In last week’s Part 1 of this series, we took a close look at A-players, including who they are, what they are looking for, and how you can attract, train, and retain them. Don’t you want to become the employer of choice for the A-players you want to attract to your team? Join us now for Part 2 as we discuss creative solutions to bridge the gaps in this process.

As in last week’s episode, Dr. Sabrina is joined today by Kaitlyn Beaver, Success Concierge at Tap the Potential. Kaitlyn has a strong background in workforce development and marketing, so her insights are essential to this discussion. She also helps teach Tap the Potential’s How to Hire the Best course, which is a comprehensive way to learn practical skills for hiring A-players for your team and gaining a competitive advantage in the market. If you listened to last week’s Part 1 and are ready to dive deeper in today’s discussion, let’s continue!

Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential Production Production. 

Show Highlights:

• Why many small business owners have growing concerns about skills gaps

• Why hiring in relation to your immutable laws and desired personality strengths is better than hiring for specific skills

• Why generational gaps exist in the workforce, especially in communication styles, work expectations, and attitudes (Helpful tools include the People Map Assessment, User Manual, and the A-Player Development Plan.)

• Why gaps exist in the areas of employee engagement and leadership (Helpful tools are Leadership Bootcamp and Coach Approach.)

• Why is A-player development important?

• What better decision-making and innovation mean for engaging and energizing A-players

• What A-players want to know about their employers of choice

• How there are creative ways to add value for A-players around competitive compensation, benefits, AND intangible perks that matter even more than money

• Kaitlyn’s tips for business owners who want to leverage social media to attract A-players and highlight their brand

Links and Resources:

Need help with hiring practices? Check out our How to Hire the Best course! The deadline to sign up for the next course is Friday, April 28. Sign up today!

Let us help you and your business! Book a call with us today! 

Join our Mighty Networks Community for extra support and resources!

Learn more about our Breakthroughs Retreat scheduled for March 2024!

Let us help you manage your time, your most valuable resource! Get your FREE copy of the Tap the Potential Strategic Planner for 2023 at www.tapthepotential.com/planner. 

Download Dr. Sabrina’s Introductory Training: How to Make Your Time Worth $10,000 an Hour

Think beyond Employee Appreciation. Check out Leadership Boot Camp today!

Download our Workbook and take our Better Business Better Life Assessment.

New! Now Available!! The 4 Week Vacation book with bonuses! Follow the steps to claim your spot for the upcoming live training, The 4 Week Vacation Better Business Better Life Jumpstart!

It is vital that small business owners have awareness of current workforce trends, especially as they relate to hiring A-players. In this episode, we present Part 1 of a two-part series on this relevant topic. Join us to learn more!

Dr. Sabrina is joined by Kaitlyn Beaver, Success Concierge at Tap the Potential. Kaitlyn has a strong background in workforce development and marketing, and her strengths in these areas make her the perfect person with whom to discuss the challenge of hiring A-players in light of today’s workforce trends. If you are a small business owner who has struggled to hire A-players for your team, this is the show that gives you the inside scoop and heightens your awareness of important workforce trends.

Profit by Design is a Tap of the Potential Production Production.

Show Highlights:

• What is an A-player?

• What A-players in the current workforce are looking for in job opportunities

• How regular meetings with A-players bring clarity and a mentorship relationship

• Why A-players look for professional growth and development opportunities in their jobs

• Why the gap exists between hiring A-players and retaining them

• What it means for A-players to “fall forward” and “fail faster”

• Trends in workforce development: remote work and more flexible work arrangements and skill development

• How an A-player development plan can help you stay profitable 

• How flexible work arrangements can work—not only for office jobs but in the trades

Links and Resources:

Let us help you and your business! Book a call with us today! 

Join our Mighty Networks Community for extra support and resources!

Need help with hiring practices? Check out our How to Hire the Best course!

Learn more about our Breakthroughs Retreat scheduled for March 2024!

Let us help you manage your time, your most valuable resource! Get your FREE copy of the Tap the Potential Strategic Planner for 2023 at www.tapthepotential.com/planner. 

Download Dr. Sabrina’s Introductory Training: How to Make Your Time Worth $10,000 an Hour

Think beyond Employee Appreciation. Check out Leadership Boot Camp today!

