Best Practices of High Performance EntrepreneursBest Practices of High Performance Entrepreneurs ... That’s a lot longer and harder than most people expect, and most don’t make

1 www.Hot100Business.com 2016v1 Copyright - All Rights Reserved

Best Practices of

High Performance Entrepreneurs

Transform Your Business from High Potential to High Performance

2017 Hot100Business Edition v3

Corey L. Hansen, MScOD

with Russell S. Allred, MBA

& Roger B. Allred, CPA

Copyright by Hot100Business.com All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this publication, or its parts, in any form

http://www.hot100business.com/


"Best Practices of High Performance Entrepreneurs" is the best blueprint, best road map, and best advice

for entrepreneurs that I've read."

Jay Conrad Levinson The Father of Guerrilla Marketing

Author, "Guerrilla Marketing Over 15 million sold; now in 43 languages

About the Authors Corey Hansen, MScOD, Hot100Business Founder Corey is a business acceleration expert and the founder of Hot100Business. He has personally worked with more than 1,000 high-performance businesses, and helped create over $2 billion in new equity. Many of his clients achieve over 50 percent annual growth and a growing number have earned national and regional awards and recognition, such as the Inc 500/5000 fastest growing private owned businesses in America, and many other awards. Corey’s goal is to help

accelerate businesses in as little as two-to-five years to where they would otherwise be in 10-to-20 years.

Corey is a top graduate with a dual major in business and economics and a Master of Science in Organizational Development (MScOD). He has owned and managed businesses in the United States and New Zealand. He is also the founder of Hot100Business, and other businesses, and a frequent speaker on business acceleration.

Introduction to Best Practices ................................................................................................ 3 Chapter 1 – Ownership: Create and Accelerate................................................................. 4

Chapter 2 – Management: Leadership and Results ........................................................ 17 Chapter 3 – Marketing: Making Customers, Not Sales .................................................. 36

Chapter 4 - Productivity: Synergy Created ....................................................................... 62 Chapter 5 - Accounting: Getting REAL Results! ............................................................. 86

Chapter 6 - Risk Management: Keeping it REAL! ......................................................... 102

Chapter 7 - The Next Phase: from Entrepreneur to Enterprise ................................. 139 Hot300 - Best Practices Score Sheet ................................................................................ 154



Introduction to Best Practices

It all starts with questions, such as what does it really take to build a successful business? In the early years, most of us think success is just a matter of courage, hard work and persistence. For a lucky few, it seems to work out ok the first time. However, for the majority, it takes an average of four major failures and 20 years to build a sustainable success, if ever. That’s a lot longer and harder than most people expect, and most don’t make it. So what does it REALLY take to build a successful business? Working with over a thousand business owners, and many years of research, we started to get really great answers, and then…phenomenal results. In this book we discuss many best practices that have helped high-performance business owners create millions, even billions of new revenue and equity. Most of these best practices aren’t new, but many are critical to building any business that’s uncommonly profitable and sustainable.

The key to uncommon success is more than reading a book. It comes down to deciding to build a high performance business, that can outrun the competition, and then aggressively executing strategies and best practices that can make it happen faster. Aggressively implementing the best practices outlined in this book, can help you create millions in additional profit, as well as a much richer life for you and your family, your associates, and your community. More important it can help you get there many years faster than doing it all on your own. As we said, it all starts with questions, such as;

What do you need to do now, or more of, or less of, or not at all?

How do we get financial, technical, and staff resources to grow faster?

How do we accelerate the development of our business up to 20 years faster than normal?

How can we take 3 - 8 weeks of real vacation AND still be stress-free?

How can we consistently outrun our competition, in any economic condition?

How can we keep our business, or sell it to family or others, and retire when we choose?

How can we recruit, retain, motivate and train management and staff that will accelerate our business, like it was their own?

How do we avoid risks mistakes and decisions that can kill or cripple our business?



Chapter 1 – Ownership: Create and Accelerate

True high-performance leaders don’t start businesses to just get by. We’re in it for the satisfaction of overcoming challenges, the rewards of achievement, for the freedom to become and do more, and for the joy of helping others. So why do so many business owners get trapped far below where they expect to be by now? A few have given up trying to move ahead. Some have become comfortable where they are. Many don’t know how fast they should grow from where they are to where they really want to go. Sadly, some are intimidated by the commitment to grow. To grow in million-dollar increments you must hire, train and trust other people to work for you. You must delegate management responsibilities and assume the role of owner-leader. It can be a big leap for those who already feeling stretched to the limit.

Ownership issues can be complex and confusing, especially when the business reaches the Management phase. Until that time, the owner is also the manager of all operations. Most entrepreneurs struggle between their role as owner-manager and their new role as owner-leader. As a result, entrepreneurs commonly go through three or four different businesses before they get their roles clearly worked out and become effective owners. What should you be focusing on as an owner? Our work with clients at all stages suggests that successful owners understand their role is to build a business system that pays a substantial and sustainable return on their investment of time and resources, as fast as possible. If the business can’t reward your effort and risk in a reasonable period of time, then the business doesn’t deserve your continued investment and loyalty. This can be a hard lesson to learn. Sometimes it is helpful to compare your business to a different type of asset. Think of it as a car. The type of car you drive depends on where you want to go, what you need to do, and what you can afford. If you are in a competitive race and everyone else is driving a custom-designed, high-performance Formula 1 racecar, and you are driving a 30 year old, four-cylinder Ford Escort, it doesn’t matter how passionate you are about winning the race. It doesn’t matter how much you love that car, or how long you have been driving it. It’s not going to do the job of winning and you will be eliminated.

What should be done with a vehicle that doesn’t get the job done? Either modify it so that it has a chance to win, or get another vehicle! When owners are emotionally attached to their business vehicle and won’t make tough decisions to improve it, they may face even tougher decisions; Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.



