My pastor recently spoke about the power of the tongue and it caused me to really think. The Bible says in Proverbs 10:11, "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence." God obviously loves life. Throughout the pages of scripture he promotes life and not death. What is amazing is this one verse uncovers an often overlooked source of life: THE MOUTH.

Your mouth can be life-giving. Stop and think about that: You can give life!

The writer of Proverbs doesn't say that your mouth is a FACTORY of life…instead, it's a FOUNTAIN.

Too many people try to live their lives as a factory. They work. They sweat. They worker harder. They try to produce something that must be manufactured. It does not occur naturally.

That's the difference between a factory and a fountain. A fountain doesn't produce something artificial. Instead, it flows. It's genuine. It's authentic. A righteous person doesn't have to work at being a fountain. They don't have to muster up something artificial. Instead, as a fountain, life simply flows from their lips.

The writer stipulates that not just any mouth is a fountain. It's the mouth of the righteous. To be righteous is not the same thing as being self-righteous, comparing ourselves to others. It means that we are rooted in God. We trust him, live with him and gain wisdom from him. Righteousness is being in Christ and living by faith in his power and grace and wisdom.

When you have that kind of relationship, Jesus makes your mouth a fountain of life. What is flowing from your mouth?

My pastor suggested three things:
1. Use your mouth to feed - Proverbs 10:21 says, "The lips of the righteous feed many."
2. Use your mouth to heal - Proverbs 12:18 says, "The tongue of the wise brings healing."
3. Use your mouth to protect - Proverbs 12:6 says, "The mouth of the upright delivers men."

How are you doing in this area? Is life is flowing out of your mouth? If it isn't, realize that it is from your heart that your mouth speaks. Commit to live in God and rely on him this week. Ask him to produce a fresh, living fountain in you.

Tags: chuck allen, sugar hill church, proverbs

Hiring and Firing OR Keeping Crazy, Donkey and Dufus Off of Your Team

When you first start, it’s just you. But eventuallyy, you need a team.

1. Turnover is bad for business.
Proper hiring creates a good team, and a good team lowers turnover. You are trying to get thoroughbreds in the stable. You want rockstars in the company. A good team lowers turnover. Turnover is expensive in lost productivity and in morale within the team. When the good people leave, everybody wonders, “What is wrong?”

We began measuring two types of exits: life change (had a baby, move, etc) or turnover. We source the reason for the exit.

Team members leave or are let go most often because they should never have been hired in the first place. Do a better job hiring. Take more time when filling positions. Most people are doing the business and are inconvenienced by interviewing people. We get in a hurry and hire the wrong people.

Every single person is in marketing. They affect our reputation. Even the leaf blower is in marketing. It takes 60-90 days and 9 interviews to get hire by the Dave Ramsey organization. We don’t want crazy, donkey or dufus in our organization. A proper hire performs better, is less likely to cause problems, and will be more likely to stay.

2. Components to a good hire.
When posting a position, give enough information for candidates to rule you out without wasting your time. Word your posting in such a way as to attract the personality and character traits you want.

The EntreLeader’s 12 steps to a proper hire:

• Pray. “God, please send the person you want. Keep your crazy children away.”
• Advertise and get referrals. Good people run with good people.
• 30-minute interview. The first one should be a drive by. It should be quickly. Listen 20 minutes and talk 10.
• Resume and references. Useless. Resume will give you background and education.
• Personality test. Run the DISC. Not a deal maker or breaker. Puts people in 4 different styles. It’s got to fit the job. It has to fit the team. You look at the strengths and weaknesses of the chemistry. Kindness requires clarity. You have to see how this person will fit with the leader.
• Do you like them? Talent is not enough. Interpersonal skills trump talent every single time.
• Do they light up when they talk about the position? You want somebody that light’s up!
• Personal budget and mission statement. Can they pay their bills on what you pay? I love my people. It is my job to serve them by making sure they can pay their bills on what they make.
• Compensation calculations, benefits and policy review.
• Key Results Area (KRA). Have a job descriptions. Write down 3 things that describe what winning looks like. Give details about that. If they are not winning, then they know they are not staying around.
• Spousal Interview. Go to dinner with the spouses. Wives tend to have a crazy antenna. Try to find crazy and avoid it.
• 90-day probation for the company and the person. You don’t want to keep people that don’t fit. You won’t know until they get there.

The EntreLeader is looking for a team member with a combination of opportunistic motivation and philosophical motivation. They see the train is going somewhere and they see they higher calling. (Where there is no margin there is no ministry.) Never sell a J-O-B. You don’t want people that just collect checks. Always have an opportunities available; sell “work that matters.” Set short initial interviews that are no longer than 30 minutes. If the candidate is preoccupied by benefits and compensation, you will never be able to do enough to keep them happy.

