Be A Good Waitress To Your Business

Sometimes I do not want to do any work.  I do not feel like hustling around to make sure everything is going alright.  It is rare for me to feel like that but once in awhile, it happens.  I know myself well enough to identify when I feel like skipping work.  I know I might not be the best person to be around when I feel that way.  It can be very ugly to work next to me when I do not want to be there.

My wife will read this post and wonder when that kind of day really exists.  It is very rare for me to not be moving about in a chipper mood.  I usually have a very positive attitude, day after day after day.  I also like to do my business work.  It has become as involuntary as breathing to me.  I do work in my mind almost on a 24/7 basis.  I rarely walk by something and do not give it a business thought.  It is just as common as breathing.  I do not tell myself to breath or to stop breathing.  The same holds true for my business thoughts.  It truly is a 24/7 deal.  Therefore, when a day comes along and I do not want to do any business work, it is rare...but serious.

I have developed a habit of force that I use when one of those days comes along.  Even though they are rare, they happen.  The trouble with having them occur is that they do not always choose a good day to show up.  My experience has proven that when those rare days come along, they usually arrive when I have some very important tasks to complete that are centered around a deadline of responsibilities.  It is like striking gold when those days show up on a day when I have nothing important pending.  Those are the days that make 'skipping school' so much more fun.

The method I have forced into a habit when I do not want to go to my business work but must attend, is to treat my business like I am the waiter at the side of its table.  I try to be a good waiter to my business on those days.  I try to add a lot of speed to my tasks, a long list of things to accomplish and an attitude of trying to squeeze in some extra stuff to get done.  I am usually a high need achiever in the first place but picture one of those types working on steroids.  That is me on a day when I do not want to be at my business doing any work.

I become much like a fast-paced waitress.  I try to serve my business like a waitress on steroids.  I have forced myself to behave in this fashion.  It is a good thing I do not get into this mood very often.  I would scare most of my employees and staff.  If they witnessed this activity enough, they might be able to tell when I did not want to be at my business.  As it is I do not feel that way very often.

If you are the kind of person who finds you do not want to be at your place of business very often, teach yourself how to become the waitress who serves the needs of the business at every turn.  Do multiple tasks of little things that are squeezed together to accomplish a lot of little things.  I find it will help the urge to get out of there from becoming a reality.  Once you get into the groove of performing like a waitress to your business needs you will soon forget that you had the urge to get out of there.  It usually does not take me very long to get out of the urge to leave.  Once I begin serving the needs of my business like I am its waiter, I begin getting a lot of little things done.  Getting a lot of little things done in a string of activities tends to motivate me to get more of the little things done.  The mood to leave slowly disappears and I become more ready to do the important task I came to do in the first place.

It is a technique I find useful.  It helps me to over come those urges that sometimes appear that try hard to take me away from the important work I really need to do.  I may not begin the work day getting right to the important tasks at hand, but when I do get to them, I am ready to give them my best efforts.  I am placed in a better prepared service mood by the time I arrive to those important tasks.  I usually do better work in this mood than the one that I came to work carrying.  I like to give the mind a chance to shift gears.  I become like a waitress to my business to help me erase the urge to get out of there.


Some business owners have developed their own set of techniques to help them get that urge out of their mind.  There are times when that urge can be served best by leaving.  There are other times when that urge is not best served by leaving.  When it is not best to leave, I developed this method for getting my mind right before I try to tackle the important stuff.  It works for me.  Every business owner will face similar challenges with the leadership of their business model.  I have worked with leaders who just disappear when the urge arrives.  They also have paid a huge price for skipping out when the important work needed to be completed.  I have seen this effect a lot of times.  I have seen business models struggle because of it.

Sometimes business owners tend to believe they can behave just like everyone else.  Not true.  Business owners must rise above the crowd and do their hard work even if they do not want to do it.  They do not get to enjoy the liberties their staff and employees can find when they skip out when important work is standing at the door.  The business leader has a whole set of different standards they must perform.  It is not alright for the business owner to skip out when the work demand is high.  In fact, it is a terrible sign of leadership weakness to give in and allow that to happen.  The business owner who does not recognize this truth is also the business owner who does not practice true leadership.  The one who thinks it is his prerogative to skip out when he feels like it is the one who the staff and employees respect the least.  Good luck with that kind of leadership.  It fails a lot.

When the business numbers are running sub-par I can usually see how they run by watching the behavior of the leadership.  Usually a poor performing business model is being led by a poor performing business leader.  They usually go hand in hand.  The leaders do not agree with this assessment.  However, the evidence is usually strong enough to prove this to be true.  Many business owners do not give enough credit to the idea that their personal leadership contributes greatly to the high or low performance levels of their staff and employees.  It does.  The leadership role of the owner is a great contributor to failure or success.  It truly depends upon how the leader performs their leadership roles.  If the business model is not performing well, the business leader usually does not accept this truth as being a fact.  Unfortunately, in my business repair efforts, that is exactly where I find the source for the errors of performance the model is delivering.  It is usually sourced by some low levels of leadership performances.  The owner is too stubborn to perform their above the board leadership roles.  It shows in the numbers and in the performance of the staff and employees.

