| "Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a | | | | them formal pre-employment assessments, did |
| pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his | | | | background checks, and talked to references. |
| crown and Jill came tumbling after." ~Mother | | | | She took her time and tried to find the best |
| Goose rhyme. | | | | people she could. She approached the process |
| | | | as if she were creating a basketball team. |
| "Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a | | | | She wanted a winning team. Once she had good |
| pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his | | | | people, she put energy into keeping them with |
| crown, but Jill kept on climbing." ~A modern | | | | the company. She spent more time with her |
| parable. | | | | stars than she did with her mediocre |
| | | | employees. |
| This is the story of two entrepreneurs we'll | | | | |
| call Jack and Jill. Jill went up the hill and | | | | Jack, on the other hand, thought his best |
| built a successful business. Jack went up the | | | | employees did not need his time and he spent |
| hill, failed and fell down the hill. Read on | | | | more time and energy trying to improve his |
| to discover how Jill succeeded and Jack | | | | poor performers. He was surprised when his |
| failed. | | | | best people felt neglected and left. |
| | | | |
| Both Jack and Jill decided to go into | | | | Personal organization |
| business for themselves at the same time. | | | | |
| Each worked for a company that sold and | | | | With her company growing rapidly, Jill found |
| serviced technical products to certain | | | | herself working long hard hours. She realized |
| professionals. Both have the same degree of | | | | that she was not well organized. She |
| skill and expertise at their job and loved | | | | carefully prioritized her activities with the |
| their work. Both have a burning desire to | | | | help of her coach. She identified those |
| succeed. | | | | activities that were wasting her time. She |
| | | | either eliminated those activities or |
| Each of them went about building their | | | | delegated them. She was made aware that she |
| business in their own way. | | | | was neglecting some important things simply |
| | | | because they were not demanding her |
| Vision. | | | | attention. She was not getting the recreation |
| | | | or exercise she deserved. She was not |
| Jack wasn't clear about his goals. He just | | | | spending enough time with her family and |
| wanted to sell and design equipment to | | | | friends. She made these things a top priority |
| anybody who would buy it. He would sell as | | | | and scheduled time for this. This process not |
| much as he could, do all the work to save | | | | only made her life more enjoyable, it made |
| overhead. He saw himself as a self-made man | | | | her a more effective leader. |
| who did not need anybody's advice. He figured | | | | |
| whatever he needed to know he could learn | | | | Jill was enjoying her job. She was doing |
| from books and the internet. His was a fuzzy | | | | mostly what she loved doing and which were |
| vision; he knew the general direction he | | | | important to the success of her business. She |
| wanted to go and a vague idea of how to get | | | | was spending adequate time with her family |
| there. | | | | and was having fun. |
| | | | |
| Jill thought a lot about her goals. At first | | | | Jack simply attended to every urgent matter |
| she daydreamed about her ideal life and her | | | | that happened to come to his attention. He |
| ideal business. She decided on the amount of | | | | was doing things he hated and for which he |
| money she would need to earn to provide her | | | | had no talent. He was working over 60 hours a |
| lifestyle. She saw herself running her | | | | week. His family complained and he felt they |
| business, doing only those things she was | | | | were unsupportive -- even disloyal. As a |
| talented at--the things she loved doing--and | | | | result Jack suffered stress from his job and |
| delegating other people to do the rest. To | | | | stress from his family. |
| make her dream practical, she took the advice | | | | |
| of author Napoleon Hill. She hired a coach to | | | | Delegating |
| be her mentor. Together they applied to her | | | | |
| dream a guide called SMART, which meant | | | | Jack felt like a slave to his business, but |
| Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic | | | | he kept doggedly at a it. Sometimes his |
| and Timed. This enabled her to keep track of | | | | revenue was low, other times it was high. |
| how she was progressing. | | | | Overall it provided a decent living. Jack was |
| | | | a superior technician and knew how to produce |
| Jack also dreamed about his goals. But never | | | | products that really pleased his customers. |
| became specific about them and had no way of | | | | With all his hard work his company began to |
| measuring how he was progressing. | | | | grow. When he had about 20 workers, he ran |
| | | | into serious trouble. He just couldn't keep |
| Niche marketing | | | | track of everything like he did when his |
| | | | company was smaller. He just couldn't bring |
| Jack tried to sell this product to anybody he | | | | himself to delegate responsibilities and just |
| thought could possibly have a need or | | | | look at bottom-line results. His business had |
| interest. Jill, on the other hand, at the | | | | outgrown his wingspan. Things got away from |
| advice of her coach, narrowed her prospects. | | | | him and some serious mistakes resulted. He |
| She chose to sell to high schools because she | | | | was facing financial ruin when, luckily, he |
| was familiar with how they used her products. | | | | found a buyer and sold his company. |
| She was uncomfortable at first because she | | | | |
| feared she was turning away other business. | | | | Meanwhile, Jill's company also kept growing. |
| She was delighted when it turned out that | | | | When she couldn't keep track of everything |
| other industries also bought from her. | | | | that was going on like she used to, she |
| | | | turned to her coach. He helped her select and |
| Jill not only sold more than Jack, she did it | | | | develop fine managers who attended to the |
| on a smaller marketing budget. | | | | details. They reported the bottom-line |
| | | | results to her. She paid very careful |
| Fortunately for both Jack and Jill the market | | | | attention to key variables. She knew her |
| for their products was booming. Orders | | | | expenses. She knew her income. She knew how |
| started coming in and each of them went to | | | | many and what kind of products were sold and |
| work filling them. And they soon needed help. | | | | by whom. She had systems in place for |
| | | | customer feedback so she knew how well her |
| Building a workforce | | | | customers were satisfied. Similarly, she knew |
| | | | how happy her good workers were. These |
| Jack ran ads and hired anybody he interviewed | | | | systems gave her much freedom. She was able |
| who he thought looked good. He did not want | | | | to take many mini vacations with her family. |
| to "waste his time" checking up on them or | | | | They went on a month long trip to Europe. |
| spending money for assessments. He figured if | | | | When she came back her business was running |
| they did not work out he would simply fire | | | | smoothly. Jill was the master of her |
| them and find somebody else. He soon found | | | | business. |
| this was an extraordinarily expensive way to | | | | |
| hire people. It cost him tons of money | | | | Jill's company is still growing. She works 30 |
| training a new person and then finding out | | | | to 40 hours a week and has plenty of free |
| that person did not work out. It also was | | | | time for herself, her family and her friends. |
| emotionally difficult for him to fire someone | | | | |
| so he kept them on too long. This system was | | | | Jack is working at his old job at the |
| causing him stress and eating into his | | | | corporation. Jack and Jill went up the hill |
| profits. | | | | and the rest is history. |
| | | | |
| Jill did not rely solely on her judgment when | | | | � 2007 Stan Mann. |
| interviewing prospective employees. She gave | | | | |