Download our Workbook and take our Better Business Better Life Assessment.

New! Now Available!! The 4 Week Vacation book with bonuses! Follow the steps to claim your spot for the upcoming live training, The 4 Week Vacation Better Business Better Life Jumpstart!

Have you ever felt like you were just spinning your wheels in your business? Have you felt that the very best effort you could give is never enough? This is called the “survival trap,” and that’s the focus of today’s show. I want to explain what the survival trap is, what it looks like in your business, and best of all, what you can do to break free. Join me!

Many business owners have too many things on their plates, and they just can’t get everything done. This survival trap will stagnate your business and burn you out. We can help you break free and get back the life you want. Our FREE Better Business Better Life Jumpstart is starting on April 10, and we want you to join us!

Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential Production Production.

Show Highlights:

• Signs that you are in the survival trap in your business–Look out for these red flags! (Does this sound like you?)

• Why you are not alone (9 out of 10 entrepreneurs experience burnout with symptoms around mood, difficulty enjoying life away from work, sleeplessness, skipping proper meals and exercise, increased stress, and social isolation)

• The truth: being in the survival trap means that you need higher levels or organizational systems in your growing business

• How EVERY decision needs to support your bigger WHY of your business

• How my daily “one thing” designation helped me in the early days of entrepreneurship and became my chart of $10,000 an Hour Activities (Get the chart here!)

• What I’ve discovered about the key systems that have the greatest impact to help you break free of the survival trap

• What it takes to break free from the survival trap

• What’s waiting for you on the other side of the survival trap? (We want you to get to the other side and find out! Let us help! Sign up for our FREE Better Business Better Life Jumpstart that runs for one hour each day during the week of Monday, April 10.)

Links and Resources:

If you are ready to break free from the survival trap, sign up for the FREE Better Business Better Life Jumpstart today! I hope to see you at our first Zoom meeting on Monday, April 10!

Let us help you and your business! Book a call with us today! 

Join our Mighty Networks Community for extra support and resources!

Need help with hiring practices? Check out our How to Hire the Best course!

Learn more about our Breakthroughs Retreat scheduled for March 2024!

Let us help you manage your time, your most valuable resource! Get your FREE copy of the Tap the Potential Strategic Planner for 2023 at www.tapthepotential.com/planner. 

Download Dr. Sabrina’s Introductory Training: How to Make Your Time Worth $10,000 an Hour

Think beyond Employee Appreciation. Check out Leadership Boot Camp today!

Download our Workbook and take our Better Business Better Life Assessment.

New! Now Available!! The 4 Week Vacation book with bonuses! Follow the steps to claim your spot for the upcoming live training, The 4 Week Vacation Better Business Better Life Jumpstart!

Are you undermining your ability to be profitable? You may be doing this without even realizing it! Let’s talk about how to get out of your own way and implement the Profit First principles, starting with the basics.

Cash flow problems crop up from time to time, and they are probably caused by long-standing habits and patterns that can be changed to improve your profitability. That’s where I can help! There are “gremlins” in your head that are affecting your health, relationships, disposition, creativity, productivity, and more! (From Rick Carson, author of Taming Your Gremlin, a book that I highly recommend!) Let’s take a closer look!

Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential Production Production.

Show Highlights:

• Why people pleasing is a gremlin that can undermine your business and cost you in BIG ways

• How people pleasing develops initially as a coping mechanism to keep us safe, but we can leave it behind and move on in a beautiful transformation

• How people pleasing can keep us from taking the time to work on our business

• How people pleasing creates codependency–and a business and team that are totally dependent on YOU

• How to train your team members to make decisions and learn the process to become people you can trust to handle tasks for you

• Why “Skeptical Skip” is a gremlin who doesn’t trust because he has been burned before–and how he shows up in your head, especially around finances

• Tips for best practices in starting to delegate bookkeeping tasks to your team members

• If you need support in hiring team members and defeating your gremlins, check out our How to Hire the Best course and our Better Business Better Life program. We can help!

• Practical steps to take TODAY to squash your gremlins and take back your profitability

Links and Resources:

Let us help you and your business! Book a call with us today! 

Join our Mighty Networks Community for extra support and resources!

Need help with hiring practices? Check out our How to Hire the Best course!

Learn more about our Breakthroughs Retreat scheduled for March 2024!

