Getting it All Together

I've been struggling with some issues these past few months. Divorce, living alone again, PTSD issues resurfacing, struggle to get off of Opioids. Business changes. Losing medical insurance and having to go to the VA, Etc, Etc.

I have to admit I've learned a few new things about myself these last few months.

There is a story about every person, including me. All of those stories and experiences have made me who I am today. Some are horrific, some I will never forget, some I really want to forget but can't, Some I never want to forget. Several of these events replay in my head, over and over again, I keep looking for a possible solution to what happened. Trying to examine what I did wrong or could have done differently to make the result turn out better, hoping I can fix it somehow. Even though I know it is impossible, I keep trying to figure out a way to change history, to fix it, just make everything be okay.

I'm just starting to accept my history, I can't bring people back from the dead. I can't remove pain that is already done and gone. I can't ignore the pictures in my head, but I can choose to not look that way or pull them out to re-examine them.

It is my history, I have to learn to just accept it, they are my stories, my life experiences, it is who I am. All of these experiences molded me into what I am today. I realize there is some damage and issues that really cannot be fixed, I can't go back in time and undo everything or erase things. It is totally impossible to make them better.

These experiences molded me to become what I am. There is a reason for everything. It is how I was made, it is why I am here. Because if it wasn't for my history, I wouldn't be who I am today. So my new goal, my new mission is to create new history that makes a positive difference, that promotes my thinking, lets me refocus. Making things happen that will help me and others, maybe change lives for the better.

I'm starting to figure out how to be okay and become happy about who I am today. It is a slow crawl up a steep hill, but it is well worth the trip.

My history is something that only God understands and put there, He makes everything happen for a reason, to make that special me.

The one and only Frank Besednjak.

Setting up Your Kids for Failure

Hey parents! Spending a bunch of money on a college degree may be the worst investment ever. In the past 10-15 years, parents and high school students have been led to believe that a college degree is a must have to become successful. About 40% never finish college then believe they are a failure and go on to work in an unskilled job that will never lead to a rewarding career. In fact a larger and larger percentage of college graduates begin their careers in a job that requires nothing but a high school diploma, and they stay in it for years because they lack any skills that are needed in the workplace. They wasted time and money in getting a degree in something they found interesting, rather than useful. Seems no one is taking a look at the market and trying to find a skill, talent or career in something that people want to pay for.
I remember discussing this in one of my workshops and I mentioned a degree in Anthropology for example, as something that would limit your marketability. I had someone in the group tell me they had a degree in Anthropology. I asked her how long ago she graduated and what she was doing now and how much she was being paid. She said she graduated five years ago, currently in her fourth job since graduating. Since college has worked in various jobs in hotels and restaurants. Most recently she is working in a clerical position supporting a sales team. Current pay is $12.75 an hour. Still paying off student loans.

Recent studies have shown that a beginner plumbers apprentice, with no experience, makes more than the average four year college graduate. As the years go by, statistically, we are finding that over a lifetime, a person would be much better off financially in their career choices to get a job in the skills trades, simply because the demand is so high, causing the average pay to continue to climb.

Most of my customers are contractors and are struggling to find employees. When I ask what the qualifications are, I hear things like, "Someone who is willing to learn, drug free, will show up everyday, follows instructions well, good communication skills, knows how to use hand tools and is friendly and can work well with others."
Unfortunately, parents today don't raise their children with the understanding of how important these simple basic skills are to becoming happy and successful. I would bet if you asked the average 18 year old to go find a crescent wrench or Phillips screwdriver in a tool box, they wouldn't know what to look for. But I would bet money that they would be able to tell you everything about the life of Kim Kardashian or what the latest trends in shoe wear is.
We need to get our kids ready for life folks. It's going to be a very difficult future if we don't stop and realize that the future of our country is at risk here. Stop kissing your kids butts and telling them it's okay to waste all of that money and time on something they find interesting now. Encourage them to look at the job market and plan for the future. Otherwise their short term goals of being entertained in college will result in a long term feeling of being a dismal failure. Unless of course you are happy having them hanging out in your home and being taken care of by you the rest of eternity.

