Special report entreleadership

DAVE RAMSEYENTRELEADERSHIP

20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches

Qualities of a Leader

Integrity Passionate

Servant Loyal

Humble Listener

Visionary Influential

Decisive Driven

Disciplined Charismatic

Qualities of an Entrepreneur

Risk Taker Out of the Box

Visionary Determined

Passionate Courageous

Driven Motivated

Work Ethic Learner

Creative Maverick

Qualities of Entre Leader

Passionately servingMavericks who have integrityDisciplined risk takersCourageous while humbleMotivated visionariesDriven while loyalInfluential learners

Lots of OptionsA powerful element of good decision making is to have lots and lots

of options. Options are power and therefore options remove fear.

If you have only one vendor that can supply you a key component

to your business, you will and should have fear. Eventually, you

will be held up on price, quality or delivery. They own you because

you have no options. The more options you have and explore the

better the quality if the decision you will make. When you are

trapped, you feel trapped, because you are.

Worst Case ScenarioAnother part of looking at your options is to consider the

absolute worst – case scenario. It gives you so much power

if you accept the absolute worst case scenario. It may be

the loss of money, or even the closing down of the part of the

business, or embarrassment in the market. But you seldom

will die from your worst case scenario.

Teach Your TeamThe first mistake of a small business that has hired a few

people is the team, and the owner, both make the mistake of

giving the owner the title of “chief fireman.” The owner’s job

is to put out all fires by himself – to make all the decisions.

This exhausts the owner and creates a work – flow

bottleneck.

Pour Your Customer Through a Funnel

A great way to build a loyal and continuously growing customer

base is to build a line of products and services using the funnel

approach. This is simply having some inexpensive or free and

quick ways to interact with your company. The quicker and

cheaper the product or service, the more people you will draw.

The more money and time you ask of your customers, the fewer

will follow you down the funnel. But remember, the greater the

number that enter at the top, the more will come out the bottom.

Time to Jump

When is it time to quit your day job so you can devote all

your energies to your new small business? Most people get

so excited that they tend to want to quit too soon. Wait until

the boat pulls up to the dock before you jump in. If you quit

your day job before you get your small business net income

up high enough, you will miss the boat and become all wet.

Be Generous

Being generous is the hallmark of people who live successful

lives and who operate business with soul. If your exclusive

reason for operating your business is personal gain, you will

find yourself empty because you are shallow. Some of the

greatest joys of becoming successful are associated with

acts of generosity to your team, customers, and your

community.

Communication is the Map to the Party

Your business is a party. You have invited your team to the

party. If you give really good directions everyone will have a

great time at the party. Communication in a business is the

map to the party. If you have a great map, expect to have a

great party.

Share the Dream – Tell the Story

Your team can’t manage their time toward building your

dream if you don’t tell them what the dream is.

Communication moves the ball, for the whole team, from

dreams all the way into time management, which means

productivity. Leadership has to repeatedly share the dreams,

visions, mission statements, and goals with their team.

As a leader, you must learn to tell the story of your company

and its history. As you tell the story of struggle and victories

to your team over and over, you are accomplishing many

things, such as teaching the team how you reacted rightly or

wrongly in a given situation in the old days. You also let

them know they are part of something that is bigger than

them. If your team members know they are participating in

a big deal it gives them energy and creativity.

Contracts

Contracts are not a guarantee of people performing or doing

what they say. Contracts do not have mystical powers that

make people who have no integrity keep their word. Contracts

do not have mystical powers to make people competent who

aren’t. People who are crooks will crook you even if you have a

contract. In business, lower your expectations of the power a

contract actually has.

Conclusions:

The sense of entrepreneurship is the thrill of

stepping out to create where no man has

gone before. The exciting unknown is the

essence of business and in that sense, all

business is small business.

An Entre Leader makes sure he loves his

product and loves his customer and wants to

see them married. Doing so removes the

frenetic attention to the transaction just for the

sake of money, and the EntreLeader sees

business as more relational than transactional.

Business is not really that hard. You are, however,

required to do the basics or you will not win.

Budget and do the accounting, stay out of debt,

don’t buy what is not needed to make a profit, save

cash, and always be generous. When you do

these basics with a steady hand and increasing

sophistication you will find yourself running a

stable and satisfying operation.

Chaos that is unhealthy and breeds failure happens

in companies that don’t make communication a big

deal. Your team, by definition, can’t be called a

team unless they have a shared dream, vision,

mission and goals. The only way these things

become shared is with intentional, quality, constant

communication. Seth Godin says, “ A crown is a

tribe without a leader, without communication.”

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Few companies have unity and loyalty that when

your company does, it automatically stands out in

the marketplace. Great talent stands in line to join

your team. Great customer service is a natural

occurrence in a company that has these values.

This type of culture is tremendously satisfying to

lead. You will not have all perfect days, but you will

enjoy a richness of soul in your business that few

ever experienced.

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Doing business is not complicated, but you have to pay attention to the details.

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The EntreLeader understands that running a business

successfully is very hands on and mechanical.

Sometimes, the handling of areas of the business like

contracts, vendors, and collections can make or break

your success. Be intentional about the statement you

are making to your team, your competitors, your

customers, and the community through your actions in

these areas. Entreleaders are always considering the

unintended consequences of how day to day activities

are handled.