3. When team members fail.
Team members eventually have to perform or they have to leave. We pour into people. Our policy is to treat people how we want to be treated. This answers a lot of questions. When I address things, I am kind, but I am very clear. I do not sugar coat things.

Start by identifying the root cause: leadership failure, personal problem, incompetence.

4. When the failure is caused by leadership.
Good news: Leadership failure is a variable that’s easily fixed. The problem is YOU - fix it.
- Do they know their job? Write down what the person needs to be doing. KRA.
- Did you hire someone who didn’t fit the position?
- Were their KRA’s clear?
- Were you there to train?
- Were they given the tools to win?
- Were conflicts left unresolved? Some people shut down when there is drama.

5.When the failure is caused by a personal problem:
People matter. Do unto others.

The first action step is to quantify the extent of the personal problem. It may be a small problem. It may be a big problem. You have the power to do the right thing. The reason why a lot of employees aren’t loyal to companies is because companies are not loyal to their employees. If you treat you team like family they will act like family. Do you need to pay for them to get some professional help?

Incremental progress on the problem must be seen so an expectation of future performance be there. Otherwise, they have to work somewhere else.

6. When the failure is caused by incompetence:
Make all errors here on the side of giving too much grace, which is what you want. Sanctioned incompetence demoralizes. The Entreleader must take action to correct the problem.
Repairable incompetence is caused by lack of skills. We can help fix that. There can be behavior modification, training, and mentoring.
Non-repairable incompetence includes moral failure, lack of integrity and laziness.

7. The root cause is determined…now what?
If the business already has debt, develop a three-to-five-year strategy to eliminate it by allocating a percentage of monthly profits to debt reduction.
When an EntreLeader operates his business using these financial principles, it greatly insulates them from risk and increases the probability of success.

The EntreLeader allocates a percentage of profits to:
- Debt reduction (if you have debt)
- Retained earnings for emergencies or opportunities

Tags: dave ramsey, leadership, hiring and firing

Bulletproof Principles for Money, Debt and Funding Your Future

In this session Dave applied FPU principles to the business. They are solid, great reminders. Here are some of the principles:

1. Do the Accounting.
Be diligent to know the state of your flocks and herds. People that don’t do accounting and can’t figure out why they can’t win are going to fail.

The EntreLeader has separate checking accounts for personal and business and never uses the wrong one.

You have to separate your business from your personal.

At least 25% of monthly net profit should be set aside in a separate tax savings account to cover the cash needed for quarterly estimates to the IRS. Book keeping leads to cash flow problems and they get behind with the IRS. That is the #1 problem for failure in small business.

2. Budgeting.
The EntreLeader knows that, to win in business, you must plan money on paper, on purpose, before the month begins; it’s called a budget. You have to project ahead of time.

Don’t build a tower without first coating the cost.

3. Act Your Wage.
Rationalizing the purchase of expensive luxuries in the name of “business” is a common mistake of small business owners.

The EntreLeader never uses his/her business as a rationalization to buy something not needed to make a profit.
EntreLeaders don’t fall for the tax deduction myth of purchasing something that is not needed purely for the tax write-off.
The borrower is always slave to the lender. Even in business! Cash flow problems are created when you lease everything and finance everything.
Borrowed money drastically increases risk. Borrowed money also magnifies our mistakes. We are going to mess up. Borrowed money hurts or even destroys cash flow.

4. Mythology.
Myth: Borrowed money is needed to start or expand a business.
Truth: Starting or expanding more gradually and with cash lowers risk and minimizes mistakes. When you trip and fall, you won’t break your neck.

Myth: A line of credit is need to cover cash flow fluctuations. Plan for it! Predict it and prepare for it!
Truth: Cash flow fluctuations can be predicted with good forecasting and budgeting. Plus, having cash saved in the business causes the EntreLeader to cover their own needs.

Myth: A credit card is needed for online/phone purchases and for travel.
Truth: A debit card will do everything a credit card will do, except create 18% debt.

Myth: A credit card will help me keep my expenses categorized.
Truth: A EntreLeader uses an accounting system, so a debit card does the same thing.

Myth: Large equipment or real estate purchases require a business to use debt. (A lot of businesses run debt free and grow at the speed of cash.))
Truth: The EntreLeader does four things to avoid risk and mistakes on large purchases:

• Pays cash.
• Rents. (What’s my back-hoe? What’s the thing I think I HAVE to buy, but could really live without? You are not in the back-hoe business. What business are you in?)
• Outsource. (There’s a guy with a back-hoe that will work for cheap.
• Often buys used. (Buy a used back-hoe.)

5. Savings Make the World Go ‘Round
Wise people save money.
Having cash saved is vital for the EntreLeader to survive and prosper. Saving in business is called retained earnings. (Emergencies, opportunities, etc.) It is really hard to stay out of debt in business and it’s really hard to save money. This helps you be prepared for cash-flow fluctuation.

