Business

How to Prepare for Fast Growth with a Vivid Vision®

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Young, ambitious entrepreneurs want a lot of different things, from more press to a better corporate culture, to amazing employees. Underneath it all, though, they all want one thing most of all: to make more money.

Who doesn’t? It’s a universal desire and one that can be achieved! But, to get there, they have to prepare for fast growth. The most important thing, though, is that they’ll never get there without a detailed vision of their future.

That’s where a Vivid Vision® comes in.

First, Know What a Vivid Vision® Is

A Vivid Vision® is a detailed, three to four-page document that lays out a clear, logical vision of what your company will look like in three years.

“A Vivid Vision® is essentially the plan for the future of your company. It’s one that has to be big and ambitious and filled with piles and piles of hope for your company.” – Cameron Herold

When it’s completed, it’s meant to be woven into your company’s culture, guiding your employees’ decision-making and giving all involved clear goals to strive for.

Second, Begin Writing It

Usually, creating a Vivid Vision® is a very involved process that can take as long as six months to get right. Often, young entrepreneurs benefit from help from a mentor or someone else from the business to help them through. Even without one, though, you can still write a great Vivid Vision® on your own. Regardless of how much experience you have writing Vivid Visions®, having one, no matter how rough it is, prepares you far more for fast growth than not having one at all!

Here are some tips to get you started:

  • It’s important not to get caught up in the ‘how’ of things. Instead, dream big and worry about the ‘how’ later
  • You’ll need to be free of the day-to-day worries of running your business. You need the freedom to visualize your future
  • Get out of your office and go somewhere inspiring where you can let your mind wander, such as a hammock in your backyard, or the beach, or the woods, etc
  • Turn off your computer. No matter how much willpower you have, the temptation of email or web surfing will be a distraction
  • Get out of your comfort zone, think outside the box—choose whatever cliché works for you. Just be creative, even outlandish. You’ll be amazed at what you can come up with. It’s a sure-fire way to create a fun, dynamic vision you and your employees will love to strive for.

Third, Make it Stand Out

A good Vivid Vision® not only prepares you for fast growth, but it also causes that growth as well! The more your Vivid Vision® stands out, the more growth it will bring you.

Often, the Vivid Visions® that stand out most share a few common traits. They forgo all the mind-numbing doublespeak and restrictive, creativity-killing metrics and get right to the heart of the exercise.

What’s the heart, you may ask. That’s simple: What is really possible for my company?

The possibilities for growth are endless when you know the value of a Vivid Vision®, and the preparation it gives you when that fast growth comes is invaluable. Do you want a successful fast-growing company? Then write a Vivid Vision®!

How do you prepare for fast growth? Let us know in the comments below!

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in September 2016 and has been edited for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Another 7 Ways to Increase the Value of Your Company

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What’s your business’ value?

Do you want to know how to drastically increase the amount a buyer will pay you?

Here are 7 things your company can work on so that you can do exactly that!

Create a Predictable Cash Flow

Think of revenue and cash flow as the starting point for any buyer. A steady stream of predictable, recurring revenue is ideal. Buyers will pay more for companies with a projected cash flow.

According to Colorado Biz, these are three ways you can effectively improve cash flow predictability:

  • Automating cash flow by automating accounts receivable software
  • Improve forecasting of income and expenses
  • Implementing flexible installment plans for your customers

Make it Scalable

Setup systems that easily help scale without needing more people will definitely increase the value of your company. For a valuable, successful business, efficiency is key.

The easier you can add new customers (like with setup systems that help scale), the more attractive your company will look to a buyer.

Improve Your Company’s Goodwill

Name recognition, customer awareness, and good PR go a long way when attracting a high-paying buyer to your company. Launch a good PR campaign a year out from when the sales process begins to boost goodwill within the marketplace. You won’t regret it!

High Net Promoter Score customer ratings also help drive increased purchase prices of businesses, so make sure you are taking the time to get reviews and ratings from clients/customers.

Learn Its Value

Knowledge has power! Get several independent valuations by reputable firms so that you have a rough idea of what your company might sell for. This is the knowledge that you need to have if you want to sell your company for a lot of money.

Consider additional parts of the company that evaluators may not see and what actions you might be able to take ahead of time to increase the company’s value in 12 months. Small acquisitions and drastic overhead cuts are a great place to start.

Make Things Transparent

Buyers don’t like surprises, so make sure that you operate above board and be prepared to show the value that they might not see right away and explain information that they might question.