Let us help you manage your time, your most valuable resource! Get your FREE copy of the Tap the Potential Strategic Planner for 2023 at www.tapthepotential.com/planner. 

Download Dr. Sabrina’s Introductory Training: How to Make Your Time Worth $10,000 an Hour

Think beyond Employee Appreciation. Check out Leadership Boot Camp today!

Download our Workbook and take our Better Business Better Life Assessment.

New! Now Available!! The 4 Week Vacation book with bonuses! Follow the steps to claim your spot for the upcoming live training, The 4 Week Vacation Better Business Better Life Jumpstart!

Are you struggling to get everything done? A common problem for most business owners is finding time for the things that matter most in their lives. It’s a problem that only seems to grow bigger and bigger as the business grows. The time is NOW for you to take control of your time and your life, and I’m sharing key time management strategies in today’s show. Join us to learn more!

I’m joined by one of the people who helped me wrangle my time management problems and come out on top. Melissa Swire is the Lead Strategist at Tap the Potential, and she’s here to discuss how we can design sustainably profitable businesses with more time for what matters most. She is a master at helping our clients figure out their time management challenges, and she is sharing her wisdom and practical tips with us today. Let us help you build a business that supports your life!

Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential Production Production.

Show Highlights:

• Why entrepreneurs fall into the trap of “putting work before life”

• Why time management is essentially a mindset that affects every aspect of your life

• How Tap the Potential Strategic Planner can help you with time management (It’s a FREE download! Get yours today!)

• How time management WILL improve your productivity and profitability

• Examples of powerful questions to ask about your time

• How a weekly list of intentions, priorities, and goals (included in the Planner!) can streamline your tasks and help you delegate

• How end-of-day reflection helps you prioritize and prepare for the next day

• Simple strategies for “calendaring” and setting hard boundaries for work

• How buffers in your calendar help you prioritize the most important task: self-care

• Why Melissa recommends batching your tasks like meetings and projects–and making time for an end-of-the-week time audit

• How to set tight deadlines to get MORE work done in a shorter period of time–and work in your sweet spot

• Favorite features included in the Planner

• How a Take Your Time Back Strategy Session with Melissa can help you get started in better time management (Visit our Website to book a call today!)

• How our Mighty Networks group helps us have relevant conversations with our podcast listeners (Join our Group today!)

• How our collaborative community offers support and resources

• What’s coming in our next Breakthroughs Retreat in March 2024

Links and Resources:

Let us help you and your business! Book a call with us today! 

Learn more about our Breakthroughs Retreat scheduled for March 2024!

Let us help you manage your time, your most valuable resource! Get your FREE copy of the Tap the Potential Strategic Planner for 2023 at www.tapthepotential.com/planner. 

Download Dr. Sabrina’s Introductory Training: How to Make Your Time Worth $10,000 an Hour

Think beyond Employee Appreciation. Check out Leadership Boot Camp today!

Download our Workbook and take our Better Business Better Life Assessment.

New! Now Available!! The 4 Week Vacation book with bonuses! Follow the steps to claim your spot for the upcoming live training, The 4 Week Vacation Better Business Better Life Jumpstart!

“A lot of entrepreneurs have the ‘people-pleasing disease’. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to get an executive assistant who is the ‘bouncer’ for your calendar. This creates a buffer that helps you keep important boundaries.”

It’s so easy to focus on things that aren’t going well and those team members who are difficult, but what about those who are doing a great job and can be counted on every day? Are you showing them your appreciation? It is important to make an intentional effort to acknowledge your team members ALL the time because they are doing good things for your business. Don’t take them for granted, and don’t be the “boss on patrol” who always looks for the negative things. As I’m recording this episode, it is Employee Appreciation Day, so what better time is there to discuss this topic? Let’s talk about how you can do a mindset reset to notice the small wins and successes–starting right now!

You can change your mindset! Form new habits of paying attention to the small wins and successes. Get specific in appreciating team members and acknowledging their contributions. Remember that “Thank You” goes a long way!

Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential Production Production.

