Business is Good with Chris Cooper Chris Cooper

Taryn is an experienced business mentor, and she's worked with a lot of small businesses.
Based in Yorkton, SK, Taryn started a gym to pursue her CrossFit passion. Like many of us, she quickly realized that her job skills didn't translate into ownership skills. She sought a mentor and turned her gym around.
But during that process, she began sharing her lessons with other entrepreneurs (as I did.) That unlocked a new passion for coaching small businesses to help them avoid the mistakes she made...and scale up faster.

Taryn's in a unique position: she's a popular mentor in my mentorship practice for gyms, AND she's successfully opened her own practice to help other types of businesses. Many have tried to do it, but Taryn is successful. In this episode, you'll see why.
Links:
perfectdaybusinessmentorship.com
Taryn's Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/theceoclubhouse or https://www.theceoclubhouse.com 
IG: @perfectdaybizmentorship
TikTok: @perfectdaybizmentorship
YT: youtube.com/perfectdaybizmentorship
Connect with Chris Cooper:
Website - https://businessisgood.com/

In a lecture to Entrepreneurship students at a local university this month, I shared a simple business plan that you can use in a week to launch a business, and continue to use for years.
In this podcast, I walk through the model step by step, with examples you can use for different businesses. It's never too soon to start a business...and it's never too late!
To see the full model, click here:
https://businessisgood.com/the-simplest-business-plan-for-2024/
Connect with Chris Cooper:
Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Starting your own company often means wearing many hats and mastering a wide array of skills. When I founded my first business, a gym, I had to be adept at various tasks from entering daily sales to ensuring a clean and welcoming environment for my clients. While I considered myself an A-level trainer, my skills in other areas, like bookkeeping and cleaning, were decidedly less polished. I quickly learned that entrepreneurship demands generalist abilities—you can’t just be an expert at your service, whether it's personal training, hair styling, or driving a cab; you need to have a competent understanding of all aspects of the business.
However, as the business expands and staff are brought on board, a shift occurs. You're no longer looking for jack-of-all-trades. Instead, you seek out specialists—individuals who excel in a singular field. This is evident in any large company, where specialists are often employed by generalists. The key is understanding when to bring in these specialists to fill roles you are less adept at handling.
Consider the wisdom of John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach, who knew how to position his players to their strengths. Unlike most coaches, Wooden didn’t force his players to become proficient in every aspect of the game. He observed where each player excelled and then designed plays to optimize their strengths, significantly increasing their success rate. His strategy illustrates an essential leadership principle: put people where they can succeed the most, rather than trying to make them good at everything.
As a gym owner, I juggled multiple responsibilities—crossfit coach, client success manager, cleaner, nutrition coach, among others. But as Michael Gerber explains in his book, "The E-Myth," good leaders excel at assigning the right people to the right roles. For instance, hiring an account manager requires someone with a keen eye for detail, a strong handle on bookkeeping and math, and a diplomatic touch—not necessarily someone who's an excellent crossfit coach.
Growing a business means recognizing you shouldn't be the best at everything. My own experience led me to hire an account manager and a client success manager who were better suited to those roles than I was, freeing me up to focus on other areas. This concept holds true in any small business—aim to fill specific, narrowly defined roles with people who excel in those areas, rather than looking for a "unicorn" who can do it all.
We live in a gig economy where it's feasible to find and hire specialists for particular tasks. As a business owner, your role evolves from doing to connecting—finding the right people and creating systems that enable them to collaborate effectively. Placing staff in roles where they can't succeed is detrimental to morale, retention, job completion, and overall culture. A misguided approach, like expecting everyone to share cleaning duties or to participate in round-robin sales, can backfire by reducing productivity and damaging morale.
To conclude, it's imperative to understand your role as a generalist and entrepreneur, while also recognizing when and how to employ specialists to further your company's growth. This approach not only fosters a successful business but also creates a culture where every individual has the opportunity to excel in their niche. If you're keen to explore this topic further, join our free Facebook community at businessesgood.com, where you can connect with fellow generalists and discuss hiring specialists. For more insights on this subject and others related to the entrepreneurial journey, head over to the Business is Good website and click "Join the Movement." Let's continue the conversation there.
Connect with Chris Cooper:
Website - https://businessisgood.com/

What do you do when your system crashes, or gets really slow, or spins around when doing normal tasks?
You reboot it. You clear the memory and start from scratch.
When you reboot a computer, you shut down all the programs that are running in the background. You clear its memory. When the computer reboots, it starts with the basics: just the systems that are required to run, and nothing else.
If your business is slowly going backward and you can't figure out why; if you feel like you're just spinning your wheels, working harder and not growing, then you might need more than a new tactic or MORE stuff to do: you might need a complete reboot.
A reboot kills the stuff that is slowing you down, starts over from the basics. And builds up from there. It's not a blank slate. More like digging down to bedrock and repairing the damage from the ground up.

Here's how to do it - and how I did it in one business I own (my gym).
Connect with Chris Cooper:
Website - https://businessisgood.com/

For the last 15 years, I've almost always had a 1:1 mentor. I've participated in masterminds, had specific coaches, but always paid someone to help me set goals, build a plan and stay on course. I pay between $100,000 and $250,000 per year, but the ROI is unmeasurable (though it's in the millions.)
Working with a mentor is a two-way street. These are professionals whose time is almost always worth more than my time; who have done the hard (and sometimes boring) work to get where they are. They are not my personal assistant - they are not going to do the work for me. They are not Google--they're not going to go seeking answers that I can easily find myself. They see things that I don't; they remove obstacles in advance; and they stop me from taking wrong turns that would waste time and money. But to get that benefit, I have to be a good client. Over the last 15 years, I've learned that, to get a great return on mentorship, I have to be a good mentee. I have to be coachable. Here are my top tips:
Connect with Chris Cooper:
Website - https://businessisgood.com/

“My staff never cleans up before they go home.”
“Our front office is a pigsty!”
“No one returns phone calls or emails quickly.”
“No one cares except for me!”
If you struggle to get consistent action from your staff, there are two possible causes.
The first probable cause is your process. The second probable cause is your people.
Read the full article: https://businessisgood.com/the-two-types-of-problems/
Connect with Chris Cooper:
Website - https://businessisgood.com/