“Except for the very occasional surprise party, nobody likes feeling blindsided. In the corporate world, surprises can have especially unfortunate consequences. Sharing information within the organization makes for more stable operations.” – Forbes

Show Your Growth Potential

Documented growth shows that the company’s future is solid, if not predictable. Show your buyers that your company has a ton of upside! Consider acquisition opportunities, additional product lines, untapped markets, sales funnel projections, PR that’s about to come, etc. Basically, anything you can share about your company’s growth potential will add value.

Find a Trustworthy and Fantastic M&A Firm

M&A Firms are a dime a dozen. However, finding one that can create a multiple-bid buyer market for you is what drives up your company’s selling price.

Take the time to research good M&A firms and invest in the best! It’s worth it if you want to sell your company for its highest value.

Your company can be sold for more than you think, but only if you put the work into it!

Have you had any experiences with buying or selling a company? How was it? Let us know in the comments below!

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in February 2016 and has been edited for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

The Secret to Successful One-on-One Interviews

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“What’s your biggest fault?”

“Tell me about a time you disagreed with a supervisor.”

These are just a couple of traditional interview questions asked all the time by highly trained HR insiders. The problem is, traditional, wishy-washy interviews suck.

Sticking to the typical, pre-approved interview script means that the interviewee only says what they think you want to hear. Because of that, you end up missing out on asking a lot of questions you wanted, and needed, to ask.

So how do you have successful one-on-one interviews?

Interviews Should be Serious, Personal, and Intense

Does this mean you should hang a bare light bulb and polish up your waterboarding skills? Certainly not, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be intense. Staffing your company is too important not to push for the best.

Avoiding an intense interview and therefore avoiding questions that could create potentially awkward situations can come back to haunt you. Besides, once the person is hired, things are going to get a lot more intense than the interview, so you’d be better off seeing how they deal with it in the one-on-one interview before offering them a contract.

“Ask unexpected questions. Get your applicants to tell you about the time they disagreed with a customer and how they handled it. Ask them their top three workplace accomplishments. They’re all great, tried and true interview questions. You’ll be surprised by how much more you can learn with these!” – Cameron Herold

Find a Balance

The secret to a successful one-on-one interview is balancing a professional, respectful approach and also getting what you want.

One of the most important things to know before going into an interview is that almost everyone lies, or at least exaggerates. The key is to listen to your gut and dig deeper when it tells you that something is fishy. It’s easy for someone to claim they’re good at a skill, but when you ask them something that requires them to prove it, that’s when you catch them in a lie.

Does your interviewee claim to be great at time management? Then ask them what their time management strategies are and how they put them to use in the workplace. Make sure they give concrete examples. Vague answers are an answer themselves — the answer being that they’re lying.

Yes, the interview might get awkward, but that’s the cost of finding the perfect candidates. If you simply stick to a traditional interview script, it’s easy for people who only exaggerate their skills to sneak their way into the job.

Use Pregnant Pauses

Another good technique for one-on-one interviews is to use pregnant pauses to your advantage. Sometimes it can be useful to count to ten in your head after an interviewee finishes an answer to see if they volunteer more information into that pause.

Sure, it definitely creates some extremely awkward silences, but the information you can garner not just from the additional information they’ll volunteer, but also from how the individual responds to the pause is so valuable to you in the interview process.

Don’t shy away from the intense and the awkward. It’s a job interview. Sometimes you have to get intense to find the best people you can for the job. It’s worth it.

Do you have any other interview strategies that you use? Let us know in the comments below!

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2016 and has been edited for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Your Company Needs a Better Office and Here’s Why

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If you are trying to create a fun and fostering environment in your office, the kind that will inspire your employees to creative brilliance, you have to think a little outside of the box.

Okay, maybe a lot outside the box.

Dreary Offices Stifle Creativity

A good leader needs to go out of their way to create bright, colorful offices for themselves and their employees. Do everything you can to avoid stuffy offices and dreary boardrooms in your workspace. If you’re not excited about working in that environment, then why should your employees be?

Nothing stifles creativity more than a drab, boring old-school office. Those cliché motivational posters on your wall are doing quite the opposite. More likely than not, those are only motivating your employees to rip them to pieces.

“Driving for success is much deeper and more individual than these “slogans for the masses”. Motivational phrases and beautiful photography does not get people closer to that goal. In fact, displaying these kinds of posters is really a mistake for the small business owners and can become a point of ridicule.” – Forbes

Dreary Doesn’t Attract Top Talent

You better have a crazy compensation package on your dreary, white table if you think you are going to attract any top talent to your little, beige office. These top talents read enough blogs and watch enough TV to know what kinds of environments the best, cutting edge, start-up companies are offering.

