that your small business does.
Most small businesses, percentage wise, are the ones that are supporting a lot of. You know, civic organizations, charitable organizations. So even if you look at it from a small community city, your city, your local region, that to me is exciting. Not to mention the fact that you can innovate and create and be agile at the same time, and also build something that lasts. So I think small business is a great stage of a business, and even if one stays small, I think it's fantastic.
[00:07:18] Salim Omar: Hmm. So let's look at it on the flip side. Lots of great benefits of having a small business as an owner. Mm-hmm. Great things that come, in the community, employment and everything you mentioned. But the small business for the owner can at times be very stressful. It can be very chaotic. And there are times when the business owner is like, ready to throw the towel.
[00:07:42] Kerry-Ann Powell: Tell me about it.
[00:07:44] Salim Omar: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, what are some ways to alleviate that or reduce that level of chaoticness or the level of stress?
[00:07:54] Kerry-Ann Powell: I tell you that you're, you know, you're up my alley in this question because. I really, I have a philosophical belief that, you can run your business smoothly. Without stress and chaos. It doesn't have to be like that. I dunno if you've noticed this, Celine, but in the small business world, there is this kind of like, bravado, like, yes, you know, look at me, I'm toughing it out, I'm, grinding, I'm hustling it out.
And it's almost like a badge of courage. And I just don't really think that that should be the posture. So I would say first, it's not easy when people come to, when my clients come to me and they're in that place. Cuz that's usually most of the times and most of the times it's because, I call them the four symptoms of chaos.
Usually it's an issue of, cash, right. Revenues, cash flow's low, whatever, cash problems. Mm-hmm. Secondly, they're sort of wearing too many hats. And they can't step away from the business. Third, there's usually a team issue. Either the company, the owner built the team when it was very early days, sort of like, you know, cousin Susie, knows social media, so let's hire her.
Auntie so-and-so is good in accounting, so we're gonna bring her on board. But then now you're at the stage where it's not working because you never developed an org chart. You never sort of interviewed people based on skill sets and those kinds of things. So you're having a problem with the team.
And then the fourth one is the inability to scale. They've been doing it for a bit. And like, you know, business is like anything in nature, if it's not growing, it's dying. Right? Mm-hmm. So those are the four, what I call forced symptoms of chaos. Mm-hmm. So the question on the table is, how do you manage that chaos?
Well, the truth is, And you know what my belief is and how I operate in my business when I'm working with my clients is that those four symptoms, by the way, Salim, those four things are the top four reasons why businesses fail, period. And done. So if that's happening in someone's business, they shouldn't just ignore it and be like, well, this is what running a business looks like.
You know? No, it's a problem if you keep it going and never really address it. It does end to sinister problems. Mm. But nonetheless, but what I have found is that, Those are symptoms of chaos, not actually the real true culprits of chaos, you know? So they're actually what I call eight true culprits of chaos.
And if you don't have these fundamental things in place, They will wreak havoc on your company. So the foundational, foundational elements that I first do, and this sounds really, really crazy, but if a client's coming in and they are pulling their hair out and they have the whole thing going, I first really sit down and say, okay, what's your life plan?
And they're like, what does that have to do with anything? I'm like, just, what's your life? Do you have one? Do you have a vision of how you want your life to be? What is your purpose being like, what's your thing? Cause I find that if you have a life plan and and then you go to look at the vision of your business, that vision plan, that vision of your business must fit into your life plan.
It's not let me tweak my life to fit into the vision of the business. It's the vision of the business should fit into your life plan. Mm-hmm. Now, if we don't have a life plan, I encourage people to pause a bit. And of course people are like, I just wanna fix the problem. Like, yeah, we're fixing the problem.
Let's just first with deciding what's the life plan. If you don't have one or you haven't articulated, you haven't written it down, or if, well, you did one 30 years ago at some conference, let's sort of sit back and revisit that, articulate that, ignoring the business. Then look at the vision of the business and say, Hmm, does it fit?
And if it doesn't fit, Let's tweak that. A lot of times I say that and business owners are like, wait a minute, I've been running my business for 20 years. I cannot overhaul my business. Well, I'm not really saying overhaul your business. What I am saying is sometimes it's just a two millimeter shift in the business, the vision of the business that will get it to fit into your life plan, because let's be honest, You did build a business.
