Derek Bobo's Blog

Whether it’s technology or people you want to eliminate any single point of failure in your business. Failure to do so could place your company at considerable financial risk. I see companies who do it everyday. It’s scary stuff. A fire in your server room that destroys all of your system data, a car or plain accident, or a disgruntled employee could cripple your business if you’re not taking the necessary measures. Avoiding these risky scenarios is relatively easy if you have the right discipline.

The first thing you really ought to do is assess what types of activities are truly

I once worked for a multi-million dollar company that had roughly 80 clients. Of these 80 clients about 5 clients generated 85% of the revenue. The other clients contributed significantly to the need for additional staffing and infrastructure to support them but generated very little by way of cashflow. I would guess that these clients required the business to maintain 25-40% additional staffing. How can you even begin to justify that? It’s absolutely insane. That particular business would have been far more profitable if it would have fired a large portion of it’s customer base. Or better yet made better decisions when selecting clients on the frontend. Profitability suffered because they didn’t right size their business.

Don’t make this same mistake. Promote smart growth and look for customers who can become loyal partners to your business. It’s always easier and far less expensive to maintain existing relationships than to create new ones. If you find the right customers

Many of the world’s economies are struggling and with that comes cutbacks. Too many times these cutbacks are forced from the top down, often times from a corporate office by executives who are too far from separated from the details. It’s no surprise that these cutbacks often come by way of a reduction in workforce. I find this mentality to often times be unmerited and should be a last resort.

What makes you different from the next guy? We see companies claim to have the lowest prices, the best quality, or the best service, but they don’t mean shit. You find a product you want to buy and then find it lower at another store, you take an item home to have it fall apart that same day, or you call support and are greeted by an automated recording. We see it everyday.

Whether you’re starting your first business or already own a business ask yourself what you stand for. What makes you different than the competitor? If you can’t validate it with something real and tangible then you have some searching to do. Make your business mean something and stick to it. You’ll be surprised how customers respond.

Does your business pass the test? Prove it!

I’m sure my dad can’t take credit for coming up with this quote, but I originally heard it from him:

“We never have time to do it right, but we always have time to do it again.”

So so true.

Whether you’re a recent grad, making a career change, or just in the hunt for a new job, make sure you keep things in focus. With the economy still struggling the unemployed are sometimes just happy to have a job – any job.

The best advice I can give someone in the job hunt is to relax and stay focused. While you certainly want to present your best self, don’t forget the fact that you’re interviewing the interviewer as well. Interviews are a time for you to assess a company and those you will potentially be working with. If the environment is not one that aligns with your interests or personality don’t kid yourself, it’s not going to work.

You’re going to save yourself a lot of heartache if you adopt this attitude. You’ll be less nervous about impressing the interviewer(s)  and you’ll be setting the right expectation for what to expect if you are hired. If you’re not real it will eventually become obvious or if you accept a position that does not fit will with your interests you’re going to end up disappointed and back in the job hunt again.

I’ve found that having this attitude exhibits a level of confidence which is something that naturally attracts folks to you. It’s always been my approach to be up front with people. It’s going to show the real you and if that’s not something an employer can appreciate, it’s not an employer you want to work for.

In business and in life you often hear talk about taking your feelings out of the equation. You need to only act based on logic and facts, emotion cannot be involved. That is largely true but I’ve been giving this concept some thought and I think that there is a little more to it than that.

Feelings certainly cannot rule you. If you immediately respond to a situation based on your feelings you run the risk of making some irrational decisions that get you in trouble. It is often times important to take a step back away from the situation and make sure you have thought rationally before responding. Nothing new here… I know, so here goes.

Feelings are a gauge. Think about the gauges on your car. When your fuel is low a light comes on that indicates you need to fill up, if your car is running hot you have a gauge that tells you that, or if your oil is low you have a gauge that tells you that. You get the point. After pondering the situation I think of feelings as a gauge. You can’t just ignore them or you run the risk of bad stuff happening. When the check engine light pops on in your car it’s a cause for concern. If the light goes off you probably want to keep an eye on things but may not need to take any other action. If it goes on and stays on then you know you need to react.