“Google is arguably the best company to work for in the world. Their offices are renowned for their funky design and cutting-edge amenities. The level of autonomy and focus on innovation is legendary. And, yes, their above-average compensation and stock options don’t hurt their chances of finding top-tier talent either.” – Cameron Herold

Think about ReThink

ReThink is one of the top advertising agencies in North America. To keep their place at the top, stakeholders have gone a little crazy when it comes to their office space, to say the least. Unless using a ping-pong table for a boardroom table or installing artificial turf for carpeting sounds normal to you?

ReThink is using a brilliant strategy. They’ve created a physical embodiment of a corporate culture that insists on doing things differently.

It’s also quite brilliant because it didn’t cost them thousands as you’d expect. You don’t need fireman’s poles or foosball tables to compete with these people, either. Bright paint, funky furniture, and an open concept can go a long way in establishing a unique working environment.

Name Your Office

One of the easiest ways to show how quirky you are is to let go of tired naming conventions for your offices and boardrooms. Some offices have named their meeting rooms after planets, the farthest and smallest aptly being named Pluto (not officially a planet, but you get the idea).

Have your employees brainstorm ideas for names or make it a contest to see who can come up with the best options. Who doesn’t like a fun, little contest?

“Of course, an office is more than simply the place where people work. It is now seen as a visible manifestation of a company’s brand and culture, and in being so says something significant about the employees there.” – Annual Leave

Socialization, Food, and Naps!

Some people balk at the idea of making your offices and workspace more fun and easier to socialize in, but leaders that know its benefits are huge proponents of it. One of the easiest and most authentic ways to build a world-class culture is to bring in a barbeque and use it often. The break from the grind is welcome, the conversation flows naturally, and who doesn’t love a free lunch?

It’s also a great idea to stock your lunchroom with fresh fruit and healthy snacks, as well as build “nap rooms” into your offices if you can. If you expect your employees to work long hours to help you build your business, then you have to provide amenities that make it easier and healthier.

You aren’t an old-school company, so don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need an old-school office.

Do you do anything interesting with your workspace? Let us know in the comments below!

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in October 2016 and has been edited for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Why You Shouldn’t Hire for Attitude and Train for Skill

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The old adage of “hire for attitude, train for skill” doesn’t work anymore, if it even ever did. A good attitude can’t overcome a lack of skills no matter how upbeat and charismatic they are. When you’re growing at 100% revenue growth a year, you need people that will get the job done right away.

Faking It

A good attitude can be faked, skills cannot. This is not to say that you shouldn’t hire based on attitude, it means that you need them to provide the skills on top of that to ensure they’re not all bark and no bite.

To test if they’re faking it, ask a variety of questions beyond the basic ones that everyone knows to prepare for. Ask questions that switch it up and make them think on their feet, such as the Best Interview Question. You have to make sure the good attitude is honest if you’re going to let it partially influence your hiring decision.

It’s not impossible to find people that have both a good attitude and the skills for the job, so why listen to the hire for attitude adage?

You Might Miss Out on the Best Employee

People often associate different attitudes and personalities with different jobs. So, if you’re looking for a specific attitude for a specific job, you’re going to miss people that may not traditionally fit that description, but have all the skills and motivation to succeed in the job.

“People with different attitudes and personalities are often successful in the same job. That’s one reason hiring for attitude often falls short in identifying top performers; it causes you to overlook highly capable people who might not fit a specific hiring profile.” – Employment Technologies

So, what should you do? A good attitude doesn’t make up for a lack of skills, but having the skills and also having a bad attitude is just as bad. You need to find a balance of both attitude and skill, but how?

Topgrading

Brad and Geoff Smart wrote a fantastic book called Topgrading. It’s one of the best systems for interviewing candidates and determining why you should bring someone into your organization. So, what’s Topgrading?

Topgrading recommends ‘leaning out’ two years into the future with every prospective candidate and determining what they have to achieve for you to be happy that you hired them at the end of those two years.

Once you’ve started this ‘scorecard’ for the role, then construct your job description around the milestones your candidate needs to have achieved after two years. That provides you with a tight and specific job description. Once you’ve got that, then you can interview against it to make sure that candidates have what it takes to achieve these things in a timely manner.

Assessing both the attitude and the skill of your candidates is the only way to truly find the best people to hire. It’s not as difficult to hire for both as the adage makes it seem.

How do you assess skills and attitude? Do you value one over the other? Let us know in the comments below!