Six Important Things to Consider Every New Year in Your Business

1. How to Increase Sales
What changes can can be made in the coming year that will help increase sales to your customers in the next twelve months? Will it be a new pricing structure? Sales training for employees? Or maybe a new advertising campaign that actually works. Keep in mind about 70% of your clients are repeat customers. What can you do to get them to spend a bit more or use your product or service more often?

2. Dump Non-Profitable Services and/or Products
How may things are you involved with that generates virtually no profit? Focus on products and services that provide a high return on your investment. If it hasn't paid off yet, it never will.

3. Look for New Profitable Services and Products
Is there anything that you should be offering that you are not? Maybe you should take a second look at what you were considering when you went to the last trade show or conference. Perhaps adding a service to your menu may bring in more clients that you couldn't get otherwise.

4. Evaluate Your Relationships at Work
Every team member needs to hear from a manager as to how they are doing and what is expected from them this year. This is also a good time to look over your business relationships like, partners, vendors and suppliers. Are you really benefiting from this relationship or not?

5. Evaluate Your Systems and Processes
No better time than right now to figure out what you are doing well and not so well, and how you can improve it. Get your team involved in this. (Click here for a link to a video I made on that subject.) You may also be missing some incredible efficiency improvement methods by not considering a technology change. There are so many systems available out there that make running businesses easier, that you would be an idiot to not check them out.

6. Find New Ways to "WOW" Your Customers
Customers make buying decisions primarily based on emotions. Busilding relationships, creating awesome experiences and doing things none of your competitors will do is what makes you the best at your game. Constantly be on the lookout on what can be done to enhance what you offer your clients. Try calling and asking them, it does make a difference.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Many managers struggle with employee performance, motivation and attitude. As a business coach, I find the majority of time, it is not the employee creating the problem, it is a poor process or lack of a process altogether. The following is an article discussing "Fundamental Attribution Error" I believe you will enjoy it!

In social psychology, the fundamental attribution error, also known as the correspondence bias or attribution effect, is the tendency for people to place an undue emphasis on internal characteristics (personality) to explain someone else's behavior in a given situation rather than considering the situation's external factors. It does not explain interpretations of one's own behavior, where situational factors are more easily recognized and can thus be taken into consideration. Conversely, from the other perspective, this error is known as the actor-observer bias, in which people tend to overemphasize the role of a situation in their behaviors and underemphasize the role of their own personalities. The phrase was coined by Lee Ross some years after a classic experiment by Edward E. Jones and Victor Harris (1967). What does "Fundamental Attribution Error" mean in business? Managers and supervisors have a tendency to look at a team member and place blame on their inability to perform on the persons internal characteristics or personality. In other words, we believe a team member cannot do the job because of who they are or how they think. I've had hundreds of employees in my past, and as you probably agree, people are different. We think differently, act differently and respond to stimulus differently. This being the case, leaders should also recognize that different personalities respond differently dependent upon the type of environment, the tools they have, information that is presented to them and how it is presented. So how does this relate to the job? Beware of blaming people for things they really have no control over or are simply doing what they think is right in the environment they are and with the tools they have. For example: Let's say you have an employee who may have a problem completing a series of tasks in a specified order at a specified time. Instead, this person occasionally forgets steps, takes too long or just fails to document what they did. To the manager, this may seem as a simple act of insubordination or lack of concern on the part of the employee. The manager just committed "fundamental attribution error". Instead of looking for a process or method to resolve the challenge, blame was immediately placed on the employee and his or her personality traits or work ethic. The problem could have been corrected with a simple check list or log that allowed the employee to confirm and verify that all taske were completed and when they were completed. What I recommend is to have a system or process that encourages, measures and confirms specific tasks that limit the possibility of error rather than hoping someone follows verbal instructions and remembers everything they were told to do. I speak about this quite a bit in my workshops. Reduce or eliminate problems by focusing on the process rather than the person. Improve the process so that it is dummy proof and you eliminate the error. Don't expect everyone to know exactly what to do everyday, for every situation. Allow them the opportunity to have the information and resources to do the job as intended, at the time when it is most needed. Don't commit fundamental attribution error. I had a boss who told me many years ago; "If you eliminate all possible excuses from an employee, they have no reason to not perform well".