Show Highlights:

• Think about the ratio of positive communication to critical (negative) feedback (which should be 7 positives:1 negative)

• Why our attention should focus on investing our time in our best team members (as opposed to problem team members taking up our time)

• Why it’s essential to take really great care of the A-players you currently have (and don’t just show appreciation one day a year)

• Ideas for supporting your team members, building relationships, and finding out what matters to them

• Transactional relationships vs. mutually-invested relationships

• How to invest in training and development for team members

• Acknowledgment feels good to everyone! Who can you thank today?

Links and Resources:

Let us help you and your business! Book a call with us today!

Think beyond Employee Appreciation. Check out Leadership Boot Camp today!

Let us help you manage your time, your most valuable resource! Get your FREE copy of the Tap the Potential Strategic Planner for 2023 at www.tapthepotential.com/planner. 

Download our Workbook and take our Better Business Better Life Assessment.

New! Now Available!! The 4 Week Vacation book with bonuses! Follow the steps to claim your spot for the upcoming live training, The 4 Week Vacation Better Business Better Life Jumpstart!

Download Dr. Sabrina’s Introductory Training: How to Make Your Time Worth $10,000 an Hour

What is your plan for retaining A-players on your team?

A-players are very valuable in our businesses, but attracting them is only the beginning; you need a solid, workable plan for their growth and development. Join us to learn more in today’s episode!

Next to ourselves as business owners, our A-players are our greatest assets, and it is shameful that we often overlook the need to develop and retain them, assuring that they are as happy and productive as possible. There are simple ways to intentionally invest in your A-players, and we can help!

Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential Production Production. 

Show Highlights

• The secret to getting (and keeping) A-players on your team

• Why you should cultivate a mutually-beneficial relationship with your A-players over the traditional transactional relationship

• Why you most likely will not keep your A-players for their entire careers

• The #1 reason that A-players leave? They are looking for a better opportunity elsewhere.

• What the facts show about developing and retaining A-players—and how we can do better

• Why it is important to get to know your A-players intentionally from the very first moment

• How resources and mentoring conversations can help retain your A-players

• How to share your vision and identify future opportunities for advancement for A-players in a career development plan

• How your investment in A-players increases their engagement and productivity and improves your business culture

Links and Resources:

Let us help you and your business! Book a call with us today!

Get your FREE copy of the Tap the Potential Strategic Planner for 2023 at www.tapthepotential.com/planner.

Download our Workbook and take our Better Business Better Life Assessment.

New! Now Available!! The 4 Week Vacation book with bonuses! Follow the steps to claim your spot for the upcoming live training, The 4 Week Vacation Better Business Better Life Jumpstart!

Download Dr. Sabrina’s Introductory Training: How to Make Your Time Worth $10,000 an Hour

If you’ve been a business owner for any length of time, you will relate to today’s topic. We have all had those times when crisis strikes, like a severe illness in your family or team, a key team member quitting unexpectedly or even a global pandemic. We are usually moving along and making progress when these things happen, and we shift into survival mode, putting our heads down to do what we must to do keep the business afloat. The problem is that we drop our goals and our larger vision, which turns into a significant setback in the business. I want to challenge you during those times of crisis to look for the opportunities within the situation to make yourself and your business even stronger. Let’s take a closer look in today’s episode!

Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential Production Production. 

Show Highlights:

• How a common example of a business crisis can be turned into growth opportunities, like when a key team member unexpectedly quits

• Why it’s important to manage the crisis quickly and get the business back on track

• How there are powerful opportunities for reflection about what contributed to the crisis

• How a personal crisis brings opportunities for you to ask powerful questions about the support you need, what tasks you can drop, and who you can get to help you manage the situation

• Why a business or personal crisis is NOT the time to pause coaching

• Why support and accountability become even more important to entrepreneurs during a crisis

• Why increasing your time for self-care and being with those you love become more important than ever during a crisis

• Powerful questions to ask yourself when you encounter a crisis and get pulled into the survival trap

Links and Resources:

Let us help you and your business! Book a call with us today!

Get your FREE copy of the Tap the Potential Strategic Planner for 2023 at www.tapthepotential.com/planner.

Download our Workbook and take our Better Business Better Life Assessment.

New! Now Available!! The 4 Week Vacation book with bonuses! Follow the steps to claim your spot for the upcoming live training, The 4 Week Vacation Better Business Better Life Jumpstart!