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2016 and has been edited for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

How Far Should Leaders Think Ahead?

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It’s no question that thinking ahead is important for everyone, but especially for leaders and businesses. The question is, how far should you think ahead? Is there such a thing as thinking too far ahead?

We’ve all been in job interviews and fielded the inevitable question, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” It’s a tough one to answer without appearing too ambitious or too complacent.

But that’s not all. This question is flawed for a whole other reason. In a world as fast-paced as ours, how on earth can you accurately describe where you’ll be in five years?

The World is Changing Faster Than Ever Before

If someone had told you five years ago that you’d be unlocking your phone with face recognition, choosing between a billion streaming platforms to watch a movie on, and spending hours scrolling through Instagram, would you have believed them?

At the rate of change we’re seeing now, you could very well be married to a robot and living on Mars in five years.

That’s why there is such a thing as thinking too far ahead. Instead of looking five years into the future, try three. That’s the perfect length of time for any leader to think ahead, especially when creating their Vivid Vision®.

The Three Year Vivid Vision®

When creating a Vivid Vision® for your company, three years is far enough into the future to allow for some optimistic dreaming, but short-term enough to avoid having technological advancements make your plans seem dated and useless.

Trying to visualize where your company will be further out can get overwhelming. There are too many factors to consider, too much to cover, and too many contingencies to build in. Do all the work to plan what your company will look like in 10 years, then watch as it all crumbles to the ground when some MIT grad comes along and invents some revolutionary technology that completely changes the game. Think ahead, but not too far ahead.

Three Years is Plenty of Time to Make it Come True

Three years means you won’t have to continually undergo the process of reworking your Vivid Vision®. It’s a good idea to begin working on your Vivid Vision® about six months before the existing one is complete. That’ll give you plenty of time to make the old one come true before the new one comes into play.

Hopefully, you’ve hired ambitious people, too. A shorter-term Vivid Vision® allows them to advance and move up in rank without disrupting your plan. If you try to forecast further out and share a vision of the company that doesn’t accommodate growth for certain employees. You might find yourself losing talent.

Young, ambitious, entrepreneurial-type employees that got where they are by always looking into the future are great kinds of people to work with, but it can be difficult to get them to scale back and focus on only the next three years. Explain it to them like this: in order to create your Vivid Vision®, you have to keep one foot planted in the present and lean out to test the soil in the future with your other foot. If you lean out too far, you’ll fall down.

So don’t think ahead of yourself. Craft your Vivid Vision® three years out and get to work making it come true. Those 36 months will be over before you know it!

How far do you think ahead? Does it work for you? Let us know in the comments below!

If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in June 2016 and has been edited for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Entrepreneurship is a Roller Coaster. Here’s How You Can Leverage It For Better Outcomes

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If you own a business, you’ve probably compared running your company to being on a roller coaster.

You may not know — or readily admit — that it actually has more to do with you than it does with the business.

That’s because most entrepreneurs exhibit at least some traits of bipolar disorder: they are prone to seductive highs, crushing lows and everything in between.

I experienced it while growing 1-800-GOT-JUNK from $2 million to $106 million in revenue over six years and in the years since I left.

Many entrepreneurs — two of the co-founders of Netscape, for example — have been medically diagnosed with the condition.

We call it a disorder — some even say it’s the CEO disease — but that’s not how we have to view it. In fact, based on my experience, I know that these patterns of behavior can be leveraged as a superpower.

The mania, the excitement, the high energy — that’s why people follow you and support your big ideas. The stress and depression that follow are there to help you correct the course, muscle through the difficult things and meet crazy goals. Those lows are usually a signal to rest and recharge (so that we can summon the energy to build and inspire again).

If you learn to recognize your emotional highs and lows, you can harness them so that you know where to put your focus and when.

Think about a world-class athlete operating at peak performance. We do not expect them to function at that level for weeks or months on end without a break. We totally get that they need time off to maintain that level of performance. Why don’t we apply the same standard to entrepreneurs? 

We should.

To do that, you have to understand the Transition Curve. No surprises here — it resembles a roller coaster. There are four distinct stages that I detailed in an interview on Jordan Harbinger’s podcast.

I’m going to outline them here so that you can know how to anticipate the emotional intricacies of entrepreneurship and use them to fuel your success.

Stage 1 — Uninformed Optimism 

The first stage of the entrepreneurial transition curve is characterized by excitement and passion. It can last anywhere from a week to a full year.