Acquiring and Motivating New Employees

One comment I hear a lot is “I can’t find anyone who wants to work!” or “I can’t get my employees motivated!” I’ve always said, “Manage processes, not people”. If you have the right processes in place, with the right people, include the right motivating factors, they won’t need someone to tell them what they need to do, they will already know and they will want to do it, the right way. One of the best articles I ever read about getting better employees was “Business Buzz” by Tom Grandy in last month’s issue, titled, “The Tech Shortage is Really a Pricing Problem!”. I encourage you to find it and read it. Mr. Grandy points out that increasing employee pay and benefits, plus, transitioning over to a flat rate pricing system, is a very simple way to encourage potential employees to come work for you. Want the best employees showing up at your door? Be the best place to work by offering the best pay and benefits anywhere! Since Mr. Grandy did such an awesome job pointing out how to get people showing up wanting to work for you, I will focus on motivational factors of new employees. Over 44% of the workforce in HVAC will retire in the next ten years*. That will leave a huge hole in an industry whose employment needs are projected to grow 21% through 2022*, faster than any other occupation! So now we have an aging workforce leaving with a new generation of workers coming in with a set of different motivating factors and different goals. We need to be ready to handle this. Below is a report put out by “The Intelligence Group” a business investigations and intelligence firm. Here are the results of a study about millennials in 2015; • Will make up more than 40% of the workforce by 2020 • 64% of them say it’s a priority for them to make the world a better place. • 72% would like to be their own boss. But if they do have to work for a boss, 79% of them would want that boss to serve more as a coach or mentor. • 88% prefer a collaborative work-culture rather than a competitive one. • 74% want flexible work schedules. • 88% want “work-life integration,” which isn’t the same as work-life balance, since work and life now blend together inextricably. • 80% said they use social media and the internet as a primary source of news and information. • 64% would rather make $40,000 per year at a job they love than $100,000 a year at a job they think is boring. How do these statistics apply to an HVAC business? Since I am limited in space for this article, I cannot get into great detail or specifics, but I will say that all of these factors have to be taken into consideration when hiring and managing employees. For example, since 88% prefer a collaborative work culture rather than a competitive one, set up goals and contests that reward the team along with individual compensation. As far as offering flexible work schedules, I already know of several contractors who have set up four-day work weeks, allowing a longer period of time off. Some employees may not mind working four, ten or twelve hour days if they could get a long weekend. Since they consider work and personal life blended, a company should consider having the employees spouse or family involved in company activities if possible. Insight into a person’s workday may help the spouse have a better understanding into what is really going on every day. I would also highly recommend that your set of work rules and employee handbook be rewritten by the employees every 2-3 years simply to get input from the team. If they made the rules, they are more likely to agree and go along with them. Being that social media and the internet is such a big part of their life, make the use of technology as part of their jobs. Everything an employee should need to perform their job should be made available when they need it. Those who have the most information always do best. I encourage you to look at some of the technologies available that make it easier for employees to do their jobs by having the information they need to do it available through a link online. If you don’t know where to find these systems, go to my website at frankpresents.com. I have a list of various resources that will help. We have to begin looking at people differently. Getting people to do something just for the pay isn’t enough. The employees of today and the future want more, they want to have some control over their routines, they want some say into the future of the company they work for, they want to have more time with their family and they want to feel like it isn’t just work. They want to have access to information when they need it. They want to believe what they do makes a difference. They want to be proud of what they do and enjoy doing it. Changing everything to meet the needs of the future workforce doesn’t happen in a day. A few steps at a time will eventually get you there. Focusing on the needs of your team has to be a priority, because if it isn’t, you wind up with people who just show up to get paid, instead of driven, hard-working team members who want to win. Start making the change by asking and talking about what they want to see or do differently. You’ll be surprised how much you’ll learn.