Download Dr. Sabrina’s Introductory Training: How to Make Your Time Worth $10,000 an Hour

Profit Designers, we have reached the 100,000 downloads milestone that we’ve been talking about for a few weeks. Thank you to each and every listener! Because of this milestone and our commitment to being a gift from our gifts, we have the Tap the Potential Strategic Planner ready for you to download today. Use this link to get your FREE copy right now!

Do you ever feel like your business is taking over your life? I want to share with you a simple way to feel in control and in the driver’s seat of your business. This happens by utilizing a few key performance indicators, and last week’s show was about getting started with KPIs. It’s not enough to get started, but you have to keep moving to advance with KPIs in your business. Let’s talk about the next steps on today’s show!

Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential Production Production.

Show Highlights:

• How tracking KPIs consistently can help you spot potential problems before they become big problems

• An example of how our KPIs tell us what podcast listeners want to hear–and why our downloads are steadily increasing past the 100,000 mark

• How continual tracking of KPIs allows you to take preventative action to correct cash flow problems

• How to create your dashboard (spreadsheet) with high-level KPIs:

• • Your revenue goal

  • Your percent of goal achieved weekly

  • Your revenue booked weekly

  • Your operating expenses

  • Your weekly sales

• Why you need to track KPIs in key areas of your business using the ACDC model (In Clockwork, Mike Michalowicz identifies the ACDC model: attract, convert, deliver, and collect.)

• • Attract: Refers to your marketing efforts.

  • Convert: Refers to your sales.

  • Deliver: How well your team is delivering around your sweet spot (your net promoter score)

  • Collect: Collecting payments for services delivered

• How the employee net promoter score can help measure team happiness

• Why it’s important to establish a baseline for each KPI, set quarterly goals with your leadership team to improve KPIs, and set aside time to review KPIs weekly

Links and Resources:

Let us help you and your business! Book a call with us today!

Get your FREE copy of the Tap the Potential Strategic Planner for 2023 at www.tapthepotential.com/planner. 

Download our Workbook and take our Better Business Better Life Assessment.

New! Now Available!! The 4 Week Vacation book with bonuses! Follow the steps to claim your spot for the upcoming live training, The 4 Week Vacation Better Business Better Life Jumpstart!

Download Dr. Sabrina’s Introductory Training: How to Make Your Time Worth $10,000 an Hour

As I mentioned in Episode 231, we are approaching 100,000 downloads for the Profit by Design podcast. That’s a huge, exciting milestone! The key for me has been consistency and the ironclad commitment I made to put out an episode every week. In trying to keep the content relevant and timely, today’s show is about getting started with key performance indicators (KPIs), which is a topic that many business owners want to understand better. Join us to learn more!

We are thankful for each and every listener, and we ask that if you find value in an episode, please share it with a friend and help us reach this big milestone. Your reviews of the podcast also help us in many ways, so please leave us a review on your podcast platform. In celebration of our upcoming 100K downloads milestone and “Being a gift from our gifts,” we want to thank you by offering our brand-new, recently updated Tap the Potential Annual Strategic Planner. This is a tool we use to support our clients who are committed to staying focused on their $10,000-an-hour activities. We have been innovative and creative in making this planner a useful and practical tool, and we are tweaking it even now to make it even better. I’ll be announcing the link and instructions for accessing the planner in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential Production Production.

Show Highlights:

• How KPIs can be overwhelming–but can be simplified to a few basics

• How to pinpoint the biggest challenge currently in your business and create KPIs around it with a simple spreadsheet

• How to set up your spreadsheet around your biggest challenge with a few basic KPIs

• An example of setting up a spreadsheet of KPIs around sales

• Why valuable awareness will come from this spreadsheet of KPIs around the current systems in your business—and the systems that are lacking

• How we can help you hone and refine the big picture of your KPIs

• Why the smaller performance indicators (sub-KPIs) can help you prevent future cash flow problems before they become an issue

Links and Resources:

Let us help you and your business! Book a call with us today!

Download our Workbook and take our Better Business Better Life Assessment.

New! Now Available!! The 4 Week Vacation book with bonuses! Follow the steps to claim your spot for the upcoming live training, The 4 Week Vacation Better Business Better Life Jumpstart!

Download Dr. Sabrina’s Introductory Training: How to Make Your Time Worth $10,000 an Hour