Back to the roller coaster. Think of the feeling when you’re heading up the steep slope before the drop — you’re pretty damn excited just before you hit the top. You might not know exactly what’s coming next, but you can’t wait to experience it. That’s uninformed optimism in a nutshell. It’s the thrill of landing a massive new client even though you’re not exactly sure the business can accommodate it.

You’re manic and exuberant. It’s a great time to talk to investors, do recruiting and focus on marketing. Use your voice to capitalize on the optimism and excitement. You’re at your most magnetic and people will want to join you.

But you’ll definitely want to avoid stuff like purchasing decisions, hiring and bookkeeping. This isn’t a season for major decision making.

Stage 2 — Informed Pessimism 

This is when you’re over the top of the curve and you’re having an “oh shit” realization. You get more information and the optimism goes right out the window. The reality of what’s ahead comes into full view, and you’re wondering how you’re actually going to pull it off. You start seeing what might go wrong or you start noticing stuff that you hadn’t clearly anticipated. This stage moves you toward careful action.

For example, you’ve hired an amazing new VP. The “oh shit” moment comes when you start thinking about the salary you offered and now you’re wondering how you’re going to pay him $20k per month.

Here’s a major “oh shit” moment from my own life: I got a tax bill for $420,000 more than I thought I owed. Not fun. I realized there was all this revenue that I hadn’t fully thought through. I started to freak out and panic.

But then I moved into planning mode. I went on a hike with a few entrepreneur friends who helped me figure out what to do next. I went home and made a list of all the expenses that could be cut and the options for increasing revenue and gross margin. There were about 80 things that I had to do. Within three months, they were done and I’d paid my bill.

Stage 3 — Crisis of Meaning

Crisis of meaning is when you’re completely panicked and unable to do anything. You feel paralyzed. It’s scary.

I remember a time when my good friend Brian Scudamore, founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, was in this stage. It was almost 20 years ago. The company was still relatively small at the time. One morning, he called me and told me he wasn’t coming in. He wanted me to assure the leadership team that he was fine and that he’d just be out for the day, but the fact is he was on lying on the floor in the dark in his basement. He needed to detach.

That’s a crisis of meaning.

Stage 4 — Crash and Burn

This is a very low point, where you’ve plunged off the curve. Not everyone gets here. Hopefully, you don’t, but it can happen.

At this stage, you’re either filing for bankruptcy or forced out of your leadership role. It’s game over for now.

Stage 5 — Informed Optimism/Hopeful Realization

This final stage is when you start to feel energized and excited again. You’re sort of like The Little Engine That Could. You’re getting your confidence back.

The danger lies in becoming too optimistic too quickly. You’re about to start the Transition Curve again. But if you don’t recognize that and realize that the pessimism and crisis of meaning are going to creep in as well, you risk unconsciously sprinting towards a major crash and burn.

The key to understanding the Transition Curve is to realize it’s like gravity. You can’t fight it. Go with it and use it to your advantage. It’s your superpower.

Want to get in touch with me? Use this contact form.

Everything I Know About Recruiting I Learned Duck Hunting

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Duck Hunting for Employees

My grandfather Cam Shortts was a great businessman, but he was an even better hunter.

He owned a successful hunting and fishing lodge in northern Ontario, an amazing place where I spent many, many days in my youth. It was a lodge that was frequented by corporate big wigs – CEOs, CFOs and COOs holed up there on their vacations.

And it was “up north” nestled on the shore of a shimmering lake with that great man that I learned everything I needed to know about recruiting.

No, Gramps wouldn’t drag out his old business school texts to the duck blind. Instead, his methodical, precise approach to hunting taught me valuable lessons I’ve carried with me ever since.

Grandpa knew exactly what kind of ducks he wanted before he set out to hunt—mallards, blue-winged teals, and wood ducks. But more importantly, he knew what kinds of ducks he didn’t want. Namely, fish ducks who are renowned for tasting downright terrible.

It’s an approach many business people don’t take when “hunting” for candidates. Sometimes, hiring the right Chief Operating Officer, marketing executive, sales personnel or even a CEO for that matter, is about NOT choosing someone who will be bad for the company. Businesses focus so much on what they want, they don’t consider what they don’t want. Before the hiring process begins, you should absolutely list all the traits you would love to have in the ideal applicant—e.g., years of marketing experience, ability to travel, an MBA, with exemplary prior experience as a Chief Operations Officer, etc.

But then, think about the traits you absolutely don’t want. Your list might have things like avoiding candidates who appear to jump from job to job far too often, or who have worked for a company you don’t respect, or even candidates who smoke. I know of a CEO who gave the keynote speech at a COO training seminar just because he wanted to scout a COO he could make his 2nd in command. And believe it or not, he wrote off most of the COO candidates for being late to the training seminar because they were brushing off training as a unimportant experience!