On the other hand, when owners get clear about their role, the purpose of their business, and get committed to high-performance goals, amazing changes occur. One client in the telecommunications industry went from a net annual income of $80,000 to over $400,000 in only six months. A financial services business went from a substantial loss to a net of over $400,000 in a matter of months. Many clients have experienced multi-million dollar growth and huge increases in profitability. From dirt movers to high tech service providers, the Hot100Business system has worked with them all.

The following 30 best practices will help define ownership responsibilities and refocus resources toward enhancing your personal wealth.

1. The owners have envisioned and written what the business will be like in five years (Vision Statement).

The key to good management is discipline and focus, and the key to good leadership is vision. Hot100’s distinguish themselves by envisioning solutions to problems and taking risks to implement them. Hot100’s also effectively communicates the vision of the company to the people who will help to achieve it.

Although Mission Statements are fairly common, Vision Statements are not. A vision statement is not customer-focused but rather owner-focused. Your vision statement should state what you want your business to become. For example, "We are building a business that will help the owners to __________ (fill in this statement)."

A vision statement must incorporate all that is important to the owners in relation to the business. Long-term values will have a significant impact on what is included in the vision statement. Since this statement will be used to evaluate business decisions that affect how the business benefits the owners, it is essential that it be developed by the owners and their advisors. Every attempt should be made to achieve consensus on the vision statement by all who have an interest in the business. It should also be reviewed at least annually to see if it is working and needs updating.

The following is an example of a vision statement from one of our clients: “Our vision is to be the most profitable company in the industry and a fun place to work.” We like this one because it is easy to understand and it focuses on sustainable profitability.

2. Owners and managers have written the benefits that customers can expect from the business (Mission Statement).

A mission statement in its simplest terms is "Our business is successful because it provides our customers with __________ (fill in this statement)." Remember, however, that a mission statement is nothing more than a bunch of pretty sounding words if it isn't used as a standard by which all significant business decisions are measured. And in order for it to be used as a standard, the management team must all believe in it and support it.



A mission statement should not be vague. It loses its impact, however, if it becomes so lengthy that no one reads it. A properly crafted mission statement can appropriately be emblazoned over the door to the company headquarters. One of the best Mission Statements we have seen is that of a business consulting firm, "Our mission is to help our clients honorably achieve their objectives." It's short and sweet, and it reminds everyone why clients keep paying for their services. 29. The owners have at least $3 million in their retirement fund, within 10 years. Most everyone laughs when they see this best practice, yet it is often one of the real keys to building a successful AND sustainable business. Putting this as a critical goal for your business, changes WHAT you do and WHEN you do it. It makes everything more urgent and more important to get results NOW, not just stay busy and hope it all works out in the future. This is one of the keys to achieving our goals 10 to 20 years faster. In addition to growing the business 5X-ASAP another great strategy is to use the “$3 Million More” process to build a $3 million protected and guaranteed asset in about 10 years. This unique strategy was developed by Shawn Kieley, of Perfect Financial, and uses a novel cash flow system, to grow some portion of our business or family cash flow BEFORE we spend it. This is unlike most investments, where we have to put in money that is left over, and then park it for a long time. As an example, if our business or personal cash flow is $25,000 or more a month, then that’s enough to grow our Perfect Financial assets to $3,000,000 and more, in just 10 years. It can also work with family cash flow, but the results vary depending on our budget. It can work with incomes as low as $5,000 a month but more really is better. Lastly, too many entrepreneurs neglect the simple fact that no one is going to help us retire. We are ultimately responsible for every last dime we need to live. The older we are the less time we have to accumulate the necessary assets. Counting on the sale of the business to fund retirement, we must ensure that the business is worth enough, that it doesn’t decline in value and that there is a market for it when we want or need to sell it. If we don’t have this amount reserved for retirement, then we have all the more reason to earn another million dollars as soon as possible.

30. A tax minimization review is conducted semi-annually with a tax expert.

We deliberately saved this best practice for last in the Owner’s section. Not because it’s unimportant, but because a business owner should concentrate first on making money, then on keeping more of it. Roger has a goal of paying a million dollars in income taxes, because taxes are a percentage of income; think of the income! Corey prefers to think of how much of it could be tax deferred or tax advantaged.

Tax minimization is an important secondary concern that needs specialized expertise. The review should be scheduled within a month after your fiscal year reporting to determine what you should do that year. Then a follow-up should occur six months later


http://www.perfect.financial/

http://perfect.financial/


to see how you’re doing. Business and personal taxes should never be an unexpected surprise. These meetings with your CPA and financial advisor should make you more money every time. If not, get better experts. After a 10-minute meeting with his new accountant, one of our clients walked out with an extra $35,000 in tax savings. His previous accountant of 17 years did a good job of doing the tax return and was a great golf buddy, but he didn’t offer anything to help build his client into a Hot100. One of Corey’s clients went to a financial advisor to help reduce the taxes on $400,000 of profit. The financial advisor recommended a qualified retirement plan and stated they would save about $9,000 in taxes. Corey helped them find another advisor who showed them how to reduce their taxes by $91,000, with no additional risk. Don’t settle for standard advice. Building a real business means getting a team that can help you get there better and faster.

The most satisfying role in any business should be that of owner. Done well, a Hot100Business will provide a level of challenge, satisfaction, reward and accomplishment that is unparalleled. The business is only a vehicle to get you to your destination, in style and in a reasonable amount of time.

Plus 296 more Best Practices! Order now! www.Hot100Business.com



Documents

Best Practices of High Performance EntrepreneursBest Practices of High Performance Entrepreneurs ... That’s a lot longer and harder than most people expect, and most don’t make