The same is true of feelings. If a particular place, person, or event seems to produce a recurring feeling you need to pay attention to it. It’s an indicator that you need to use logic to take some action, may it be positive or negative.

Despite what you may have heard, I’d be inclined to say listen to your feelings but use logic to take action. Your feelings will give you a sense of things much like when you see, hear, touch, smell, or taste things. Listen to them, gather the facts and make decisions that you can be more pleased with.

I used to sort of be known for being able to get a ton done. People were often impressed by how I’m able to juggle a ton of things seemingly simultaneously. Well lately I’ve got into a bit of a rut and I don’t like it.

The stresses of everyday life have started to take their toll on me and my productivity has gone way down hill. I’ve got into this habit of wake up, go to work, come home (maybe get a round of golf in, maybe do a little bit of work on the house, etc) go to bed, then rinse and repeat. My personal projects, goals, aspirations have all started to suffer. It’s taken all I’ve got to even make note of my thoughts to revisit when I “get more time.”

Well guess what folks… it’s not going to get any easier. The days won’t get longer, the time is now. As I’ve started to assess my life I’m finding a bunch of big time wasters. I have a handful of websites that I like to cycle through several times a day, emails to check, phone calls to make, instant messaging, etc. These are all HUGE time wasters.

So, for the next several days I’m going to try and pull the reigns back on these items and I’m going to start pushing myself a bit harder again. That means staying up a little later and getting up a little earlier. It’s important to continue to push, strive for excellence rather than get content. When you get content you lose your edge and the competition cruises on by… or worse yet… life cruises by.

I maintain a couple of websites for real estate companies. One feature I have been thinking about lately is a way to leverage the website as a tool even when you’re not searching the listings. The idea I have come up with (and may or may not already exist on some websites, I dunno) is the ability to do a search while you’re not at the computer. It basically looks like this:

• As a user you  log in and set some search/preference criteria based on the type of property you are looking for. Some of the metrics might be: acreage, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, square footage, price, school district etc. You enter this information and some very basic contact information. Name, phone number and email.
• During initial account creation the feature would search the listings and send you an email with any listings that match your search criteria. After this initial search you would be notified of any listings the second they hit the market. That way your dream home finds you rather than you scouring the web for that perfect deal. When a match is found you receive an email with direct links to the properties that match your preferences.
• This provides a significant advantage to end users because they are now not forced to waste time. Realtors also get an advantage. They are able to capture information on buyer prospects. They have contact information for which they can send out newsletters with information on open houses, community events, or just general buyer help information. That being said the real advantage is realized at the point that a match is found. At the same time an email gets sent to the end user the Realtor gets notified that they have a potential buyer and seller match. They can then take a proactive approach to the client relationships rather than a reactive one.
• Seller clients also benefit by making sure their listing gets viewed by people who are particularly interested in their type of home. It truly becomes a match making type of service.

I would really like to be able to apply this concept to a larger audience than my couple of clients. I think it’s something that would really prove beneficial for MLS website, however the proprietary nature of such sites makes such an implementation very difficult.

Regardless if you think it’s a good or a bad idea let me know what you think. If you’re an agent or broker who would like to explore the potential for implementing this into your website please let me know.

One of my least favorite things I see out of management/leadership is negative reward for positive performance. This is when you do something great for the company or for your boss and the reward for good work is getting more crap to deal with. I see it on an almost daily basis.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to go back to the old “I scratch your back and you scratch mine” kind of mentality? I mean if I come to the rescue and save the day, the next time something comes up instead of immediately throwing me in to save the day again, why don’t you push back for me? Dig your heels in a bit and go to bat for me. It’s got to be a two way street, or eventually I’m going to stop coming to the rescue.

It’s unfortunate but I’m afraid the general thought process is all about #1. Everyone is looking out for themselves and what is best for them. People want the path of least resistance for themselves. They want to be everyone’s friend and make everyone happy no matter the cost. I think that’s fine to an extent but don’t forget to take care of the people who are taking care of you or one day they just may not be there to catch you when you fall.