Grandpa was so focused on getting the ducks he wanted, there were many times we’d go home without having fired a single shot (not an easy task for a 14-year-old who really liked to shoot!) He always said he’d rather leave without a single duck then leave with a bad one.

This lesson rang true when I was involved in hiring for a key senior position. I won’t name the company, but I will say is that we were on the lookout for a fearless Chief Operating Officer who could transition a company through difficult times. A director and I traveled to Boston and whittled 150 resumes down to 16 candidates. After multiple interviews with each of them, both my colleague and I couldn’t pinpoint one that blew us away. And despite the pressure to hire for the role, both of our guts said “no” so we flew home empty-handed.

Knowing what kind of ducks he wanted was one thing, but Grandpa’s ability to pick them out when most everyone else couldn’t even see any ducks in the sky was amazing. It’s a skill he honed over years of hunting (he did own a hunting lodge after all) and it’s a skill I’ve picked up after hiring hundreds of people in my career. CEOs, Chief Operations Officers, CFOs, you name it, and I have hired them.

Nearly anyone can gloss over their weaknesses with a fancy resume or well-crafted cover letter. But once you get that candidate into an interview, it’s easy to see right through their bluster and unearth the real candidate (for better or worse).

Huddled in our blind, waiting patiently for the birds we wanted—those are the memories I will always have of my Grandpa. These are also the lessons that have helped me recruit awesome employees throughout my career.

Happy hunting!

Learn more about how high growth can be yours on Cameron Herold contact page or email rachyl@cameronherold.com

Hall of Fame

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Hall of Fame

When I mentor young entrepreneurs, I endeavor to give them a war chest of skills that will help them long into the future. One tool that I ensure each of them has is a Vivid Vision. I’ve talked about these invaluable documents a lot in other blog posts. They are one of my hallmarks. Your own hall of fame so to speak.

And why am I such an advocate? Because time after time, I’ve seen them work.

Over the years, I’ve worked at creating a Vivid Vision with dozens of organizations, from small boutique firms to $100 million enterprises. In this post, I thought I’d share a little detail about what some of these companies did to their Vivid Visions that really made them pop.

Red Balloon Days, an online retailer that sells exceptional experiences to Australia and New Zealand, had a graphic designer give their Vivid Vision the royal treatment. Bright colors, cool fonts, funky images—the document grabbed the reader’s eyeballs and refused to let go.

So often, companies fear injecting life into their documents or presentations lest they appear ‘unprofessional’ or ’amateur’. Sure, there are times for somber, professional presentations, but I strongly support adding flair when the opportunity presents itself. I stop short of cheesy cartoons or using Comic Sans font, but believe that bright, colorful annual reports, proposals and Vivid Visions are far more effective (and more fun to read).

Nurse Next Door went multimedia with their Vivid Vision. This provider of in-home health services for the elderly of the US and Canada combined the written aspect of their document with a voiceover recorded by its cofounder.

I loved how the visuals really brought their vision to life. It’s one thing to talk about TIME Magazine profiling your company in your Vivid Vision, but it’s another altogether to have a mocked up magazine cover graphically displaying it.

The company was pretty happy with it. So much so, they put it up on YouTube where nearly 2,000 people have viewed it.

What do you do when you are a global organization with offices in 25 countries and you want to introduce the concept of a Painted Picture to all of your employees? If you’re Sebastien Tondeur, the CEO of MCI (a global event management firm), you film a slick, professional introduction that explains exactly what a Vivid Vision is, and how it relates to the company’s future.

His charisma is obvious, and his introduction gets his employees excited about their role in making the Vivid Vision come to life.

I could go on and on, but what’s important to remember is that any Vivid Vision is exceptional. You don’t need flashy graphics or CGI visuals , you just need to take the time and effort it takes to visualize your company’s future. Who knows, you might end up in my Hall of Fame.

Click here to get more inspiration on your own Vivid Vision.

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Meetings Suck: Turning One Of The Most Loathed Elements Of Business Into One Of The Most Valuable

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We all know that meetings suck, right?

You hear it all the time. It’s the one thing that almost everyone in business can agree on.

Except it’s not actually true… 

Meetings don’t suck.

We just suck at running meetings.   

When done right, meetings not only work, they make people and companies better.

In Meetings Suck, world renowned business expert and growth guru Cameron Herold teaches you how to use focused, time effective meetings to help you and your company soar.