I was once employed by one of the most successful business models in its field of trade.  I tried very hard to get myself included to attend corporate office monthly meetings.  I was employed at a lower level of management when I was hired but requested and urged my retail store manager to all that he could do to get me into those meetings.  I wanted to see how the best performed what they do in the planning and evaluations they performed.  My store manager had me prepare a unique marketing program to present to the company at one of their corporate meetings.  It was a great experience.  I was able to spend a day in their large board room with 30 top executives.  It was like watching a movie.  I was young, full of vinegar and very excited.  I was able to sit along side of my store manager as he presented the marketing program I helped to prepare.  I was not allowed to speak, but I was present during the whole day of board room work.  It was a fascinating experience.

The group took a lunch break and dispersed themselves around a large corporate lunch room.  They wandered about and selected different pockets of people to sit with as they took the break to eat.  There were tables in the lunch room spread around allowing six people to be able to sit together at a time.  There were some groups as small as three on each table.  This was my opportunity.  I could see an open seat on the table where some of the top executives had placed their food trays.  I decided that is exactly where I needed to go sit.

I am not one of those shy kind of personalities.  I like placing myself right in the middle of the happening stuff.  I learn more there than anywhere else.  As I sat, I introduced myself...as well as asked permission to sit there.  It was a welcomed response from all of them.  Some eyebrows were raised in the room, however.  I noticed the interesting dynamics floating about.  I made a comment to the corporate leaders about how I likely generated some of the interesting energy in the room by sitting at the 'head' table.  It did not look like an official head table so I felt comfortable being there.  A couple of other store managers were at that table.

Sitting on that table from corporate office was the company general manager, a couple of other store managers, the general manager of all the company buyers, the general manager of finance and myself.  It was very intimidating.  This was a company producing $440 million per year in the mid 1970's.  That was a lot of money back then.  They had some industry clout.  These were some of the top leaders in the industry.  They were likely recognized as the gurus of their time.

I was sitting at their table and enjoying the conversations.  I did not speak a whole lot.  I did not want to reveal my stock of knowledge.  It was nowhere near what they had acquired in their careers.  I knew that.  That is exactly why I sat where I did.  I wanted to learn a whole lot more in a faster way.  I knew some great stuff would float around this table.  I was ready, willing and calm.  They were pleased to include me into the fold.  I was amazed at how polite they were.  They had a high level of respect.  I did not see any sign of arrogance.  Real success is like that.  It honors those who come to work everyday and do their high levels of leadership.  I was witnessing it at that table.

One moment presented itself.  I had an opportunity at a quiet spell to ask a question of them.  I asked them what the main difference between a great buyer and a good buyer might be.  Frank Moore, the GM of all buyers quickly answered my question.  He said, "2%."  That was it.  Two percent.  It was quiet for a long period of time.  I was waiting for him to continue on and explain what he meant.  Nobody else at the table seemed to want to add to his short answer.  In fact, as I looked around the table it appeared to me that nobody else seemed to know what he meant either.  So I asked him, "What does two percent mean?"

He said, the difference between a great buyer and a good buyer is 2%.  Both of them will work extra hard on their data and studies, get the right information lined up and make their diligent decisions.  After all of their hard work, the great buyer will be on target 2% more than the good buyer.  The difference will be 2%."

The table of leaders was interested in his answer, as was I.  It opened up a great series of buying discussions.  Frank Moore lead the teaching by describing how success is only a series of 2% winnings.  The great ones edge out the good ones by only 2%.  He described how that small difference of 2% makes such a big difference over the long haul that it eventually separates the great companies from the good ones.  Frank Moore described how patience was the key to permitting the hard efforts to mature enough to develop the spread of 2%.  He articulated how great company growth is associated with hard work, due diligence, dumb luck, persistence of plan, overcoming obstacles and patience.  Eventually the 2% edge grows large enough to become the dominate force between those who do good versus those who do great.

It was a seminar in leadership performance.  My question was a hit.  It also become some of the opening statements for Frank Moore as he began the afternoon session of the corporate meeting.  He thanked me in the session for helping him get his thoughts better directed.  You and I know that was not really the case.  He was an artists painting his leadership role with fine strokes of the brush.  That is how his business model was performing very well.  He was a great leader doing his work, all of the time.  He was a great waitress serving his business model very well.  I am sure he did not want to be there with me.  It was not part of his original thought or preparations.  He has learned how to serve his model well.

Be a good waitress to your business model.  Learn how to become one of the 2% winners.

By the way, Frank Moore later stopped me after the meetings were completed to tell me the difference between the good buyer and the great buyer is only 49% right versus 51% right.  Hence, the 2%.  He walked away and wished me good luck.

Be happy when you are correct in your marketing at 51%.

Until next time...