Retained earnings can be used for:

• Emergencies
• Invest back into the business
• Capitalizing on Opportunities

A good rule of thumb is to retain 50% of your annual expenses in a money market type account.
Each month, a percentage of profits should be set aside for growing retained earnings consistently as business grows.

6. Be Generous
Be generous is the hallmark of people who live successful lives and who operate businesses with soul.
Be generous with your products and services to the community and to your team.
The does not specifically say to give or tithe on business income.
However, the Bible does say to tight and give from personal income, which includes profits from business.
The tax implications are the same, and there is more privacy and anonymity when giving the majority of cash gifts from personal funds.

7. Applying the Principles
If the business already has debt, develop a three-to-five-year strategy to eliminate it by allocating a percentage of monthly profits to debt reduction.
When an EntreLeader operates his business using these financial principles, it greatly insulates them from risk and increases the probability of success.

The EntreLeader allocates a percentage of profits to:
- Debt reduction (if you have debt)
- Retained earnings for emergencies or opportunities

Tags: dave ramsey, leadership

Living Your Dreams, Visions, Mission Statements and Goals

This session was taught by another member of Dave’s teaching team, Chris Hogan. Chris did a great job. You can read more about Chris by clicking here. You can also visit his site here: http://www.chrishogan360.com/

People often check out. Goals have to be one of things we are doing. You have to set them and aim for them.

Illustration: As a freshman football player, I had to set goals for the year. By verbalizing and putting my goals out there, I had put myself on the line.

In business, I have done the same thing. We have to focus on setting real goals and find someone we can verbalize them to. Put it down on paper and tell somebody so that you have accountability.

Goals are a lot like skeet shooting. Its about airing ahead of where you want to go and fire in that direction.

Start with a Dream, End With a Goal

Dreams

”Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or idea.” -- Earl Nightingale
The success we have is moving toward the goal that we set. We have a level we want to attain. We have to focus on that. Too often we want to get the goal, but forget there are steps to get there. It doesn’t happen overnight. Give yourself a break.
Have a realistic goal and ease off of yourself. You may be the only person that believes in yourself.

Dreams are wishes that seldom happen. They are just in your head.

Life does not hand you your dreams; you have to make them happen. At the end of day, you have to make it happen! If you don’t really want it to happen, do say it!
Dreams are essential to winning, but they must come out of the clouds and be more tangible and touchable. You have to have the mindset that your product is necessary.

Vision

A more tangible, touchable dream is a vision.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” -- Proverbs 29:18
People have to be able to know what direction we are going. They have to be lead. They need us to share our heart and soul with the people on our team. We have to be vulnerable. We need people with the head, heart and habits of winning on our team.

Mission Statements

A mission statement is like an out-of-bounds marker. It defines what you are not. We have to have focus.
A great mission statement keeps you track. Send out your mission statement and ask them, “Does this describe me?”

Career Coach Dan Miller says a mission statement should include:

• You or your company’s skills and abilities.
• You or your company’s personality traits.
• You or your company’s values, dreams and passions.

Passion is a key ingredient that can overcome other weaknesses. Don’t forget why you started. Fish for the positive reasons.

Goals

Mission statements that are ready to go to work is call a goal.
For your goals to have a long-term positive impact, they must include: Career, Financial, Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Family, Social, Career. You have to be making progress in each of these areas. If not, you will be unbalanced.

Goals are bite-sized vision. If you are going to accomplish the vision, you need to break it down into bite-sized goals to achieve it.
Goals convert vision into energy. At the end of the day, we have to pull the trigger on something. Get it done.

Goals that work must:

• Be specific.
• Be measurable. Am I making progress? Am I on target? If not, you have to change something. Put a date and a month on it. Calendar books read, money saved, etc.
• Have a time limit. No escape clauses. We need a year of change.
• Be yours. You have to have person buy in.
• Be in writing.

Break everything down into small parts and time frames.
Don’t ask your team to set goals when you have none.

Leading with Goals

For your team to have goals, you must have goals. Don’t go back to doing the same old thing without goals.
Shared goals on a team create communication and unity. You have to spend time together. Unity doesn’t mean sameness. It means we are driving in a direction. You don’t have to like everybody. You have to get along.
Goals on a team are shared when the team develops the goals together. What can we do together this quarter? This year? Get individual buy in.
Individual team members can’t have goals dictated to them; instead, help the team develop their goals.
Management by objective is when team members set individual and team goals within general guidelines.
General guidelines should include several micro-goals that create the result that everyone agrees is needed.
We can spend time doing ridiculous things to avoid facing the things outside of our comfort zone.
Let’s not seek comfort, let’s seek being effective.
They are your goals, but to be walking closely with God, you should be in on His plan. he knows your future and what is best for you.