This book shows you immediately actionable, step-by-step systems that ensure that you and everyone in your organization improves your meetings, right away.

In the process, you’ll turn meetings that suck into meetings that work. 

In life, we always hear about people who’ve made huge decisions from their gut – without data.Today, I want you to make a decision, not only from your gut, but also from some data.  A decision that is only $12 per employee but will be priceless for your business.

Right now, your gut is telling you something is wrong with your company’s meetings.  You KNOW everyone complains about meetings.

People HATE going to them, they HATE running them, and they really have NO idea which meetings are truly necessary but they hold meetings simply because they think that is what they SHOULD do.

Even some of the smartest CEOs in the world complain about meetings – Elon Musk publicly told employees at Tesla & SpaceX to walk out of meetings if they weren’t being run properly.

I sent Elon a message saying that wasn’t going to fix anything – the key is to fix the root of the problem – NOT continue to ignore why meetings suck.

A Meeting is – Any phone call, video call or occasion where 2 or more people meet to discuss or work-through office topics.

Most employees on average spend 1-2 hours per day in meetings.

And likely, none of those employees – front-line staff or leaders – have had any training on how to attend meetings or participate in them, LET ALONE How to RUN THEM.

Consider this…

If the Average employee spends just 1 Hour per day in meetings – that’s 1/8th of their time.

If the Average employee earns $50,000 per year.

And they’re spending 1/8th of their time in meetings, that means you’re paying $6,250 dollars per year for just ONE employee to attend meetings.

The reality is, employees spend 1/8th of their time – and 1/8th of your company’s payroll – doing something they have literally NO idea how to do.

The Reality is…

95% of employees are booking & leading meetings – and they have NEVER been trained on how to run them.

95% of employees have had NO training on how to show up and participate in the meetings they attend daily.

And 95% of employees and companies have no idea what meetings are even necessary to hold.

Meetings CAN be hugely effective – IF you know how to run them

Meetings don’t SUCK, we just SUCK at running meetings. 

Investing $15 per employee – to help ensure the $50,000 a year you spend on them is an obvious and easy choice.

This could be the most impactful $15 you’ll ever spend and will save the company’s money, time and resources instantly.

Buying a copy of Meetings Suck for 100% of your employees and having them read it this month will have a huge impact on your company’s success.

book-5

Free PR: How To Get Chased By The Press Without Hiring A PR Firm

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Public relations has always been an essential part of doing business which is probably why you’re shelling out big money to an outside PR firm. But the truth is that you don’t need them. You already have all the necessary tools in-house to do as good a job as the so-called experts. 

Cameron Herold and Adrian Salamunovic have taught thousands of company execs how to exploit free media coverage and ditch these expensive, often ineffective outsiders. 

Cameron & Adrian have also built in-house PR teams, spent decades learning how to generate Free PR and how to leverage public relations to complement their sales and marketing strategy. 

In Free PR, you’ll learn how the media world operates while you gain invaluable insider knowledge and actionable advice on how to: 

  • Build your own in-house PR team
  • Provide effective interviews
  • Score great media coverage for free with just a few easy steps 

Landing public relations coverage for yourself and your company is a powerful tool to help elevate your personal brand. PR is easier to generate than marketing, PR is easier to leverage than marketing and PR is more cost effective than marketing. In other words, Public Relations is more critical than ever in growing your brand and your business. 

You’ve got more passion, commitment, a larger stake, and a deeper understanding of your business than any outside PR firm could ever have. So stop wasting money and take the reins yourself.  Learn the secrets to landing TONS of Free PR for your company.

What they’re saying:

“I think PR is the core for promoting any business. Public relations acquires customers! That’s what’s cool about this book.”

– Kevin O’Leary,  Shark on ABC’s Shark Tank

“The ultimate guidebook for those looking to get press, grow their brand, and get in front of the masses. Free PR is the roadmap you’ve been looking for.”

– Peter Shankman, Founder, Help a Reporter Out (HARO)

“Adrian and Cameron will show you the secrets of getting massive exposure for your business. This book is packed with actionable insights from two guys that actually know how to to do it.”

– Dan Martell,  Serial Entrepreneur & Investor (Intercom.io, Unbounce)

“I told Cameron to write the book on generating free PR. I’m excited to see that he’s finally sharing his secrets with the world. This is a must read for any entrepreneurial company and marketing team.”

– Verne Harnish, Founder of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and author of Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0)

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Vivid Vision: A Remarkable Tool For Aligning Your Business Around a Shared Vision of the Future

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Many corporations have slick, flashy mission statements that ultimately do little to motivate employees and less to impress customers, investors, and partners. 