So it has to be some internal connection with what it was. But at the same time, if it doesn't fit, I think it's really that's where you have to have the difficult conversations and have the difficult thoughts within your own self conversations with your own self to decide, is this business fitting into my life plan right now, the person who I am right now, and if it isn't, Can we shift enough things to make it fit?
And if not, what could it look like for me? You know? Mm-hmm. Will I need to, I mean, what was shifting look like? It could be anywhere from deciding that the way that your product formulation, how you get your product to your customers is one way that you used to do it, but now you can do it.
So, for instance, you know, with technology and so forth, a lot of folks, Who were running a business where they had to have a brick and mortar because of the way their business was structured. And they had to meet clients face to face and so therefore never give them any time to be able to leave their town for a vacation.
Maybe the business can go online. I'm not saying every business can, but sometimes because you've been doing it for a while for so long, you don't think you can actually shift the business into, online business or maybe. It's an issue of because we built the org chart a different way, and now the people that are in the team aren't really functioning the way that they need to be functioning.
Again, more difficult conversations. Mm. It might be a need to what I always have people do is literally put, set aside their current org chart or lack thereof and create a new one based on what they think the business actually needs. Then and write the job descriptions as if you were starting, as if you just came in new to your business.
And then start looking at the current org chart and the people that are working in that spaces and see, does that still line up? Mm. And if it does, then you know, hallelujah. But most times it doesn't. And so then there's a question around shifting. Susie from sales over to accounting, because that's her skillset, that's where it.
She thrives. Maybe it means, splitting up a position from one to two. It might mean letting some folks go, which no one wants to do that. But if it's not working, it's not working because guess what? It's your business and you are the one who's not sleeping at night. You're the one who's not taking a vacation without feeling like the business is gonna implode.
So those are some ideas where it's, being, honest with yourself and saying first, What's my life plan? What, how do I see my life? And does this current iteration of the business fit into it? Yeah. If it doesn't, let's find some ways to shift it. Most times it's a two minute shift.
Sometimes it's a real big ship. Sometimes it's, yeah, maybe it's time to sell and buy another one. You know, so you never know, but it's just being honest with oneself to say, here are some of the conversations.
[00:15:08] Salim Omar: Yeah. Honest conversation and really even, honest questions to ask oneself and, you know. Yeah. I'm so glad you mentioned the life plan and that being the beginning process because it's the owner and who they are and their life. That's the starting point and really creating, designing a business that fits. Our life. And this was a concept actually, Kerry-Ann, that I had come across like 20 years back when I had coached under, Michael Gerber, the, the owner, the founder of the Emith Academy, the book.
[00:15:39] Kerry-Ann Powell: Oh, yeah. A big fan of his, yes.
[00:15:40] Salim Omar: Yeah, yeah. He's much, much older with back, you know, in the day and met him and his team and worked with him Oh. For several years. Fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, he referred to it as a primary aim. Mm-hmm. You know, used the word, the primary you refer to it as a life plan. It's really understanding what are we about, what I, what do I want my life to be about? Yes. What do I want people to save my eulogy. Yeah. When I'm not here. Yes. And using that kind of questions or, you know Yeah. To really trigger some ideas. Yeah. Self-reflection on what do I want my life to be like, and then creating and designing a business that fits that.
[00:16:15] Kerry-Ann Powell: It's different, right? You know, when you're talking about a small or medium-sized company versus a multinational that's hiring a CEO, the CEO of being hired for multinational. While I think they still have to sort of look at their life plan and whether or not this job fits into it.
Mm. I think it's a different conversation when it's an owner of a small and medium-sized company where the company still very much is connected to the owner in a way that's very different than if, you know, at different stages the business looks differently. But at the stage of where most small and medium sized businesses are, they're not at the stage where they have hired, Professional management yet. So it is even more important for them to be very clear about their life plan and how the business fits into it, because it's so much closer than if you know you're a professional CEO, who kind of goes and troubleshoots a major corporation, stays there for a little bit and then moves on.
[00:17:25] Salim Omar: And, and many times, Kerry-Ann with the small business, they've got several employees, 5, 10, 15 employees and they're, you know, the owner is very much HandsOn, hands in, hands-on. They're running the day-today, and that becomes what they spend there most of their time is fixing problems, servicing the clients, the customers, the patients. What advice would you give to a business owner that is that hands-on and they're enjoying their business, but it can be very overwhelming and they're doing stuff that they shouldn't be doing. They've got a lot on their plate. Most of their energy is going in, working the business.