Establishing Priorities

We can spend time doing ridiculous thing to avoid facing the things outside of our comfort zone.

1. Quadrant of Necessity. (Important/Urgent)
2. Quadrant of Leadership. (Important/Not Urgent)
3. Quadrant of Deception. (Not Important/Urgent)
4. Quadrant of Default/Waste. (Not Important/Not Urgent)

This area can be deceptive, but its important.

Tags: dave ramsey, leadership, chris hogan

This session really served as an introduction to the day. Dave did a great job explaining that his faith shapes how he does business. Here are a few of the thoughts from this session:

How it all started: There were about 10 people reporting to Dave and he couldn’t get anything done. He began to realize that he needed to train people

It is important for people to be able to complete your sentences.

It must be predictable, duplicatable and scalable.

LEADER

What makes a great leader? (Crow-sourced answers.)

• Integrity
• Vision
• Inspiring
• Decisive
• Passion
• Servant
• Charismatic
• Fearless
• Educator
• Mentor
• Challenging
• Organized
• Role-Model
• Knowledge
• Humble

This better be you! This is not a game! You have to be this! If not, get out of the way!

If you want to hire somebody to be a leader, they better have a lot of these.

You need to have these qualities. Serving does not mean subservient. You serve people by doing the right thing.

We have to work on these qualities when “nobody is looking.” In the dark, who are you? Who are you really?

You can’t read a textbook and read the theories and magically become a leader.

The way you know you are leading is when people are following. You are driving them like cattle. You are not herding cats. Anybody can be a boss.

ENTREPRENEUR

One Word Character Qualities (Crowd-sourced answers.)

• Creative
• Risk-taker
• Determined
• Courageous
• Energetic
• Followthrough
• Persevere
• Open-minded
• Motivated
• Giver
• Forethought
• Focused
• Resourceful
• Driver

This is what you are looking for. Do hire too many of them. It’s like trying to nail jello to a tree. It’s like herding cats. These people are not “yes” people. You have to have people like this or else you have all “yes” people. So you need a balance.

DEFINITIONS

Leader: A person who rules, guilds or inspires others.

Entrepreneur: A person who organizes, operates and assumes risk for a venture.

EntreLeadership: The process of leading the cause a venture to grow and prosper.

This is the kind of person I was trying to duplicate inside of my organization. I wanted someone who served, but served passionately. I wanted a maverick who had integrity. I wanted a risk-taker who was not a gambler:

• Passionately serving
• Mavericks who have integrity
• Disciplined risk-takers
• Courageous while humble
• Motivated visionaries
• Driven while loyal
• Influential learners

Words have the power to change beliefs.

LEADERSHIP BASICS

Organizations are never limited by their opportunity; they are limited by their leader. This economy has shown we have a leadership issue. There are people starting businesses and prospering. It rises and falls on leadership. It’s how you look at things.

(Clip from Braveheart) “Men don’t follow title, they follow courage.”

If you will just lead, step out there, you will look up and be amazed by the warrior poets that decide to walk with you. There is a mindset shift that has to happen.

Your workforces problem is their leader. You hired them. You trained them. You are the leader.

An employee is someone who shows up late and leaves early and steals while they are there.

I didn’t want employees, I wanted team members. They really are part of the team. I may be the QB but I need somebody to guard my blind side. You have to understand that your organization will never outgrow you!

Your education, character, capacity, ability and vision are limiting your organization. The good news is these are all growable!

We are all vessels. We have these things inside of us that we need to get out of us and then grow our capacity.

John Maxwell calls this “The Leadership Lid.” The lid is me. We have to take that lid off and raise it.

Video clip from Benjamin Zander: “My job, to awaken possibility in other people. How do you know? Look at their eyes? If their eyes are shining, then you known you are. If they are not, ask ‘Who am I being that their eyes are not shining?’

Success is about how many shining eyes I have around me.’

Leading by fear and/or anger is not leading. Your message should pull your team together, not apart.

The Bible says the anointing drops from the beard. Our natural strengths and weaknesses will run through the organization.

The quirky brilliance of the founder can take you only so far. When you step out of the room, the organization drops. That’s not scalable or duplicatable. It will only take you so far.

You must have power but rarely use it. Position power does not make you a leader, simply a boss. A lot of people have only been bosses and never been led.

Persuasional leadership is much more effective than positional in the long run. It takes more time. To be a true leader, you must have a servant mentality. To be a true leader, you must have a servant mentality.

PASSION

You cannot lead without passion. This not necessarily high “I” or high “D”. It’s the EntreLeader’s job to insert passion into the organization.

Hire passion over education and talent every time.

Tags: dave ramsey, leadership