Free College?!? What the f--k?

I hear these politicians coming up with ideas and plans that everyone should get free college, tuition paid by taxpayers. We already have enough people going to college and graduating to come out with a degree in Music History, Art History, Anthropology, Philosophy or Creative Writing. None leading to a career in anything. Yes, let's have more of that!

Five words you should stop using in your advertising

Five words you should stop using in your advertising * Quality * Value * Service * Caring * Integrity I personally believe people have become numb to the claims of great service and high quality. Whenever I'm coaching a business I will regularly ask various employees in that business why a customer should select them over anyone else. I always hear the same things; we do quality work, great service, we care about the customer, honesty and integrity or great value. I'm sure you've seen these types of slogans in ads. "Quality Service", "Great Value", "Caring People", "Integrity Matters to us", Best Service Around" or this awesome statement; Value, Integrity, Quality and our Caring Staff is What Makes Our Service Great". So read these again and tell me if these words will make you want to do business with that company, versus the other fifty companies in your town who say the same thing. These five words, and other ones like "Honest" or "Best" really are useless too. If you live in most any large city, you've probably seen signs that say "Best Corned Beef Sandwich" or "World's Best Coffee" . . . Is it? . . . Really? How could it be possible to have so many places rated the best? I put on business workshops across the country and sometimes I'll ask the group; "Who provides honest, high quality service, has caring employees and provide a great value?" Everyone in the room raises their hand. Is there anyone out there who will admit their service and quality sucks? Imagine seeing an ad that says "We might suck at what we do, but, at least we are cheap!" In fact when someone asks me why they should invest in one of my workshops, I tell them "Because I'm going to change your life, you will change the way you do business forever, and if you don't believe you have gained valuable information and received a payback on your investment during the first hour of being there, I will refund your money, and you will be free to leave". I have yet to have anyone leave. Want to get a customer's attention? Tell the why you are different than everyone else. Let them know why you stand out from the rest. Tell them things like "Best warranty in the state", "Guaranteed on time arrival or it's free" or list a bunch of comments from real customers. Tell them your job is to make them happy! So happy that they will never go anywhere else and they will also tell all of their friends how awesome you are! Talk about why you are different and stop wasting time and money telling folks you are going to do what you are supposed to be doing anyway. What's special about doing the job you were paid to do? I know, I can hear you now. . . "But Frank, there are a lot of my competitors who do a bad job, are not honest, have bad quality and don't care" Of course, but I would bet money they say the same things in their ads that you do. So who will the customer believe is telling the truth? I recently had dinner at the Chop House in Lexington, KY. When I sat down I asked the waitress what she recommends. She said everything is really good and if I wasn't happy, they would do whatever it takes to make sure that had a great experience and would come back. I ordered a 9 ounce filet mignon and requested it be medium rare. Also had a salad, baked potato and a few cocktails. When the filet arrived, I immediately sliced it in two to check doneness and it was cooked completely through, well done. Just as I looked up, the waitress was there and asked how it was, I showed her and said "this is not medium rare". She asked if she could try it again, took the plate and later returned with a perfectly prepared filet mignon. When I went to pay the bill, she said, "don't worry, everything is on us". I was surprised, I said "really? Everything? She said "Yes, you're all set. I told you that we would make sure you were happy no matter what, didn't I? So are you happy?" Of course, I was thrilled and will definitely be back, I left her an incredible tip and left very happy and satisfied! Imagine telling your customer that if everything doesn't go well, it's free, and that all you care about is that they have a great experience and no matter what, you'll make it right. No matter what it takes. That is what you need to be telling your customers! One more thing, stop selling on price. Statements like: "We'll Beat any Competitors Quote. Low Price Guarantee. Quality Service at the Best Price" do nothing but attract price shoppers who are looking for someone to work cheap. Focus on customers who don't mind spending money for a great experience with a great business. Stop trolling the bottom of the barrel. You're much better than that.