Very little left to working on the business, strategic planning, scaling and all that. What are, what's some advice you'd give to that person?
[00:18:19] Kerry-Ann Powell: I think that is a recipe, problems later on. So it's something that one must address. I think the first thing one must think about is, you know, what are they doing on a day to day? Even just spend a week, just jotting down what it is they actually do on a day to day. Mm-hmm. And or if there's too much to, to jot down, on the phone, like just record on their phone. Okay. From one to two, I was with, you know, Sally and we were dealing with this and blah, blah, blah, blah.
I was working with some customers on this and whatever. If you can get a sense, a time map as to what activities were being done. During the day, during the week, go back and revisit and kind of decide you know, what part of it was you working in the business and what part of it was you working on the business.
Once you have that, people will be so surprised at how little they work on the build the business. Mm. Mm-hmm. then I think a part of it is sitting down and saying, what are the things that they, that only they can do in the business? Mm. So looking at all the things on their list, what are some of the things on that list that.
Other people could do, maybe they can't do it right now because you've kind of coddled them, babied them, didn't train, don't have any standard operating procedures. Nothing is there to put in place, but you can train. But what are the things that only you can do in the business? And how much of that are you doing?
And one thing, there are a couple things. There are many, many, many things, Selene, that people can delegate. But one thing you cannot delegate. Is the strategic vision of the company. Mm-hmm. You can't delegate that. Mm-hmm. You can't delegate the leadership of the company. what I mean leadership, I mean, if you are working as the owner and it is your responsibility for the company to thrive and to scale, then that role is yours and only yours.
So I think it's a matter of deciding what things that only you can do, and what things are things that you are doing in your day that are things that. If you trained well, if you developed some process maps, if you created some systems and operating procedures around it, if you hired well, then you could have other people do, because once that's in place and you're spending more time working on the business, that is really where the excitement is because then you can see the business.
As an entity outside of yourself. I don't know if you, you know Jay Abraham, he's another one of the of Right. I love him and I heard him speak and he said that oftentimes he said that a business is kind of like a hedge fund. He says, Owners, entrepreneurs need to look at their businesses as hedge funds, and we are in, you're investing in this hedge fund in different ways, but if you wanna be smart about it, you wanna be a smart investor in the business, spending all your time working in the business, it's not a good investment.
Into the hedge fund. Another way to look at it, if you look at it like you're building an entity. You know, Michael Gerber talks about this all the time, cause he has that whole sort of franchise model, thought process, franchise prototype.
Yeah. If you're building the entity so that it can be sold, you don't have to sell it. But I really believe in building the entity, building the business as an entity separate from oneself. So if you were gonna build this thing, say you're doing a painting, you know, you'd get the colors and you do the yellow and the reds and the whatever, build it such as that.
And that be the excitement of it all. and so when you're working in the business, you're not painting. But if you're working on the business, you're creating this beautiful masterpiece that if you wanted to sell it, you could, or you can hang it on your wall or you can give it to your family.
Yeah, once you pass away, but it's not reliant upon you. The only way you get to that stage is if you're working on the business the majority of the time, the percentage, I don't know, 20% working in, and we're 80% working on, frankly, I think you shouldn't be working in it at all, you know?
Mm. I think you should be working on it all the time, because the more you're working on it, the bigger it grows. It's like anything in nature, you give it some fertilizer, some great water, some good sun, some laughter. Speak to it a little bit and it'll grow and it'll surprise you.
[00:23:09] Salim Omar: Love that. Yeah. And I I want this, what you just shared to come in as a reminder, because many times business owners may think, may have thought like that, and then the day-to-day has forced you to kind of really roll up the sleeves and just do what you need to do. But I want you to come as a reminder that, think of this and start moving in that direction again, because, it's gonna do more good.
Yeah. In terms of growth and profitability and cash flow and success for you, for you to get closer to your life plan.
[00:23:39] Kerry-Ann Powell: Yeah, maybe one sort of little small, little tactic is, I use the alarm on my phone to be honest. And, if I'm doing a task that is, uh, working in the business task, I, I literally will put my alarm on like, you know, I'll say, okay, if I think this work and this task should take only a certain amount of time, and after that, that's it for the rest of the day I'm gonna be working on the business.