But there is a way to share your excitement for the future of your company in a clear, compelling, and powerful way and entrepreneur and business growth expert Cameron Herold can show you how. 

Vivid Vision is a revolutionary tool that will help owners, CEOs, and senior managers create inspirational, detailed, and actionable three-year mission statements for their companies. In this easy-to-follow guide, Herold walks organization leaders through the simple steps to creating their own Vivid Vision, from brainstorming to sharing the ideas to using the document to drive progress in the years to come. 

By focusing on mapping out how you see your company looking and feeling in every category of business, without getting bogged down by data and numbers or how it will happen, Vivid Vision creates a holistic road map to success that will get all of your teammates passionate about the big picture. 

Your company is your dream, one that you want to share with your staff, clients, and stakeholders. Vivid Vision is the tool you need to make that dream a reality.

miracle-morning

The Miracle Morning for
Entrepreneurs: Elevate Your SELF to
Elevate Your BUSINESS

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READY FOR EXPLOSIVE GROWTH AS AN ENTREPRENEUR AND ACCELERATED SUCCESS IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?

A step-by-step guide to enjoying the roller-coaster ride of growth — while getting the most out of life as an entrepreneur. A growth-focused approach: The book is divided into three sections, which cover planning for fast growth, building a company for fast growth, and leading for fast growth. Each topic the author covers — from creating a vision for the company’s future to learning how to generate free PR for a developing company — is squarely focused on the end goal: doubling the size of the entrepreneur’s company in three years or less. A down-to-earth action plan: Herold’s experienced-based advice never gets bogged down in generalities or theory. Instead, he offers a wealth of practical tips, including: How to design meetings for maximum efficiency; How to hire top-quality talent; How to grow in particularly tough markets; How to put together a board of advisors — even for a smaller company; How even the busy entrepreneur can achieve a work/life balance.

READY FOR EXPLOSIVE GROWTH AS AN ENTREPRENEUR AND ACCELERATED SUCCESS IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?

Hal Elrod’sThe Miracle Morning has helped redefine the mornings and the lives of millions of readers since 2012. Since then, careers have been launched, goals have been met, and dreams have been realized, all through the power of the Miracle Morning’s six Life S.A.V.E.R.S.

THESE SIX DAILY PRACTICES WILL FUEL YOUR EFFORTS TO CREATE AND SUSTAIN POSITIVE CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE.

Now The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs brings you these principles in a whole new light—alongside the Entrepreneurial Elevation Principles and the Entrepreneur’s Elevation Skills. These are essential skills that you need to create a successful business and personal life. Cameron Herold— Bestselling Author and a widely-respected expert on entrepreneurial mindset—brings his wisdom and insight to you using Hal Elrod’s powerful Miracle Morning framework.

DEVELOP A VISION FOR YOUR BUSINESS, AND BECOME THE INFLUENTIAL AND INSPIRING LEADER YOU WERE ALWAYS MEANT TO BE.

The principles and skills you’ll find in this book will help you to channel your passion and achieve balance in a remarkable new way. – Learn why mornings matter more than you think – Learn how to master your own self-leadership and accelerate your personal development – Learn how to manage your energy—physical, mental, and emotional – Learn how to implement Hal Elrod’s invaluable Life S.A.V.E.R.S. in your daily routine – And much more… You’re already an entrepreneur. Now discover how to take your success to the next level by first taking yourself to the next level. The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs is your roadmap to masterfully building an empire with a powerful vision, utilizing your areas of personal genius, with the right team at your side.

Start giving your business and your life the very best opportunities for success, right now.

double-double

Double Double: How To Double Your Revenue And Profit In 3 Years Or Less

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A step-by-step guide to enjoying the roller-coaster ride of growth — while getting the most out of life as an entrepreneur. A growth-focused approach: The book is divided into three sections, which cover planning for fast growth, building a company for fast growth, and leading for fast growth. Each topic the author covers — from creating a vision for the company’s future to learning how to generate free PR for a developing company — is squarely focused on the end goal: doubling the size of the entrepreneur’s company in three years or less. A down-to-earth action plan: Herold’s experienced-based advice never gets bogged down in generalities or theory. Instead, he offers a wealth of practical tips, including: How to design meetings for maximum efficiency; How to hire top-quality talent; How to grow in particularly tough markets; How to put together a board of advisors — even for a smaller company; How even the busy entrepreneur can achieve a work/life balance.