Once that thing goes off, obviously you can't, if you're talking to a customer, you know, in the front of the store, you can't be like, okay, I'm sorry, go on. But it's, it's a reminder to say, yeah, I'm working way more in the business than I should. And the more you do that, the more of a habit it is.
You know, Jim Collins, from who wrote the book, good to Great. He said one of the things that he did with his company as a way to, get something they wanted to, it's around optimization in the company. And they would do these, what we would call sort of debriefs, but he called them a whole different word.
You know, he comes up with all these great little terms, but what he would say was that they decided that, If they were gonna do any event they were doing or any project or anything, they needed to have, everything sorted by three weeks prior. So they would have a T minus three meeting three weeks prior to the event or whatever.
And as they were doing this, they were always slipping that T minus three, you know, it was like, oh, it'd be like T minus two, T minus five days, T, you know? Mm-hmm. It was always slipping because it wasn't like a priority, but, so what they did was they had a big, huge thing on their wall, and it said, every time they meet the tea, the goal was to.
Do 100 t minus three events. So, they wanted to do 100, events where they met their T minus three goal meeting, and if it slipped, if it slipped dust, not even one day. Or a minute over one day, the count would have to go back. So even if I got to 20 days mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. They would have to, if that particular one slipped, they would have to go back and start the clock again.
Mm-hmm. It became a rallying call in his company, right? Mm-hmm. Where it was like the person who was in charge of the team, minus three meeting, they're like, I'm not gonna be the one , to drop the ball. And as they practice that habit and Salim, it's all about practicing the habit. Mm-hmm. As, as they practice the habit, they got to 100 T minus three meetings.
And after that, in the, when I was listening, I think I heard that story in one of maybe his B 2.0 B be an Entrepreneur 2.0 book. And he said after that, as that reading as, as they were, as he was writing the book, they never, ever, ever stopped. Like they never ever missed the deadline. So it was just a habit they had to form.
They were slipping all the time, slipping, slipping, slipping. Mm-hmm. But they decided to constantly have the goal. Eventually they were able to get to it. So for our, for your business owner, audience, If you set a time watch and you say, okay, I'm only gonna spend this much time in the business, start real, you know, after you do an audit, then you say, okay, it's realistic for me to be able to cut back.
Say an hour, per week or something like that, and move that hour into working on my business. So don't do anything radical, just something that you think could realistically happen without you feeling anxiety and without the company going under. And then use the timer or whatever mechanism works for you, start doing that.
And you are gonna slip at times. Yes. But as you continue to do it, as you make a commitment, eventually you'll realize, wait, it's been a whole two months, and let me change the one hour to two hours, and then change the two hours to three hours. Next thing you know, you're really doing it.
[00:27:39] Salim Omar: That's awesome. Kerry-Ann, this is amazing. I think we could go on for like a few hours and still have so much fun talking about, small business stuff, growth, profitability, making it more successful, less stressful. But I'm looking at the clock and we need to finish off soon. What's the best way for listeners to reach out to you?
[00:28:02] Kerry-Ann Powell: My website is trafalgarstrategies.co. It's dot co. So you know, if you find me there, you can reach out through that mechanism. Also too, I do have a gift if you'd want me to, I can share, with your audience. That'd be lovely. Okay, so, I did a bit of an ebook a few months back, and it literally is called the eight True Culprits that are causing Chaos in your Business.
Okay. Okay. And so in that, it's a short ebook that allows for people to recognize what. What are some of the symptoms that are happening in their business? What could be the cause of it? And then there are some really great sort of tips on how to fix it. And so, if your audience would like that, they can go to no business chaos.com.
And they can just download it free there. So then the website is no business chaos.com. And, because I believe business chaos is the enemy.
[00:28:56] Salim Omar: Yeah. Yeah. That's wonderful. That's awesome. And I think we really, we need to have you over again. Carrie Ann, if you're, I would love it if you're open to that. As we have more, more to talk.
Yes, yes. Thank you so much. This is amazing. I really enjoyed it. You shared some wonderful insights, that really make, makes a business owner think made me think and I appreciate it. Thank you.
[00:29:18] Kerry-Ann Powell: What a pleasure it's been. Thank you for having me.
[00:29:21] Salim Omar: Awesome. You take care.
[00:29:23] Kerry-Ann Powell: Bye.